Hampton Runners Confirmed Safe After Boston Marathon Blasts

Several Hampton residents are home safe and sound more than five hours after two deadly explosions cut short their Boston Marathon runs Monday.

It took hours for Linda Desjardins, 65, a Hampton Beach resident, to make her way home. She said she was physically unharmed during the incident, though, which claimed the lives of two people and severely injured at least 99 others as of 8 p.m. night.

"It's been a long day," said Desjardins, who arrived home at about 7:50 p.m. Monday.

Desjardins is one of several local residents who participated in the marathon. First-time Boston Marathon runner and Hampton Falls resident Tammy Carignan was also unharmed, but was still unable to leave Boston late Monday.

"I am safe...trapped in the city," said Carignan, reached via e-mail by Patch. "But so grateful to be safe."

The Union Leader has reported runner Allison Quinlan, of Hampton, was unharmed despite being two minutes away from the finish line "when she heard what sounded like a cannon going off." Quinlan's family was also unharmed, and the Union Leader has reported that Quinlan said it was "the scariest thing" she's "ever witnessed."

"He had blood streaking down his face. It totally looked like he walked out of a war zone," said Quinlan, 45, of a blood-covered spectator she saw near the finish line.

Julie Benson, of Exeter, was running the race , was less than a half-mile from the finish line with the bombs went off.

Benson, a mother of two who works as a local guidance counselor, told Exeter Patch she met a stranger who let her use his phone to call her husband and let him know she was safe. She made it out of the area in a bus and met up with her husband in Chelmsford before heading back home to Exeter.

"I'm very shaken up but so grateful to be alive," said Benson.

Janet Parkinson, the wife of Portsmouth Public Works Director Steve Parkinson, also had her Boston Marathon —the 18th consecutive Boston Marathon she's run — cut short Monday. Parkinson was running with her son, Jordan, and also described the aftermath of the explosions as a "war zone" to Portsmouth Patch.

"We're very, very lucky that none of us got injured," said Parkinson, 61. "I hope this is the last time I am very that close to something like this again."

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