Easley Resident Finished Boston Marathon Just Before Explosion

Easley resident Shirley Smith said she was glad to be home Tuesday evening, but more than that, thankful to be alive.

After finishing the Boston Marathon just before 3 p.m. Monday, Smith, who works for the Easley Post Office, said the "nightmare began."

"I was running toward the finish line, the crowd was roaring, I felt good about my time," Smith said. "I got across the finish line and received my medal, a blanket, water, fruit and walked over to the steps at nearby church to put on my warm-ups. Then I heard a boom."

Smith, a member of the Greenville Track Club, said it wasn't a loud boom, but that it wasn't that quiet either.

"It was like something just fell out of the sky," Smith said.

Then she saw the second explosion as it went off. The smoke and the scene were just 25 feet from where Smith stood.

"An older man fell backwards," Smith said. "The smoke was probably six- to 10-stories high. You couldn't see much."

Smith said that people were trying to climb over the fence that separated the runners from the spectators. She said the runners seemed calm, but the spectators were afraid.

"I guess we had just finished that race and our adrenaline was already pumping, but no one said anything."

Smith said she asked several police officers how to get back to a train station, hoping to get back to her hotel room and to call her friends who had come with her and her family. She said everyone was being directed to a nearby park, so she began to walk. The park was near a train station. Only after arriving would she learn that the trains had been shut down.

"There were people everywhere, the phones were shut down," Smith said. "Bus drivers directed me here and there."

Finally, Smith got on a bus and asked the lady sitting next to her to use her phone. She said most people had no service, but that she was able to text.

She said she asked the lady to text her daughter and to tell her she was "OK." That was around 5 p.m.

It would be nearly 6 p.m. before Smith would return to her hotel room and to call her friends who had traveled with her to Boston.

"Everyone was OK," Smith said. "Shaken up, but, OK."

She said she heard sirens throughout Monday evening and into the early morning hours Tuesday. She said her flight was to have left much earlier Tuesday from Boston, but the airport had delayed flights due to another bomb believed to have been in the airport.

"I got in to some traffic on the way home tonight," Smith said. "But nothing will ever compare to Monday. That was a catastrophic nightmare. I'm just thankful to be home."

This was the third time that Smith has run the Boston Marathon and her 25th marathon overall.