Medfield Marathoner Konover Recalls Monday's Chaos

Erika Konover, 33, ran this year's Boston Marathon as part of the Boston Children's Hospital charity team.

Konover estimates she arrived at Kenmore Square about 20 minutes after the explosions.

At that point, people there still did not know anything had happened - runners were all running, the crowd was still cheering like crazy.  My sister had been watching for me there and jumped the barriers and started running with me.  She told me she had just heard they were not letting us go to the finish line and that they were diverting runners to a different finish spot due to an explosion at Marathon Sports.

She said her sister had heard the explosions but, at the time, had thought they were thunder since it had been difficult to hear much over the roar of the crowd.

Moments later, they ran into a wall of stopped runners, right before Massachusetts Avenue.

We started hearing that they had stopped the race, there were rumors of explosions in the stands, but no one knew what was really going on and it was hard to get information.  There was a lot of confusion, most runners didn't have phones on them and those that did couldn't get any calls to go through."

Konover said they encountered a woman who had just gotten off the phone with her husband who had been right at the finish when it happened.  

"She was shaken and upset.  She shared some details she had just learned: There had been explosions in the stands, people were seriously injured, we knew then how serious this was and that it must be intentional," she recalls.

Konover said she and her sister immediately started to backtrack on the course to try and find two friends who had been running and were not far behind her.  

I tried to stop runners, in particular those on my Boston Children's Hospital charity team, to let them know what was happening.  Many spectators who had heard were also trying to do the same but it was hard to get the attention of the runners as many were so focused on getting to the finish line and weren't yet aware that anything was amiss.

She said that word had started to spread through the runners and surrounding crowd.  

"There were a lot of tears and panic as those who had family and friends at the finish line desperately tried to find out if they were safe.  I was very lucky to be with my sister who had a phone and, though we couldn't make calls, texts would eventually go through," she said.

By that point, Konover knew her husband as well as the husband of a friend (who had planned to be at the finish line together) were both safe but rumors were spreading that there were other explosions and they didn't know if others were coming.  

There was a constant sound of sirens and police cars and ambulances were flying by.  

As we were searching the crowds for my one friend I still hadn't found, we looked to our left and 20 feet away saw a bomb squad suiting up. At that moment, a police officer came up to us, pointed at the bomb squad and told us this area was not safe and to get out of there NOW. We listened and started moving as quickly as I was able to, heading west away from Kenmore Square. Police were working hard to get everyone to leave the area.  

Konover was eventually able to reunite with their husband and friends and make their way home using the MBTA.

Says Konover,

It's still hard to process what happened. There are a lot of emotions I feel when I think about how a day -- that should have been so wonderful for so many people -- got turned into such an awful scene. I feel very fortunate that everyone I know who was there is okay, but feel so much sadness for those that were hurt or killed by this senseless act.