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Jean-Paul Bedard clearly remembers the ear-piercing blasts, the ominous plumes of smoke and the total pandemonium that erupted moments after two bombs went off at last years Boston Marathon. Jacob Tamme Jersey . The enormity of the situation only hit home days later though, when the 47-year-old was back in Toronto looking at a video his wife had taken of him crossing the finish line -- there, in a short clip, appeared to be one of the backpacks authorities believe contained explosives which ripped through the crowd. "She was just standing there in harms way that whole time," he said of the footage the couple later sent to the FBI. "I was a bit late, an hour later than I normally am and if I had been an extra 20 minutes, she would have been right there." The realization triggered an avalanche of emotions and Bedard, an avid runner, initially vowed never to return to the Boston Marathon again. Yet, like many other Canadians, the English teacher is now heading back to the city and plans to run the course again next week. Bedard, however, plans to run the marathon not once, but twice in the same day. "I needed to go back there," Bedard said, adding he had secured permission from race authorities to run a double marathon. The twin blasts which killed three people and injured more than 260 others on April 15 last year came to symbolize a turning point in Bedards life. Just weeks before last years race, Bedard told his family about sexual abuse he suffered as a child. During the marathon, he had a breakdown and was stopped by medics but managed to convince them he was hurting mentally, not physically, and carried on. He finished the race, returned to his hotel room for a quick shower and was back outside with his wife, 100 metres away from the finish line on a parallel street when the bombs went off. When he returned home, the combined stress of his personal issues and the bombings led to Bedard being diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. After a year of treatment, hes returning to confront the trauma and move past it. "I feel a lot of weight on my shoulders in doing this," he said. "But at the same time I feel like Im being carried by a lot of people to get through this." Bedard is among a number of Canadians who were at the marathon last year and felt the urge to participate once more. "Its something that I need to do and I want to do," said Dean Smith, a Newfoundland native who was one kilometre away from the finish line when he was stopped by race officials last year. The 46-year-old recalls trying to calm some of the panicked runners around him as word of the explosions spread. The worst part for Smith was not being able to call his mother for hours, to let her know he was safe. Smith only realized much later that a fall earlier that day, which had slowed him down considerably, likely saved him from being among the victims. "I could have very easily been at that line," he said, his voice shaking. "It really isnt sinking in until now." The blasts also made Linda Hensman realize how fortunate she was. "Every so often you need something to bring life back into perspective. To slow you down, to make you appreciate what you have," said the 62-year-old who was also stopped before she could finish the race last year. "I just wanted to go back under what I hope will be normal circumstances...I dont think you can let these events hijack your life." Race officials say 2,447 people from Canada have registered to take part in this years marathon, up from 2,032 registered last year. Four days after last years blasts, police killed one of the suspected bombers, 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, in a shootout and captured his brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who was 19 at the time, soon after. Prosecutors say the Tsarnaev brothers built two pressure cooker bombs and planted them near the races finish line. The brothers had lived in the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan and the Dagestan region of Russia before moving to the U.S. with their family about a decade before the bombings. Jacob Tamme Jersey For Sale . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Chris Harris Jersey . The judges scored it 49-46, 49-46, 50-45 for Kennedy. Wrestling proved to be the difference with Kennedy taking Bisping down in the first, third and fifth rounds and keeping him there. The crowd at the Colisee Pepsi didnt like it and neither did Bisping, whose game is built on movement and technical striking.DENVER -- Facing his first predicament as a head coach, Brian Shaw suspended one of his players and sat down the rest of the Denver Nuggets for a lengthy chat Thursday. He hopes his message got through and possibly serves as a turning point in the season. The Nuggets are trying to snap out of an eight-game slump, their longest in nearly a decade. "Didnt anticipate for (the meeting) to last as long as it did, but however long it needs to take to flush everything out and figure out whats going on with our team, we decided to take that time today," Shaw said. "Its been a long morning after a long night of watching the game over and just playing everything back in your mind and trying to find a solution for where we are." One of the biggest moves of the day was Denver suspending veteran point guard Andre Miller for two games for "conduct detrimental to the team." Miller was upset after not playing in a 114-102 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night. It was the first "Did not play -- coachs decision" of Millers 15-year career. Asked how his meeting with Miller went, Shaw said he hasnt talked to him yet. Shaw didnt elaborate on why Miller was suspended but there were reports that Miller voiced his displeasure with Shaw over his lack of playing time. "It just came to a boiling point. We made a decision and were moving forward," Shaw said. Millers suspension begins Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies. He also will not travel for a game Sunday in Los Angeles against the Lakers. "We will have a conversation before he comes back with the team," Shaw said. "Thatll happen when it happens." In the meantime, Shaw met for several hhours with the rest of his squad as the Nuggets try to get back on track. Nate Irving Jersey. . "Everybody got their feelings out. Everybody said what needed to be said," point guard Ty Lawson said. "Hopefully everybody can take that to heart and change so we can start getting wins. Its always healthy to get things out and get everything in the open. Hopefully, this will be a turning point for the rest of the season." Shaw is hoping for the same thing. "Ive been on championship teams that while you were winning you had these kinds of meetings to air everything out," Shaw explained. "It happens and its a part of what goes on in our business and a family. These things happen. "There was a lot of things people wanted to get off their chest." Miller was a favourite of former coach George Karl, who was ousted after winning a franchise-best 57 games last season only to be bounced from the first round of the playoffs for a fourth straight time. The transition from Karls up-tempo style to the system Shaw wants to run hasnt been all that smooth. This season could be filled with growing pains, which has been hard for the fans to digest. The Nuggets drew some boos after losing their fifth straight game at Pepsi Center on Wednesday. They were a franchise-best 38-3 at home last season. Shaw said the takeaway from the meeting was the importance of "hard work and effort." "If we bring that every night and we ended up losing every game, we can still live with ourselves because we know we gave it everything we had," Shaw said. "To this point, at different stages in the games, we havent been doing that, so thats why we are where we are." ' ' ' |
