Boston Marathon: Chesterfield Trainer Half-Mile From Finish Line When Explosions Hit

A trainer with the Chesterfield Athletic Club was half a mile from the finish line at the Boston Marathon when she heard the explosions that have reportedly killed two people and injured dozens. 

Laurel Noel, manager at the fitness center, had a brief phone call with the trainer, Linda Larson, who described a chaotic, confusing scene, but said she was okay. 

The two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon had people carrying bloody spectators into the medical tent set up for runners, according to an Associated Press report on the Pocono Record website.

"There are a lot of people down," the AP quoted one man saying. The explosions happened about three hours after the winners crossed the finish line. 

NBC News reported fire engines, police and emergency medical personnel were headed to the scene. An affiliate reporter told NBC News she heard two loud explosions, and that "everybody kind of ducked and hit the ground," and Jackie Bruno, reporter for New England Cable News said she saw people with significant injuries, including one person with a leg blown off.

"Runners were coming in and saw unspeakable horror," Bruno said. 

Google has set up a "people finder" website where readers can find out about people who have not been accounted for or share information about people for which they have information.

According to the race's website, many runners from the St. Louis Metro Area were participating in the race. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Chesterfield resident Thomas Polcyn, 43, had already finished the race and was in his hotel room when he received a flurry of text messages. 

Polcyn told the Post-Dispatch that everyone in his group was okay, if "a little freaked out." He had traveled with a group of about six people from the St. Louis area who normally met at 5:30 a.m. each morning in Clayton run. 

In the immediate aftermath, St. Louis running companies Fleet Feet and Big River Running Company used their Facebook pages to provide updates on local participants. They reported that their contingents of runners are all safe and accounted for. 

Eric Strand, a Drury Hotel executive from Town and Country who has had his running efforts profiled previously on Patch, was on the ground in Boston and tweeted a photo from his vantage point. He indicated that he missed the explosion by 10 minutes.

For reporting from the Boston area, check out BackBayPatch.

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