Rick Boyd was less than 200 yards from finishing the Boston Marathon. In a photo from the race you can see him in the foreground as, in the background, one of two bombs explodes.
Boyd, an Atlanta attorney, was running with his wife, Tara Adyanthaya, but Tara was slightly ahead of him, out of sight in the horde of runners. He felt the pressure wave of the detonation, and he thought: my wife is up there.
He watched in disbelief as people pulled horribly mangled bodies away from the blast site. He saw disembodied limbs on the pavement.
In the chaotic minutes after the tragedy, Boyd sought desperately to find out what had happened to his wife.
Much later, he had a choice to make: should he run the marathon again?
In an unforgettable story in this Monday's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and on myajc.com, staff writer Craig Schneider recounts the horror of that moment for Rick Boyd, what happened to Tara Adyanthaya and Boyd’s decision on whether to return to Boston.
Must-reads in this weekends AJC and on myajc.com
My friend, Herb Emory
Capt. Herb was known to hundreds of thousands of people in Atlanta, but he had an extraordinary bond with Paul Letalien of Acworth. In Sunday’s AJC, Letalien talks of the tragic reason Capt. Herb sought him out in the first place and of the friendship that formed between them. Victoria Loe Hicks reports in Sunday’s paper and on myajc.com.
Hidden costs of the Braves’ move
When Cobb County and the Braves announced the team’s move to the Cobb’s Cumberland/Galleria region, local officials promised that the county’s taxpayers would be on the hook for just so much of the cost, and no more. Guess what? Staff writers Dan Klepal and Brad Schrade report on Sunday.
APS considers a big gamble
The Atlanta school system has one of the worst pension liabilities in, well, the world. To bridge the enormous gap between what the school district has and what it will need, APS is considering floating more than a half-a-trillion dollars in bonds. But the experts say it’s too big a gamble. Staff writers Mark Niesse and Russell Grantham report on Sunday.
Homeless shelters closing
Fulton County’s two shelters for the homeless, including one that’s just two years old and serves women and children only, are closing their doors. The county has decided it simply can’t afford to run them anymore and is shutting them down. Staff writer Bill Torpy reports on Sunday.
