Prince George marathoners Steve Martin, Tanya Carter and their spouses managed to leave Boston early Friday morning while the rest of the world was fixated on the manhunt in the city.
"It was pretty quiet when we were leaving," said Martin about leaving their Cambridge hotel before 7 a.m. to catch their flight at the airport. "I don't know where all the action was going on but we didn't see any of it. We didn't see much going on other than a few roadblocks. We went straight to the airport in a cab without incident."
It was the first trip to Boston for both couples, who had decided to enjoy the sights after Martin and Carter completed their first Boston Marathon. But after two bombs detonated at the finish line of Monday's race, leaving three people dead and more than 170 injured, the serene vacation they'd planned was over.
They were staying at a hotel just across the river from the downtown core in Cambridge about three miles south of the Watertown neighbourhood.
Despite the chaos in Boston during their week-long stay, the Prince George couples enjoyed their visit.
"We didn't really have any other terrifying experiences," said Martin, referring to their scamper out of the downtown area after Monday's explosions. "It was all good for us after the incident."
Martin said they attended Wednesday's NHL game between the Bruins and Buffalo Sabres - the first major sporting event in Boston after the marathon.
"That was a little emotional," said Martin. "It was a solidarity moment for the whole city of Boston. Everyone was rooting together, even the visiting team."
After the game, the Martins and Carters enjoyed a much calmer stroll through the downtown than the last time they were there. Martin said the people of Boston were great.
"It wasn't the celebratory mood like it should've been, but we're very happy that we went and are still happy to be a part of it," said Martin. "Just to see how Boston handled everything afterwards it's just an amazing group of people there. Everyone was just happy to have us there as tourists and they were apologizing for it, but like I said, there was not reason for them to apologize, they didn't do anything wrong.
"It's not the Boston people's fault," he added. "It was just two losers with some kind of a sick agenda."
Martin ran under the qualifying time for the 118th Boston Marathon next April but he wasn't sure he'd be able to run in 2014.
"I would like to [go back]," said Martin. "I'll see. If I go, it'll be a short trip. I'd probably just go run the race, spend the night and come back.
"I think next year is going to be a special year because of this," he added. "It think they're going to pull together to have a bigger, better event and I would like to be a part of it. The whole run of course was amazing - it was like running through a tunnel of people for 26 miles all screaming -that was just fantastic."
