A Laguna Beach Resident Who Was in Boston on Monday Tells His Story

Editor's note: John Loftus is a Laguna Beach resident and a nationally-ranked master distance runner in the 55-59 age group. He was among several Laguna Beach participants in Monday's Boston Marathon, where two explosions killed three and wounded 183. Though he finished first in his division, any celebration was obviously tempered by the day's events. Here, Loftus tells Patch how the day unfolded:

"I did not experience the explosions first hand. I coached 24 runners who were in Boston to run the marathon, but turned out we were all finished before the explosions. Some of us were celebrating in a local bar when the reports started coming in and watched the news coverage on the big screen.

"Obviously we were all shocked with the turn of events and worried about what was going on. We left to go back to our hotel and check in on all the others in our group. Many streets had been blocked off and fortunately for us our hotel was outside that area. There were sirens and many police and emergency workers converging on the scene, but otherwise the crowds were orderly and people were not in a panic.

"At the hotel, we were able to account for everyone, to our great relief.

"The day had started very high-energy, with perfect weather on the race course and huge enthusiastic crowds along the route. Many of my runners achieved personal best times and/or completed their first Boston Marathon, so were understandably in incredibly high spirits. Then with the news of the explosions and reports that people had died and been injured, the mood shifted to sadness, anger, confusion and sorrow.

"I talked with others in our hotel who were stopped en route and told to wait for a long time without food/water or warm clothing. They understood this needed to be done for their safety, but you could tell it had been a very tough ending to their Boston Marathon experience. But everyone I spoke with said they were planning to come back to Boston and run it again."