Boston Marathon Runner from Suwanee: 'We Heard the Boom ...'

Renee Fender was one of several runners from Suwanee who competed in Monday's Boston Marathon. The annual 26.2-mile run was marred by bombings that killed three people and injured hundreds of others.

In a posting to the Suwanee Patch Facebook page, Fender relayed her experience:

I fortunately had finished about 50 minutes prior to the explosions. My husband, two children, Cole and Emma, and I had been walking back to our hotel which was only a block away from the finish line. We heard the boom, then another one, and then we saw people running in our direction.

Lots of people. People were getting panicked and some were starting to cry. We headed into the hotel to the nearest tv to see what was going on. Within a short time there were other reports of more bombs that had supposedly been found, one in a nearby hotel. Within about a half an hour, they were evacuating our hotel.

Luckily we had local family with us who had come in for the day. We hastily gathered up all our things from our room, and headed out of the city within the half hour.

We saw local residents on the street offering directions, and a baker passing out his pastries to the hungry runners who'd been diverted off the course and had not been able to get anything to eat.

As we were driving out of the city, I couldn't help but notice how many runners were aimlessly wandering around in their wet running clothes with nothing but the mylar heat sheets, unable to pick up their gear bags that were in school buses at the finish area.

There were nearly 6,000 runners that did not get to finish the race, many without phones to contact friends and family. It was definitely total chaos.

-- Do you know friends or family who competed in this Boston Marathon? Share their experiences in the comments below.

See also:

• All From Suwanee Apparently Safe After Boston Marathon Explosions