Local runner: Boston Marathon has taken on new meaning

ATLANTA, Ga. — Runners from across Georgia are returning to Boston this weekend to run a marathon that has taken on a new meaning.

Among them, a Hall County runner and her husband who was at the finish line last year when two bombs went off.

"This isn't about me. This is about Boston, the survivors, and showing that we are stronger,” Theresa Panter told Channel 2’s Kerry Kavanaugh.

On Monday, Theresa Panter will run her 16th Boston Marathon.  Panter says she's taking care of some unfinished business.

"I heard the first bomb go off and, to me, I thought it was a canon,” she said.

After the second explosion, security forced runners backward on the course. It was the moment tragedy marred the 2013 race. The pressure-cooker bombs killed three people and wounded 264.

At the time, Panter was nearing the homestretch, minutes from seeing her husband, Allan, at the finish line.

"Not knowing where he was, I (was) just praying that he was helping and not hurt," she said.

In the midst of the chaos was Allan Panter, a Hall County emergency room physician.

When Kavanaugh first met Panter last year in Boston he said his instincts took over.

“The bomb went off and he reacted to the right, and when he turned back left he was basically the only one standing," Theresa Panter said.

Dr. Panter created tourniquets and performing CPR, triaging patients right along the race route.

Dr. Panter is also heading back to Boston this year.

He'll be there supporting his wife just as he has every Boston Marathon before, waiting at the finish line.

"I know that the survivors will be in the bleachers and I know my husband will be standing there,” she said.

Panter says she's truly running for a reason. She was asked to join ’Team Bouman’. Jeff Bouman is one of the people her husband tended to at the finish line. Bouman lost his legs. He will be at the finish line alongside Dr. Panter on Monday.

WSBTV