‘Struggle run’ TikToker uses platform to share manager’s 2013 Boston Marathon story
Regan Cleminson isn’t a marathon runner. But in 2013, she stopped before her shift at Atlantic Fish Company to watch runners cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
The celebrations didn’t last long as Cleminson’s life and the lives of countless others were drastically changed when bombs erupted.
Now, in a few days, Cleminson will return to the course for the first time on Marathon weekend since the bombing — this time as a runner.
- Read more:The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing: What happened in 4 maps
“This is an empowering decision to choose to take on the Boston Marathon as a representation of continuing to move past this really traumatic event,” she said.
2013
Cleminson wanted to have a “quintessential Boston experience.” So, she agreed to meet her boyfriend at the time before work to watch runners cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon.
As they were watching the marathon, Cleminson noticed two friends closer to the finish line. She suggested they go say hello — but they never made it there.
Within seconds, a bomb went off.
- Read more:‘It was just chaos everywhere’; She took a photo at the finish line, then the first bomb went off
Cleminson remembers not understanding what was happening. All she could see was dirt and rubble.
“When you’re that close to it, you don’t see that big billowing explosion above you. You see what’s immediately in front of you,” she said.
She thought it might be a collision on the Green Line below them. When the second bomb went off, her boyfriend thought it might be a gas explosion.
They began running.
“We hit that fight or flight response,” she said, adding she carries a lot of guilt because of it.
When she felt they were far enough away, she said she started thinking a bit clearer. That’s when the reality of not knowing what happened to her friends hit her.
- Read more:Timeline of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing
“I just started panicking being like what happened to them,” she said.
She began calling hospitals until she found her friends. They were both injured but survived.
Cleminson was also injured. She had numerous perforations in her eardrum, describing it as “completely blown to shreds.”
She wasn’t able to get surgery on it until July and had to have a second surgery a year later. It still impacts her a decade later.
“There’s definitely little limitations and lifestyle changes that you have to make. And while they’re small, all those lifestyle changes are also reminders,” she said. “For somebody wearing earplugs to a concert, it’s not generally a big deal. For me, it was a big deal because having to do that was connected to this really traumatic moment.”
Moving forward
Unable to watch the news of the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Cleminson stayed distracted with a Netflix documentary called “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.”
The documentary is about 85-year-old Jiro Ono, of Tokyo, and his journey of becoming one of the world’s greatest sushi chefs.
“I decided in that moment, f*** getting a regular job after all that. I need to go see the world. I need to go eat that man’s sushi. I need to go to Japan,” she said.
- Read more:‘Star-Spangled’ voice: Michelle Brooks-Thompson selected to perform anthem at the 127th Boston Marathon
She graduated from Northeastern a month later and began saving for her trip. By September she was on her way, followed by visiting South Korea and China.
She continued telling herself she was OK. But she wasn’t.
“I thought I was OK. And then you start to have moments and then you have maybe one big moment where you realize, no not everything’s OK,” she said.
That’s when she turned to therapy facilitated by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office. She continued to meet with them weekly for free for about a year. Now, she said, she has more tools in her toolkit to handle triggers in the moments but they’ve also become less frequent.
“Through that therapy, I’ve had way less instances where those moments have become triggering,” she said.
TikTok
Typically, Erin Azar’s TikTok, @mrs.space.cadet, is filled with “struggle runs,” trees that are cheer squads and conversation about thighs “gobbling” shorts. But the TikToker with nearly 1 million followers, has recently been sharing Cleminson’s story.
“I’m training for the Boston Marathon. I know I’m shocked too,” Azar’s TikTok begins. “OK, I’m not training to run it but I am training to spectate it.”
Cleminson and Azar met about a year ago when Cleminson offered her suggestions on places to eat in Boston when Azar was there for the marathon. They then became friends and Cleminson took over as Azar’s manager.
As the friendship grew, it was hard for Azar to hear Cleminson’s story.
“I instantly had tears in my eyes just imagining her being anywhere that had to do with that day. It’s just so sad and scary to me,” she said.
At first, the two had considered running it together. Although Azar considers herself a “pro struggle runner,” Azar realized Cleminson’s long legs and history in track might be too much for her. So, she’s encouraging Cleminson from the sideline and using her TikTok to share Cleminson’s story.
“I think seeing over the years how many people resonated with my story, which in comparison to Regan’s I’m like, mine is so boring and unhelpful in my opinion. Just me being a mom of three and really losing myself and just being feeling unhealthy mentally, physically. And then really doing something for myself and accomplishing that, I feel resonated with so many people,” Azar said. “And I’ve seen that in comments but also in real life, people telling me their stories about what my videos have done for them.”
She knew Cleminson’s story could do even more — and she had the platform to do it.
“I was thinking if I help people with my videos, imagine what Regan’s story could do for people,” she said.
The influencer also reached out to businesses to help get sponsors, including Shokz, to help spread Cleminson’s story.
“It doesn’t surprise me that they want to share Regan’s [story] because it is like such a big endeavor and it’s such like an uplifting kind of thing,” Azar said.
Her inspiration isn’t limited to the Boston Marathon either, Azar said. It’s for anyone who has dealt with something traumatic and is working to overcome it.
Even though Cleminson hasn’t run the marathon yet, it has already started reaching people.
“They’re really touched by Regan’s story and inspired by her, which I knew would happen because it’s a really powerful thing that she’s doing,” Azar said. “And I feel like it’s really resonating with a lot of different people.”
How the public can help
Azar’s running career and TikTok account started during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this time, she was encouraged by a cheer squad, which was actually just three trees in a cornfield.
“That really encompassed what my running was at that time, very isolating, very lonely and but also just finding humor in it like, Oh my gosh, here’s my loyal cheer squad. They’re always here.’ Obviously because they’re trees rooted in the ground,” she said laughing.
Three years later, Azar is excited to get a group of people together to be Cleminson’s cheer squad in person.
Beyond Cleminson’s friends and family, the social media influencer is asking fans to sign up through a Google form to be on her cheer squad. People who can’t be there in person are encouraged to send videos.
“I’m very excited for it to be actual humans holding signs screaming their heads off,” she said. “It’s everything that I envisioned my tree cheer squad to be doing but it in real life.”
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