Weston Woman’s Boston Marathon Cut Short Following Acts of Terror

A woman who had been diagnosed with breast cancer 18 months ago was told, as she approached the finish line, that she could not complete the marathon because of the acts of terror that had occurred minutes before, according to a report in The New Yorker.

Emily Locher, 37, who lives with her husband in Weston, ran her first marathon in 1998, and first qualified for the Boston Marathon in 2004.

Locher, an attorney at a financial management company in Weston, was not concerned about her finish time this year, though. She was diagnosed with breast cancer a year and a half ago and had gone through extensive chemotherapy. Locher was hoping to make the 26.2-mile run in less than four and a half hours. She started a bit slow, but she was definitely going to finish the race, which was her main goal.

As Locher entered Kenmore Square nearby Fenway Park after climbing “Heartbreak Hill,” she was told to stop running. Locher was initially oblivious as to what had happened, but it soon became clear what had occurred.

While runners walked around trying to stay loose, pedestrians offered their cell phones to the runners for them to call their families and friends. Locher sent her husband a message explaining that she was safe.

After finding her running partner, Locher and her friend went back to their hotel where they learned the true terror of what had occurred on Boylston Avenue nearby the finish line of the Boston Marathon.