Jean Schmidt: "All of a sudden, I heard this BOOM" - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

Fmr. Congresswoman Jean Schmidt returned home Tuesday after her and her twin sister were in Boston running the marathon together when two explosions rocked the event.

Schmidt says she crossed and stood around 15 feet from the finish line to wait for her sister to also finish the race.

"I used a stranger's phone and called my husband, said I'd run one of the better marathons of my life, and hung up with him. He said she was about 20 minutes behind me," recalled Schmidt.

Shortly after the conversation with her husband, she says that's when the explosion rocked the ground around her feet.

"All of a sudden I head this, I head this BOOM, and I saw smoke. It was so surreal."

She says the explosion paralyzed her with shock, until a second bomb went off.

"I ran so fast to get away from it, and I saw people being rushed to the medical tent that were in really bad shape," said Schmidt.

She tells FOX19's Brett Hoffland, from the instant it went off, she knew it was a bomb.

Schmidt says the hotel staff where she stayed was wonderful, allowing her use their phone to let everyone know her and her sister were okay.

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