OAKWOOD -- For an Oakwood man, this would have been his 17th time running the Boston Marathon. A recent injury forced him to temporarily hang up his running shoes. But he and his family were still very close to potentially getting injured in the blast.
Walter Schaller says he would would have been crossing the finish line around the same time the bombs went off Monday. His daughter and son-in-law did run the race. They finished just minutes before the blast.
Schaller says he and his wife were driving in the car when they first heard something was wrong.
"We got a phone message that said 'we are alright.' We thought what is going on, so we went home, turned the TV on and we realized what happened," Schaller said.
The deadly terror attack had the Schallers glued to their TV. He's been running the race every year for nearly two decades.
"I don't know how describe it, it's just very sad. In a way I'm glad I wasn't there," he said.
But his daughter and her husband were there. Luckily they weren't injured, but they did witness the bloody aftermath, making an already memorable day even more so, but in a tragic way.
However the Schaller's don't plan to let this attack hold them back.
"It's such a great race. I'm going to continue doing Boston regardless of what happened today," he said.
Many analysts believe whoever was responsible for the bombings was familiar with marathons because the explosions happened within 30 minutes of when more than half of the runners typically cross the finish line.
Walter Schaller says he would would have been crossing the finish line around the same time the bombs went off Monday. His daughter and son-in-law did run the race. They finished just minutes before the blast.
Schaller says he and his wife were driving in the car when they first heard something was wrong.
"We got a phone message that said 'we are alright.' We thought what is going on, so we went home, turned the TV on and we realized what happened," Schaller said.
The deadly terror attack had the Schallers glued to their TV. He's been running the race every year for nearly two decades.
"I don't know how describe it, it's just very sad. In a way I'm glad I wasn't there," he said.
But his daughter and her husband were there. Luckily they weren't injured, but they did witness the bloody aftermath, making an already memorable day even more so, but in a tragic way.
However the Schaller's don't plan to let this attack hold them back.
"It's such a great race. I'm going to continue doing Boston regardless of what happened today," he said.
Many analysts believe whoever was responsible for the bombings was familiar with marathons because the explosions happened within 30 minutes of when more than half of the runners typically cross the finish line.