Boston Marathon: Palm Harbor Woman Crossed Finish Line Before Blasts

Kacy Seynders' athletic ability may have saved her life.

The Palm Harbor 20-year-old finished the Boston Marathon in three hours, 26 minutes and 35 seconds, which was before the bombs went off Monday afternoon, April 15.

"She was one of the front runners, she missed it by about an hour," said Kacy's mother Denise Seynders, who was relieved her daughter was safe.

"She was lucky to be a faster runner. If she was in the third or fourth wave, she'd be much closer."

Denise Seynders was proud of her daughter's accomplishment, as well.

"Boston was her first big race," she said of Kacy, who started running in her junior year at Palm Harbor University High. She then took up triathlons at the University of Florida in Gainesville where she now attends college and studies applied physiology and kinesiology.

The athletic 2010 Palm Harbor grad wound up learning about the Boston Marathon tragedy after she finished the race.

"She didn't know what happened till she got some texts and got on Facebook," said Denise Seynders.

Kacy was worried she would not be able to fly out of Boston because of security concerns at the airport after the bombing, but she got on a flight to Tampa Monday evening. 

"She was relieved to be home."

Kacy drove back to the University of Florida in Gainesville on Tuesday morning.

Editor's Note, April 17 at 8:56 a.m.- Kacy wrote to us Wednesday morning, shortly after this story was posted. Kacy answered a few questions Patch asked her about her experience at the Boston Marathon-

1) How did it feel to cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon?

"Crossing the finish line felt great. I registered for the race in September and had been training for 4 months, so when I turned on to Boylston and saw the finish line, I saw the end of what I had been waiting for for a really long time. I was in so much pain at that point, but I was smiling ear to ear and was really overjoyed by the moment, which is one not every runner gets to experience."

2) How did you feel once you heard about the bombings?

"I was heartbroken. All the sudden it didn't matter how proud I was of the race that I ran or the history that I was a part of. I felt angry and confused as to why someone would ruin the best marathon in the country and such a positive and patriotic day for the residents of Boston. I thought about how lucky I was and my heart ached for those who weren't so lucky."

3) Will the bombings deter you from running in any other big races like the Boston Marathon?

"This won't deter me from running Boston or another big race like this again. It's something that I love to do, and the experience had been so positive up until this point. I accept this years' events as an anomaly, and I have faith that there will now be increased security in races, both big and small. It is scary and I know that anything can happen at any time, but that won't stop me from doing something that I love so much."

4) Anything else you'd like to add?

"I have all the victims in my thoughts and prayers, and I'll be thinking of those affected when I run from now on. I look at my finishing picture and can't help but to think about how I finished while some 4,000 didn't. I feel incredibly lucky."

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