Terror rocks Big Apple but resilience brings calm again

New Yorkers unafraid in wake of bombings.

This week, for the first time since moving to New York City 13 months ago, I questioned the decision.

Two bombings and one attempted bombing in New York and New Jersey. It’s not the kind of thing that creates a sense of calm in a city where life is already hectic.

The facts have been well documented this week. Last Saturday afternoon, a pipe bomb exploded along the course of a charity run on the New Jersey shore. On Saturday night in Chelsea, on Manhattan’s west side, a pressure cooker bomb exploded in a dumpster and another was found nearby. On Sunday, five bombs were discovered, undetonated, in a backpack in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

The pressure cooker bombs in Chelsea hit particularly close to home, because they were planted about six kilometres from where I live. But also figuratively, because they were of a similar style to the Boston Marathon bombs of April 2013.

I ran that race in 2011. A million people line the route. From the start to the finish, a wall of sound envelops you – cheers and the clanging peal of cowbells.

The last 800-metre stretch on Boylston St in Boston’s Back Bay neighbourhood is the race’s crescendo. It’s loud, and packed with spectators – which made those two bombs in 2013 so devastating.

That year, I had a dozen friends racing. Some finished before the explosions, while others were held back about 2km from the finish. They waited in the heat, penned in by the course ropes.

People from nearby apartments came down with pots and pans full of water to cool and hydrate them. After all, they had 38km under their belts. And it was a hot April afternoon.

The New York bombing suspect, Ahmad Khan Rahami, immigrated from Afghanistan as a 7-year-old. Inevitably, as the week has unfolded, the ugly roar of anti-Muslim and antiimmigrant sentiment has filled