A woman who was 100 metres from the blasts and actor Sean Astin were among the 2013 Sun Run competitors thinking of the victims and survivors of last week’s Boston Marathon bombings.

Vancouver ran for Boston on Sunday. Yellow and blue hair ribbons were knotted to ponytails, runners wore BoSox caps, bright blue socks and even Bruins jerseys.

One runner had a hand Air Jordan 23s lettered sign on her back: “I’m running for Martin,” a reference to the bombing’s youngest victim, Martin Richard, whose life was remembered at a Air Jordan 18s Mass in Boston on the same day.

Paula Hillier of Langley wore her Boston Marathon 2013 shirt, a blaze of yellow defiance.

Seventeen Boston marathon participants were commended for their courage in a short ceremony that included a minute of silence before the Sun Run started.

A sudden quiet was Air Jordan 2 how she described the moment everything stopped.

“I didn’t hear the din of the crowd anymore. Then I heard a helicopter. It was silent, except for the sirens .”

The news of a bombing quickly passed among the crowds and runners.

“A woman beside me was crying, my husband and children were at the finish line. I can’t get in touch with them.”

Hillier said runners quickly became disoriented as their body temperatures quickly dropped when the run halted.

A Forbes magazine photographer gave her a jacket, said Hillier, and insisted she keep it as she evacuated.

Hillier plans to return to Boston next year and finish the marathon she started but didn’t complete.

Joining today’s Sun Run was a way to bring some closure and support her sister who was running her first 10K.

Today’s Air Jordan Spizike event, which went off without a hitch, was a positive note in a difficult week for many runners.

No extra security was added for this year’s race, said Jamie Pitblado, Vice president of promotions and community investment for the Vancouver Sun.

“We reviewed our plan this week with city, police and fire and things were well in hand. It was business as usual on all fronts for another great day,” said Pitblado.

“People were standing up and coming out to be part of something very special. It was important that runners came out and showed they weren’t afraid.”

Thirteen hundred of the 48,196 participants who took to the streets for the 29th annual Sun Run signed on to run a late registration spike that followed last Monday’s bombing.

Sun Run organizers committed a donation of $10 per late registration to the Boston One Fund, a charity benefiting those most affected by the Boston bombing.

Along with private donations that came in on run day, Pitblado estimate at least $15,000 was raised for Boston.

Dwayne Lucas also sported the Boston yellow and blue as he ran with a group of 28 coworkers from Cascade Aerospace in Abbotsford. Friends of his had been in Boston as well.

“We wanted to share our strength, it’s amazing. It’s been spectacular, all the people,” he said as he surveyed the exuberant crowd at BC Place.

It was an all ages crowd, including 98 year old Eleanore Cross of West Vancouver who was running her 26th Sun Run.

In the Mini Sun Run, one year old Emily McDonald was the youngest participant to foot it.

Eight year old David Gallagher, of Surrey was one of dozens of kids that ran the Air Jordan Women Size full 10K.

He even beat his Dad, Joe, (whose main exercise is dog walking), running just a few steps behind him.