Runner badly hurt in Boston bombing takes on Chicago Marathon

(CBS News) Runners at Sunday's Chicago marathon held a moment of silence over the weekend to honor the victims of the bombing at the Boston Marathon. Among the competitors: a woman seriously hurt in the April attack. But on Sunday, she conquered a lot more than 26.2 miles.

For Lee Ann Yanni, Chicago's marathon on Sunday was more than a race. It was a statement of determination. Less than six months ago, she was waiting for friends near the finish line at the Boston Marathon when the first of two homemade bombs exploded a few steps from where she was standing.

Yanni recalling the aftermath said, "I looked down at my leg and saw that my bone was sticking out and shortly after that, the second explosion happened."

Rescue workers rushed her to the hospital.

"The lower part of my leg was shattered," she said. "It severed my nerve in two spots, I broke my big toe. I had two muscles removed out of my leg."

While she was a spectator in Boston, she had run mini-marathons and had planned to run Chicago's race as a tribute to her late father. After Boston, she had one big question for the doctors.

"Before I even had surgery -- I was like, 'Will I be able to run again?" she said. "After surgery, 'Can I run again? When can I run again? When can I run again?'"

She eventually answered the question herself.

"I had set my mind to do something," Yanni said. "And no matter what it took, nobody was gonna take that away from me."

After months of rehab and just five weeks of long-distance training, she made the leap. She finished in five hours and 44 minutes.

She said after crossing the finish line, "It's all paid off, we did it."

Yanni called the moment "absolutely surreal."

She said, "We're not gonna let two guys that decided to do what they did take away people's dreams."

She already has set her sights on another marathon next year -- the one in Boston.

Watch Dean Reynolds' full report in the player above.