"It was definitely a close call and just sickening," a Lehigh Valley resident says of her time at the marathon.
Finishing the Boston marathon was the fulfillment of a dream for Upper Nazareth Township resident Lisa Dente.
Her training had been hampered by an injury and Dente wasn't as strong as she hoped to be coming into the 26.2 mile race. But the crowds lining the race buoyed her through the challenging course.
"It's 26.2 miles of constant cheering, the loudest cheering you can imagine," Dente said tonight from her hotel. "It was not just a few people. The crowd goes absolutely insane. It was amazing. It's just a neat atmosphere."
She crossed the finish line when the clock read 3:53, a net time of 3:49:53. The first explosion occurred as the race clock read 4:09:44.
"I was really close," Dente said.
She went through the finisher's chute, got her medal, picked up her checked bag and as she was headed to the family meeting area, Dente heard the two explosions.
"Everyone just froze on the street and looked up," Dente said. "I happened to find (my family) almost immediately after the second explosion."
Dente's parents, husband, children, her two sisters and her one sister's three children were all there to cheer her on throughout the race. Her cheer section tried to reach the finish line but it was too crowded and turned away.
"There was someone watching over them," Dente said. "It was definitely a close call and just sickening."
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Lisa Dente, of Upper Nazareth Township, finishes the Runner's World half marathon last fall in Bethlehem.
Dente thinks the 9/11 terror attacks immediately were on everyone's mind as everyone looked to the sky when they heard the blasts.
"You are in a big city with big buildings ... " she said. "Then it was just sirens almost immediately just sirens everywhere."
Dente and her family quickly decided to get out of the race area before they had an idea what had occurred. They just started walking and since the subway was shut down, Dente said they walked five miles just to catch a bus. The bus took them to the airport where their hotel's shuttle picked them up. Cell service was so spotty in Boston most of their updates came via text messages from friends and family in the Lehigh Valley.
"It was my dream come true," Dente said. "It was not supposed to be like that."
It's such a shame, she said, that such a happy day was marred by death and injuries.
"It's a sick world," Dente said.
But it was also amazing to see how people responded offering help, she said.
"It is just heartbreaking to know this has to be attached to my dream," Dente said.