Nyack Teacher Heard Blast Shortly After Completing Boston Marathon

Patrick Parietti went through routine activities in the moments after he completed the Boston Marathon.

He changed out of his running shorts, sent a text message to his sister with his time. He tried calling his mother, but she was in a meeting. He was on the phone with his sister about a block away from the finish line when he heard the explosions.

"Initially when the bombs went off, I didn't know it as a big thing," Parietti said. "I didn't know what it was. Then I knew something was wrong. A noise like that near the finish line.

"It was a lot of panic. People started saying it was a bomb and people were running down the streets. There were women crying. The police were screaming at people to get out. Get out. There could be other bombs."

Parietti has been staying nearby with fellow Suffern High School graduate Mike Fitzpatrick. He was able to walk to his car and drive to a house owned by Fitzpatrick before heading home to for a local television interview about the incident. 

"I got home at about 11," Parietti said. "I felt very fortunate. I was fortunate not to get maimed. It’s a sad, sad thing."

He said he learned much more Tuesday about the scope of the bombing, which has taken three lives and injured more than 170 people. 

"After running a marathon, you're not all together," Parietti said. "I saw people being taken away on stretchers, but I didn't realize how many got hurt."

Parietti said he has a particular fondness for Boston and the Boston Marathon, which his father used to run. Parietti qualified for eight in a row earlier in his running career, but had not been back in years. He was even told that he did not qualify this year, but was able to get in the race.

"It's such a great race," Parietti said. "I've run 18 New York (Marathons), but the New York doesn't compare to the Boston Crowed. It's sad to see what happened to their day."

Parietti said he ran the first New York Marathon after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and had feared that something like this could happen at a big race. 

For more on local runners who ran the Boston Marathon Monday, click here.