what the group of college students

Thomas Willauer, a student in Elon University’s Doctor of Physical Therapy program, had run the Boston Marathon the past four years, and only missed this year’s race because of a school conflict. He said the bombings had the opposite effect of scaring him away.

“Now I really want to go up and do it next year,” said Willauer, who’s already qualified for the race.

He and a few of his classmates in the doctoral program were also inspired by their professor’s close call. Sarah Talley, a physical therapy education adjunct instructor at Elon, had crossed the finish line 20 minutes before the bombs went off, said Willauer.

Betsy O’Leary, also in the doctoral program, has family in Winchester and the surrounding Boston area. She said she was keeping track of the news from the moment the bombs went off until Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev  was captured. “I did not leave the TV all day,” said O’Leary.

She and classmate Jamie Kuenzel added they were impressed by the quick thinking and reactions of those in the medical field.

“Everybody banded together, doctors who were running,” said Kuenzel. “I have two friends that were at the finish line, working (with) the medical staff,” said O’Leary, explaining they were in the University of New Hampshire’s Athletic Training program.

Now O’Leary, a runner herself, wants to work at future Boston Marathon medical tents. Kuenzel added that it’s important for them, as students in the sports and medical fields, to be aware of such events and learn how to respond to such trauma. “A lot of people lost limbs. Their lives have changed, medically,” she said.

And it was because of those lost limbs, and lost lives, that more than 100 runners, joggers, walkers and supporters gathered from Mebane, Elon, Burlington and elsewhere to participate in Monday night’s event.

“Tonight we run for those who can’t,” said Treadwell to the group that gathered outside Thataways Youth Center on Monday. Beside her, Wintringham rang a bell for each of the three people who died in the bombings.

Treadwell pulled her daughter close to her and said that at the end of every race, “She runs the last 100 yards with me. This is my family. This was personal.”

Pastor Tim Riddle of St. Marks Church in Burlington held a moment of remembrance, said a prayer and said, “Tonight let’s run, let’s walk, for hope.”

And that’s exactly what the group of college students, marathon runners, casual runners, and families with kids strapped into jogging strollers did.

Brightly colored running shoes hit City Park’s one-mile loop and into downtown for the 3.5- and 5-mile loops. Boston Red Sox hats bobbed up and down the hills of Main Street, and cars honked at the line of runners along South Church Street.

“One thing that this showed us is that in times of need, in times of crisis, we all come together,” said Treadwell. “And here we are.”