'We Were There for History, and Not a Good Part of History'

It was her brother's fourth Boston Marathon, but for Merrimack resident Elise Thompson, 2013 offered the first opportunity to witness the spectacle of Marathon Monday firsthand.

Thompson traveled to Boston with her husband, 6- and 11-year-old sons, parents and sister-in-law. There they planned to see her brother at both the 15-mile mark and then again at the finish line.

The first part of the schedule went as planned, with Thompson and company enjoying the beautiful spring weather and novelty of cheering on the runners. After her brother ran past, the family jumped on the MBTA Green Line and headed to the Hynes Convention Center stop.

As they stepped off the train and began the brief hike up the station stairwells toward Massachusetts Avenue, Thompson said she and her father glanced at their phones.

2:50 p.m.

Though they didn't hear the explosions only blocks away, they were met, upon exiting the station, with a crowd of marathon spectators heading in the opposite direction of Boylston Street.

"People started running toward us and telling us, 'you can't go down there, turn around," Thompson said. "As we looked to our left, you could see the marathon route, but it was weird because there were only a few runners passing by, and then the police started telling us to turn around and get on the sidewalks.

"You could just tell there was something wrong. And then all of a sudden there were tons of fire trucks and police cars and ambulances all passing us heading toward Boylston (Street)," she added. "There was no service on our cell phones and my sister-in-law was trying to text and call my brother, but we couldn't get through. We turned around and started walking back toward (Commonwealth Avenue)."

That's when they came across what Thompson described as "an eerie scene."

"It was like the 'no-finish line,'" she said. "It was the spot on Comm Ave. that police had stopped all the runners. There were people all over the place yelling out names and trying to find their loved ones."

While the scene, at the time, was chaotic and confusing, she noted that there was a "heartwarming" human element in watching Back Bay residents come out of their homes in droves to offer water, food, blankets, bathrooms, cell phones and support to the runners.

"People didn't know what to do," she said. "That was the scary part. We had no idea what was going on. We knew there were explosions, but we had no idea what kind of explosions. Our first reaction was to just walk away from it all, especially with the kids. The boys didn't see the horrific stuff that we then saw on TV, and I'm grateful for that, but it was really weird to be in it and not have a clue what was going on."

Thompson said she held up a sign with her brother's name and, after a short walk, it was he who found them, jumping over the barrier and holding back tears as he embraced his pregnant wife.

Together, the family decided to walk across the Mass Ave. bridge, toward Cambridge, and it was only then that Thompson said the enormity of the situation sunk in.

"As we were walking across the bridge, there were state police boats driving along side us, and we could smell the smoke," she said. "I just wanted to keep walking and walking to get as far away from it all as possible."

Thompson said she and her family were fortunate to make it out of Boston quickly, but noted that none of them will ever forget the experience.

"It was such a beautiful day and we were on such an emotional high, and then, all of a sudden, it was chaos," she said. "I told (11-year-old) Ben, we came down here to celebrate and be a part of it, and as it turned out, we were there for history, and not a good part of history."