Change of Mind – And Shirt – Saves Family at Marathon

It was a perfect day for a run. Temperatures hovered in the low 50s, and the sun shone brightly as Patriot’s Day in Boston was in full swing.

But during the 26.2-mile challenge that weaved through the city’s residential and urban areas, runners needed to be strategic about their attire, with body temperatures fluctuating as the marathon wore on.

Janice Cazes of Long Valley began the race wearing multiple layers. Her registration tag was pinned, four times over, to her top sweatshirt. But as she neared the finish line of her third full marathon, she knew she needed to stop and make a change.

“I was just too hot, and I debated for a while whether I should stop or not to take off my top layer,” Cazes said. “So, I stopped and took off my top sweatshirt. Then I had to put my (registration) tag back on my undershirt. Once I picked up again I realized I lost about two or three minutes off my pace. I was so mad at myself for stopping.”

Cazes picked up and continued on. Two blocks from the finish line, her emotions began to take over and the excitement of completing her third marathon–the first of the Boston variety–was in full swing.

Then she heard an explosion. Then another one. It’s Patriot’s Day, she thought–maybe they’re shooting off cannons to celebrate.

Seconds later, a group of scattering police officers and security personnel would tell her otherwise, yelling at runners to stop and turn around immediately.

Cazes’s husband, Jay, and their 16-year-old daughter rode bikes along the marathon route to cheer on Janice. Despite requests from the runner, Jay and his daughter wouldn’t go straight to the finish line to see her cross–they wanted to ride by her and give support.

It was a decision, just like the changing of a sweatshirt, that may have changed their lives.

Pandemonium ensued. Thousands of runners and onlookers scattered, including the Cazes family.

“I told Jay, I don’t trust this town right now, I don’t like what’s going on,” Cazes said, without fully knowing the devastation–three deaths and an injury toll in the area of 180 people–that lie ahead.

The family left the course’s path and headed down Commonwealth Avenue. If the chaotic scene wasn’t enough, word spread that a potential third bomb was in the area.

“Police were screaming that there was another bomb nearby,” Cazes said. “We started heading in a different direction, and then this woman came out of her house and called to us.”

The woman owned a home on the street and told the Cazes family to come in and be safe. The Long Valley residents of 20 years were now camping out in a Boston brownstone hoping the situation wouldn’t worsen.

They stayed for about 15 minutes, Cazes said, until they felt safe enough to leave. They made their way to the parking garage where their car was, only to be stopped by an army of officers who had cordoned off the lot.

“[The police] said a bomb suspect might be in the area,” Cazes said. “But we were so lucky–the officer we spoke to was so nice, and he let us through. He just told us to hurry up and get out as fast as we could.”

And so they did. The family fled Boston immediately and left the devastation behind, but the emotional turmoil began to creep in.

In the less-than-two days since the terrorist attacks, Cazes has had time to reflect on what happened in her first Boston Marathon, a challenge she spent 18 weeks training for.

“I was upset with myself,” she said. “I told [my family] to go to the finish line and they didn’t; I was mad that I had to stop to change my shirt. When I was running, I was in my own little bubble.”

That bubble may have saved her life.