Local Runner Safe After Boston Marathon

The Upper East Side resident is grateful that he wasn't injured and described the chaotic scene

The twin bombings at the finish line of last week's Boston Marathon shook America to the core. Joel Shcrock, 27, a New York Roadrunners member living on the Upper East Side, ran in the marathon and witnessed the pandemonium. Luckily for the young runner, his legs had cramped up in the middle of the race, so he did not actually get anywhere near the finish line. But on his way back to the baggage area, about a 5-minute walk from the target area, Schrock heard two booms.

"I didn't know it was a bomb going off, I thought it was something backfiring or fireworks," said Schrock. "It wasn't until the T station was evacuated that we started to think something was going on."

Schrock and his friend walked to the train station to catch a ride back home because the T station (Boston's subway) was being blocked off by police. Shortly thereafter, Schrock took a train back to New York, and did not realize the enormity of the situation until he was safely inside a train car. From then, he said, it was a frantic social media storm of making sure his fellow runners made it out okay. Luckily, all of his friends had finished the race by the time the bombs had gone off.

"It's not something we ever thought would happen; no one thought the marathon would be targeted," said Schrock.

So would he be too afraid to run a marathon again?

"I've definitely made a point to try not to get too deep into what actually happened and avoid watching videos of the explosions, but a lot of us are pretty motivated to go out there and run again."