As seen in the Oakland County Legal News, April 26, 2013 -- By Tom Kirvan It's been nearly two weeks since the finish of the Boston Marathon became news for all the wrong reasons, but the aftershocks continue to be felt by three members of the local legal community who all completed the 26.2 mile race within minutes of the bombings that killed three spectators and injured more than 190 others. Attorney March Ford, CPA Scott Goldstein and Terry CArella, director of communications for Cooley LAw School, were among the finishers of the annual Patriots' Day race that tragically was turned into a war scene near the 4-hour mark of the event that attracted more than 24,000 runners.

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Posted April 26, 2013
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Not so distant: Runners reflect on
aftermath of Boston Marathon
bombings
By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
It’s been nearly two weeks since the finish of the Boston Marathon became news for all
the wrong reasons, but the aftershocks continue to be felt by three members of the
local legal community who all completed the 26.2-mile race within minutes of the
bombings that killed three spectators and injured more than 180 others.
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Pictured during this y ear’s Boston race, Terry Carella was among a group of Lansing area runners
competing in the April 1 5 ev ent.
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2. Attorney Marcy Ford, CPA Scott Goldstein, and Terry Carella, director of
communications for Cooley Law School, were among the finishers of the annual
Patriots’ Day race that tragically was turned into a war scene near the 4-hour mark of
the event that attracted more than 24,000 runners.
“It’s hard to put into words how scary an experience it was for all of us,” said Ford,
executive vice president of Trott & Trott in Farmington Hills. “One moment there was
a feeling of elation in having finished, and the next there was a sense of panic after
hearing the back-to-back explosions. There also was a real level of uncertainty about
whether there were more explosions to come. Nobody knew what could be coming
next.”
Ford, a resident of Huntington Woods, broke the 4-hour barrier, finishing the grueling
race in 3:58.17, a 9:06 per mile pace that earned her a coveted qualifying spot in next
year’s marathon. But there was little time to celebrate the accomplishment, she
indicated.
“I had just had my photo taken after finishing and was probably no more than 200
yards from the finish line when the first explosion occurred,” Ford said. “As many
people have said, it sounded like a cannon went off, but when we saw all the smoke
that was billowing up, it was obvious something else had happened. And then within
seconds, there was a second explosion, which really set off alarm among all those in the
finish area.”
Terry Carella, a 3:53.08 finisher, was among those caught in the ensuing chaos.
“I was so pleased to have finished in the time that I did because it had been such a
hard marathon,” said Carella, who has competed at Boston multiple times over the
past decade. “As anyone who has run Boston knows, the course can really take its toll
because of the hills, but I was so elated to have broken four hours again and to have
earned a qualifying time for next year.”
A Lansing area resident, Carella was so delighted with her effort that she somehow
missed the opportunity to pick up her finishing medal.
“I had gone through the finish chute, gotten the blanket they give each finisher,
grabbed some food, and made it to the race buses when I asked someone about the
medals,” Carella related. “When I found out they were given out back at the finish line,
I decided to make the trek back there, even though I could barely walk at that point.
My legs were really hurting, but there was no way I was going to leave Boston without
that medal.”
It nearly proved to be a fatal decision, she admitted.
“I had to go back several blocks, making my way against all the finish traffic,” Carella
said. “As I got near the finish area, there was an enormous blast and a tremendous
amount of smoke. I immediately said to myself, ‘This is not good.’ A few seconds later,
the second blast went off. By that point, people were moving as fast as they could to
get away from the area. It was panicky at that stage. I was cold and I was shivering,
but I knew that I had to get out of that area as quickly as possible. We all wondered
whether we had heard the last of the explosions.”
For Scott Goldstein, the feeling was similar even if he was somewhat more removed
from the finish line madness.
President of NDeX, the Farmington Hills based company that is one of the nation’s
largest providers of mortgage default processing services, Goldstein had completed the
marathon in 3:24.28, a 7:48 per mile pace over the course from suburban Hopkinton to
downtown Boston. He was in a nearby restaurant, a short walk from the finish line,
enjoying a “burger and a beer” when the first bomb exploded.
“We didn’t hear or feel the explosion, but it didn’t take long before word of what
happened reached us,” Goldstein said. “Within minutes, everything was in a lockdown
mode. There was a police presence everywhere, and I felt as if I was in a Jason Bourne
movie. There was a triage area set up, where the injured including people with missing
limbs were being treated before they were taken to the hospital. It was all very
surreal. We could hardly comprehend what was going on.”
A native of Connecticut, Goldstein said he quickly attempted to reassure his family

3. back in Michigan—including his wife Laura and their two children, Megan and Brady—
that he was safe and unharmed, but to no avail.
“They immediately shut down cell phone service, so it was not possible to make an
outgoing call,” said Goldstein, who eventually resorted to his Facebook page to inform
family and friends of his well-being.
Carella’s husband, Mike, a Lansing physician, was among the marathon spectators who
quickly became separated from his loved one.
“Our routine is that Mike sees me at the halfway point, at the 25-mile mark, and then
we hook up in the meeting area after the race,” Carella related. “Of course, everything
after the race became very problematic with the lockdown. Movement was really
restricted until the police could get a handle on all that was happening. Fortunately,
Mike and I finally hooked up, and before long we got word that all of our running
friends from the Lansing area were all right. It was a huge relief because you start
thinking about the worst at a time like that.”
For Ford, the worries were equally intense, as she attempted to make contact with her
husband, Richard, and their three daughters, Claire, Kathryn, and Amelia, all of whom
accompanied her to Boston for the race.
“I saw them, somewhat miraculously, near the 26-mile mark, which it turned out was
some 100 yards from the site of the second explosion,” Ford said. “Once they saw me
pass by, they immediately set out for the finish line and the meeting area nearby.”
Following the explosions, post-race traffic was diverted around the finish line, forcing
Ford and hundreds of other runners to take a more circuitous route to the meeting
area. By the time Ford made her way to the pre-arranged meeting site, her family had
departed.
“I waited for a while, but you could tell that everyone there was getting more and
more nervous and scared,” Ford said. “All the sirens, the police helicopters, and the
general uncertainty about what was going on made it very hard on everyone.”
A few minutes later, after deciding to set out on a mission to find her family, Ford
spotted a welcome sight, a shock of red hair.
“I have a redhead girl and when I saw that hair, I knew it was them,” Ford said with a
sense of relief. “There were a lot of hugs and tears in those next few moments. It was a
frightening experience for all of us, but my husband and I were particularly concerned
about how our three girls, all relatively young (ages 10, 12, and 16), would handle this.”
The couple’s first thought was to catch an afternoon flight back to Detroit, hoping to
leave the chaos of Boston behind. That plan, of course, was derailed by the lockdown in
the downtown area, forcing Ford and her family to seek refuge in their hotel room,
where she gazed out the window only to see police snipers perched on the rooftops of
nearby buildings.
“We closed the curtains, kept the TV off, and tried to comfort our girls and settle
ourselves,” Ford said. “It was a lot to process.”
Likewise, the Boston tragedy has given Carella pause for thought.
“As a runner, as part of a group of athletes dedicated to a lifestyle of health and fitness,
this just makes me dig in my heels even more,” Carella said of the bombings. “I’m not
about to let terrorists change the way we go about our lives, especially in an event as
great as the Boston Marathon.”
Goldstein was just as reflective, expressing mixed emotions in the wake of the April 15
event.
“I do indeed feel fortunate to be fine, to not have been injured in the bombings,”
Goldstein said. “On the other hand, I feel a deep sense of sadness over those who were
killed and injured, also knowing that such a great experience as the Boston Marathon
will never be the same again.”
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