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Lisle runner’s reaction: ‘Oh my God, what just happened?’

A runner from Lisle says she heard the two explosions Monday at the Boston Marathon just two minutes after crossing the finish line.

Jenny Norton, 32, was with a slow procession of runners preparing to take ceremonial photos and pick up their medals when the explosions happened just feet from them.

“It was boom — ‘What the heck was that?’ - then boom again,” Norton said. “With one explosion, it’s ‘Oh my God, what just happened? Was it confetti?’ But the second one, which happened 10 seconds later is, ‘No, I don’t wanna think of what this is.’”

Norton, who works at the Schaumburg-based J-Power USA energy company, said she heard the sound of the first explosion — then felt it. She described it as the sound of a “loud music concert, and the bass thumping. You can feel it in your chest.”

She said there was relative calm among the runners who had just finished the race.

“The wonderful thing was that nobody panicked. Nobody had it in them just to sprint right after the marathon,” she said. “It was basically not panic mode from where I was. But probably also shock, wondering, ‘Is this really happening?’”

Norton said she is safe, as are others she knows through the Glen Ellyn Runners group who participated in the marathon. She joined the group last year shortly after moving to the western suburbs.

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Images: Explosions at the Boston Marathon

Jenny Norton of Lisle competed in MondayÂ’s Boston Marathon. She says she heard the two explosions shortly after finishing the marathon. Courtesy of Jenny Norton
Two runners in the Boston Marathon react to the two explosions they heard Monday shortly after crossing the finish line. Courtesy of Jenny Norton
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