NASHUA – For greater Nashua runners, there is nothing like Boston.

“Everyone wants to do Boston,” said Thomas Cassetty, a Nashua runner and president of the Gate City Striders running club, the state’s largest.

“Boston is the ultimate marathon. It’s just the epitome of marathons,” said Cassetty, 37, who has four marathons under his belt and ran his first in Boston on Monday.

It’s more than the allure of running the country’s oldest and most prestigious marathon. It’s being part of something special in a town where runners and running is revered, local runners said. Then there’s the thrill of 1 million cheering spectators carrying you along the 26.2-mile course.

“The people are amazing,” said Pam Triest-Hallahan, 54, another Gate City Strider who ran Boston for the fourth time.

Even after the elite runners pass, the crowds stick with you, she said.

“And when the everyday runners go by, they are just as excited,” the Nashua marathoner added.

Since the 2013 bombings killed three people and wounded 260 others at the finish line, the lure of Boston only grows stronger, local runners said.

“It’s the whole Boston Strong mentality,” said Cassetty, referring to the motto that represented Boston’s and the region’s response to the terrorist bombings.

“It’s One Boston. Everybody is part of that,” he added.

Nashua physical therapist Amanda McCann was working at the finish line medical tent when the bombs went off in 2013.

“It was a like a war zone out there,” McCann, 41, recounted. “A lot of the doctors went out to the finish line and attended to the victims out there and they were brought into our tent.” Ambulances lined up at the other side to rush them to hospitals.

“We saved a lot of lives that day,” she said.

At the time, McCann had never run a marathon. She ran her first that fall. Last year, she ran Boston, raising more than $7,000 for Camp Shriver, a free summer sports camp for children with and without disabilities at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

“Last year was super special with Boston Strong. Everyone wanted to be there to take our city back…and take our finish line back and prove we are still strong and can do this,” McCann said.

“It was a healing process for me to achieve this goal to run the Boston Marathon…and run it for the people who can’t run anymore,” she explained.

McCann is staffing the finish line medical tent again this year.

“It’s just a great day down there. I’ve been telling people it’s almost as good a Christmas – the positive energy, the crowds, the spectators, the volunteers, the runners, the coaches. It just brings everybody together on such a great day. I’m very excited and honored to be down there again and working in the tent,” she said in a telephone interview Sunday night.

Triest-Hallahan remembers nearing the finish line in 2013 and hearing her husband cheering her from the crowd of spectators who lined Boylston Street. She waved to him and finished the race. Then the bombs went off.

“When the second one went off, I looked around and I could see it was near where he was,” Triest-Hallahan recounted. But she couldn’t see him. Someone loaned her a cell phone and she called him. It turned out, he left the spot where he was standing when Triest-Hallahan passed and was walking toward their pre-arranged meeting spot when the second bomb exploded.

“We were just really, really lucky,” she explained. “I just couldn’t believe it happened here, especially at something like a marathon. Most people wanted to help that day and that’s the good that came out of this tragedy.”

Triest-Hallahan, who first ran Boston in 1983, didn’t run another marathon until she turned 50 in 2010. She ran Boston in 2012 and 2013, but took a break from it last year.

“I just decided I need a year away,” she said. Running the Boston Marathon on Monday was her eighth marathon since she turned 50.

Dan Dugan, another Gate City Strider from Nashua, has run so many marathons – at least two dozen – that he’s lost count.

But Boston tops them all. It’s been on his “bucket list” since he watched his older brother do it as a kid.

“Boston is the mecca for everybody,” Dugan, 42, said. “It’s got to be the history of it.”

He is among an estimated 55 Gate City Striders that ran Boston this year. The Boston Athletic Association has more than 60 greater Nashua runners registered.

They include Randy Pierce of Nashua, who is blind. Pierce ran his first Boston Marathon with the help of his guide dog, Autumn.

Former Nashua resident Bryan Lyons assumed an historic place this year when he assisted the infamous Team Hoyt. Dick Hoyt and his son, Rick, have become an institution for their wheelchair team. Dick, now 74, and his son, Rick, who has cerebral palsy, have been participating in the marathon for more than 30 years.

Lyons, a Methuen, Mass. resident, took Dick’s place pushing Rick up Heartbreak Hill this year.

Kathryn Marchocki can be reached at 594-6589, kmarchocki@nashuatelegraph.com or @Telegraph_KMar.