Brooke McMullen is a freshman communication sciences and disorders major and a previous Boston Marathon runner. McMullen was running for the Best Buddies team, a non-profit organization that works with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As McMullen got to the starting line on Monday, however, she realized she had a problem.

“So, for the past week I have been limping with quadriceps muscle strain, but I wasn’t going to let the injury stop me after all the hard work,” McMullen said. “Even as I was walking to the start line I was in a lot of pain, and 26.2 miles seemed a bit farfetched.”

McMullen ran for nine miles on an injured foot before her coach saw that she was limping. He then picked up and carried her on his back for another mile to meet up with McMullen’s family.

 “My family and friends were waiting for me at Natick Center, and planned to cheer me on several stops along the marathon route, but once they saw the condition I was in we took off,” McMullen said. “In the car, I argued that I wanted to at least walk the last mile so I could be there to support the rest of my team, but when we stopped the car to use the restroom I fell out of the car and couldn’t hold myself up.”

Her family took her to the Newton Wellesley Hospital to be examined. The coverage of the bombing came on TV as she was waiting in the emergency room.

“It was devastating to see such a terrible thing happen in Boston, with so many runners, children, staff, and families affected,” McMullen said. “I am so unbelievably thankful that I was in the hospital with the ones I love and not at the finish line, because if I wasn’t injured, that would have been my intended finish time.”