When two explosions rocked the finish line at last year’s Boston Marathon Ray Allaire felt the blast as he waited with his girlfriend’s 11-year-old son. Kristine Gaffney, Allaire’s girlfriend, had yet to finish the race as he comforted her son during the chaos.

In a 250-word essay, the Marion resident described how he was “personally and profoundly impacted” by the attacks.

Submitted to the Boston Athletic Association, the essay was written for a contest designed to give people a chance to run the highly coveted race. Generally, runners must either post a designated qualifying time or raise thousands of dollars for charity to race.

The contest attracted 1,200 submissions. The association selected Allaire and 466 others to run the Marathon in 2014.

In his essay, Allaire, who ran his first marathon in Boston 13 years ago, wrote about his connection to that initial race: “At the time, I was struggling personally, but training for and running in this special race saved my life. I’ll always associate this marathon with healing.”

Last April, Gaffney entered the marathon for the first time. Allaire and her son were excited to see her finish.

The explosions stopped the race, killing three people and injuring 264.

He recalls what happened when the second bomb was detonated.

“We felt the percussion it came right through our bodies. We felt it in our feet,” he said. Authorities shut down cell phone service for safety. Allaire was cut off from Gaffney.

He didn’t panic and told Gaffney’s son that his mom was OK. He acknowledged that others suffered more that day, but everyone was affected.

“It really did trouble me,” he said. “I want to go back and run the course again under different circumstances and celebrate the day with everyone.”

For his first Boston Marathon, Allaire raised funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Golf tournaments he organized raised $25,000 for the organization and secured him a spot in the race.

“I’ve been hooked since. It’s kind of become a lifestyle,” he said about running. Since then he’s ran in 10 marathons in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and elsewhere.

Allaire also helped found the Gateway Running Club, which sponsors run meet-ups at no cost.

He begins training in early January with members of the New Bedford Track Club. While Gaffney wasn’t able to finish the marathon proper, she did return a few weeks later to run the course on her own.

“I’m going to run for her and everyone else,” Allaire said.

Allaire and the other contest winners will have to pay the same $325 entry fee as other non-qualifying runners.

The number of people will be much larger than last year.

The association will admit 36,000 runners for the 2014 marathon, an increase of 9,000 from the previous year. The marathon will be held on Patriot’s Day in April.

For more information on the Gateway Running Club, visit www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayRC/