More than 1,000 Texans are prepared to make the trip North for the 2014 Boston Marathon.
More than 1,000 Texans are prepared to make the trip north for this year's Boston Marathon.
"Now I look at it as I have to get back," said marathon runner Patrick Martin, a jewelry repair shop owner from Fort Worth.
Martin had already finished the 2013 Boston Marathon and returned to his hotel two blocks from the finish line when the bombs went off, killing three people and hurting 264 more.
Martin's running partner Tommy Tharp, 61, a plumber from Fort Worth, had also already finished by that time.
Tharp and Martin are two of the 1,142 runners registered for the 2014 Boston Marathon from Texas — approximately 200 more Texas runners than last year.
The increase does not come as a surprise to Christa Lopez, a Fort Worth city attorney who also trains with Martin and Tharp.
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"You can't break the resilience of a runner's heart," said Lopez, who did not run the 2013 race but had competed in prior Boston Marathons.
"When the bombing started there wasn't a question in my mind that if I had the opportunity to run this year I would," Lopez said. "I had decided that day, whatever it took, I was gonna be at that starting line."
