Runners Stopped Last Year Vow To Finish The Race

BOSTON (CBS) --- They are legends of the Boston Marathon but Dick and Rick Hoyt couldn't finish their 31st Boston.

"We got to the 23 mile marker and I noticed more police activity than usual. I stopped a police officer and asked if there was anything going on and he says 'Yes, there's two bombs that exploded at the finish line,'" Dick said.

To Donate: Team Hoyt

Nicole Pizzi of Easton was also forced to stop about a mile short of her goal.

"Everyone was very confused, we wanted to finish," she said. "We wanted to keep going but the police said 'No, you have to stay here.'"

Dick says that's when they told them, the Boston Marathon was over.

"My big concern was our families. We had thirty something people running for our foundation and all the families were in the bleachers and my kids were in there too," Dick said.

It would be two hours before the Hoyts learned their family and friends were shaken, but OK.

Nicole's mother Laurie was at the finish line, too.

"When the first bomb went off, I remember looking over to my left and seeing smoke going up into the air, people were screaming, hysterical," Laurie Bruyere said.

To donate: Nicole Pizzi fundraising page

Neither mother nor daughter knew if the other was safe.

"The horror I saw that day, nobody should ever see," she said.

Laurie managed to make a call but in the confusion, it went to Nicole's voicemail.

Nicole hadn't been able to bring herself to listen to the recording until recently.

"She said 'I have to find my daughter,'" Nicole said, fighting back tears.

It was hours before the two were reunited.

"I just remember getting back into the car and everybody was crying," she said.

This year, for this marathon, they'll all be back.

"I think it's going to be very emotional," Dick said.

Dick Hoyt planned on ending his marathon career last year.

"This means a very, very lot to both Rick and I to be able to run in this one because of everything that happened last year," Dick said. "I just couldn't believe that people would do something like that."

Fifty-five members of Team Hoyt will be with them, including Ted Painter and Nick Draper, carrying on the message of 'Yes You Can.'

"We're a strong community of runners and we will not be chased away from a great event like the Boston Marathon," Painter said.

Nicole says this year, she will definitely finish. She'll be running for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

"I'm [going] to be 21 years old on April 21st, it's going to be an extra special run," she said.

Nicole's mom will wait for her again, at the finish line.

"Mostly to support my daughter but just to let others know that it's OK and we can't be beat," she said.

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