"I'm about 50 feet from the finish line and at this point I'm ready to throw my arms up for the cameramen and I hear this tremendous boom off my left shoulder," Joe Curcio of Chalfont said.
That very moment in Curcio's life was captured by a photographer from Reuters.com.
Cameras from above also rolled as Joe was about to finish the race then the first bomb exploded.
"All of us were running along the food tables to try to get away from whatever that noise is," Curcio said.
All that Curcio's fiancé Dolly Dennery wanted was to know that her man was safe. She had already crossed the finish line.
"It was terrifying because I didn't know where he was, didn't know what had happened," Dennery said.
Fortunately, the pair found each other within minutes.
Another local runner caught in the chaos of the Boston bombings returned to his home in Germantown earlier Tuesday.
"I'm just so happy to be here; unfortunately, what should've been a really terrific event ended in sadness," Randy Clever said.
Clever was also about to cross the finish line when the bombs went off.
"By the time I turned around, it was just all the debris and dust coming out," Clever said.
Clever is feeling thankful to be home safe and sound, but can't help but ask 'why?'
"It's hard to imagine why somebody might have done that. I just don't know why. What's the point?" Clever said.
"It makes me angry that someone would defile such a wonderful event," Dennery said.
While there is anger and confusion, for these runners there is no feeling of defeat.
"It makes me want to say, I'm going back, I'm not gonna stop running marathons. I won't let acts of terrorism stop me from doing the things that make me feel alive," Dennery said.
