By JIM LUTGENS
Editor/Publisher
Ashley Misgen is safe and sound.
That's what people in the NRHEG area were concerned about after explosions rocked the Boston Marathon Monday afternoon. Misgen, a 2005 NRHEG High School graduate living in Minneapolis, ran in Monday's race, finishing within minutes of bombs that killed at least two people and injured several dozen others.
"We were just a couple blocks away," said Misgen, reached by cell phone late Monday afternoon. "My mom and my sister were about a block away. When you watch some of the footage on TV, they're by the candy store you can see. They had just walked about a block down the street. We were pretty darn close. The whole area, within a minute, was just mayhem. A couple minutes after the first one went off, you could smell the smoke from the explosion."
Misgen and her family were quickly detoured around the blast area and to their car parked several blocks away.Like many who ran the race, Misgen experienced a myriad of emotions in a very short time span.
"I didn't think I ran a phenomenal time, but it was O.K. for me," she said. "Then in a split second, you go from thinking about not having a great race to thinking you're glad to be alive."
Misgen said she and her mother, Connie Evenson of rural Ellendale, and sister, Jennifer, Minneapolis, did not witness any injuries, though they could see the medical tent set up for marathon runners was packed with victims.
"It's amazing," said Misgen, "how your perspective can change so fast when you witness such a tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with all the victims and their family members."
Connie Evenson had the same feelings as her daughter.
"It was quite a scare," she said. "It was unreal. Oh my God, it sounded like thunder or something when we heard the blast. Then all the ambulances and everything. It's nothing that you'd ever expect at the Boston Marathon, nothing you'd ever imagine could happen. Why would you? You just can't explain what it's like."
Ironically, Jennifer Misgen was in New York City when the Twin Towers were attacked on 9/11.
The family's post-race plans were altered Monday. There were no pictures at the finish line, no dinner out. They were sitting in a suburban Boston motel room, thankful to be alive.