2013 - Between the Blasts: A retired judge describes the finish line terror

Roger McMillin

A total of 23,336 runners started the 2013 Boston Marathon, with 17,580 finishing. In the next few days, the Associated Press analyzed images and data including the finishing times recorded by chips on competitors’ bibs, to pinpoint some of the runners who were in the finish line area when the bombs went off. First published at Washingtontimes.com on April 20, 2013, this is one of those stories:

The Judge

Four hours, 10 minutes, 16 seconds. That’s the time stamped next to Roger McMillin's name at the Boston Marathon this year

Maybe it shouldn’t matter this year, but to McMillin, it does.

The retired chief judge of the Mississippi State Court of Appeals needed to break 4:10 to automatically qualify for a return trip to Boston to run in the 2014 marathon.

He was well on his way when he heard the first explosion rock the area near the finish line. Then the second.