GREENSBORO, N.C. — Runners from Kernersville, Winston-Salem, and Greensboro all represented the Triad in Boston, eleven years after the marathon bombing.
Although there was a lot of excitement and celebration around the race this year, three local runners said the tragedy will never fully go away.
On a horrific day in 2013, explosions went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring nearly 300 others.
"That was a devastating year," April Irwin, 8-time Boston Marathon runner from Greensboro said.
Targeting one of the largest marathons in the world, "there's no other race like this," Hannah Boles, 3-time Boston Marathon runner from Winston-Salem said.
Irwin was there in Boston that day back in 2013. She finished the race before the bombs went off and was out of harm's way.
She's been back several times since, including this year. She said although a decade has passed... this tragedy still lingers.
"The year after, you could really feel it but you still feel it, you absolutely still feel it," Irwin said.
Boles said she's felt a shift in security, "there's security everywhere. Boston does a great job. I mean, I never feel unsafe here."
First time Boston Marathon racer, Caleb Wilkerson from Kernersville said, this has been an emotional experience, "you can tell, for the locals, you know, they still feel it. It's just something that's in the air here."
All three agree this race is like no other, "I have done a lot of marathons where it's a little lonely out there. You know, you'll go miles, and you don't see anybody, like hardly any other runners even," Irwin said.
From mile one to mile 26, they said they've always felt unconditional support, "you're always going to have somebody cheering for you and at the same time, you're always going to have a runner beside you as well. It's very unique in that way," Wilkerson said.
All three finished the race today, a feat not many runners get the chance to do. A moment they'll likely never forget.