The messages started arriving just hours after the bombings, pleading for an entry into the 2014 Boston Marathon. For months the calls and emails continued, runners begging for an opportunity to cross the finish line on Boylston Street and convinced it would ease at least some of their grief. ADVANCE FOR MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014 - In this Thursday, April 17, 2014, photo, University of Massachusetts nursing student Sarah Gasse speaks with a reporter in Boston.