Shorewood Chiropractor Reflects on 'Surreal' Experience in Boston

Up until about 40 minutes after he finished running in his first Boston Marathon, Gabe Ellis said the experience was not all that much different than what he has grown accustomed to running in marathons elsewhere around the country.

Big crowds, strong runners.

“It was just your typical marathon,” said Ellis, a 30-year-old chiropractor from Shorewood. “My whole family and my girlfriend were there waiting at the finish line. There were sitting in the spectator area for 3 hours, soaking everything in until I finished.”

Ellis finished before the explosions went off that killed three people and injured many others. He was clocked in 3 hours 7 minutes.

His time quickly became irrelevant. His survival—and the survival of his loved ones—moved to the forefront of his thoughts after terror reined on the streets of Boston.

“About 40 minutes after we left the finish line, our phones started ringing and we were getting hit by all sorts of texts,” Ellis said. “Then, we heard the sirens and saw the rescue vehicles heading downtown. Everybody was glued to the TV. It was a chaotic situation—surreal in nature.

“My family and my girlfriend—they were sitting right there where the explosions happened. My friend was in the exact spot of the first explosion.”

Ellis and his party escaped injury. He was in Boston with his mother, Teresa, stepfather, Bruce Sutherland, girlfriend Rachel Harris, and Dr. Josh Koenig and his girlfriend, Alyssa Callahan. Koenig was sitting where the first bomb exploded.

Gabe and Rachel were on one of the only flights to make it out of Boston on Monday night.

He was back at work Tuesday in his Shorewood office—Ellis Chiropractic, 805 W. Jefferson St., Unit A. And he was feeling reflective.

“Boston is different than other marathons,” said Ellis, a runner since his high school days in Okemos (Mich.) and a veteran of seven marathons. “First of all, it’s a qualifying marathon. The top athletes go there. Then, the entire city shuts down. It’s a holiday—Patriot’s Day.

“So, the streets are lined with thousands of spectators. And it’s an emotional race for a lot of people because it’s a difficult race. There are celebrities and well-known runners in the crowd. Finishing is a great achievement for a lot of people.

“As I ran, I tried to soak all of that in and enjoy the experience. Then, it was just surreal when everything happened. Bombs going off. Nobody was talking about their time or talking about Heartbreak Hill. Everybody was in panic mode.

“Everybody was making sure the people they were with—their families—were all right. It’s the most frightening experience I’ve ever been involved with, I can tell you that.”

Even so, Ellis vowed to continue running marathons and to return to Boston.

“Absolutely, I’ll go back,” he said. “I don’t think this will hold me back or anyone else in the running community. In order to run marathons, you have to have a tough mindset. It’s 80 percent between the ears, not the legs. So, I think it’s that mentality, that toughness that will push us all to carry on.

“I think you’ll see greater turnouts in the future as runners bond together in a collaborative effort to show their strength. Whether it happens in Boston or in our town—Chicago—I don’t think something like this is going to make people stop.”

Ellis, who has been practicing chiropractic medicine in Shorewood for three years and has operated out of his current location since last April, said he’ll continue running “until my legs won’t let me.”

The question of why is one he is just now beginning to answer for himself.

“I’ve never been asked that before,” he said. “I guess it’s just the challenge of it. Running in marathons is a sport where a minority of the population competes, and I think the overall feeling of gratitude and accomplishment makes for an experience like no other.”