Charleston runner: It was like a scene from a movie - wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |

Several runners from the Lowcountry competed Monday in the Boston Marathon.

Charleston resident Eric Hansen says he crossed the finish line just before 1 p.m. At the time of the explosion, he was several blocks away from the scene grabbing a cup of coffee with a college friend.

"You know those skyways that go across from one building to another over the street in a city, all of the sudden these people just came, this mob came across at a very high pace. We then went to the window. Everybody started going to the window of the skyway and looking down on the street, and we looked down and it was kind of something out of movie. All the sudden there were cops everywhere."

He says people around him were eagerly checking their phones and making calls trying to get any information about what was happening.

"We went outside briefly, and we went back inside, and when we went outside you could smell it. What could you smell? You could smell smoke in the air."

This was Hansen's second time running the Boston marathon, and while he says he will be back, it will be with a heavy heart.

"It's the 117th Boston marathon. Anytime you see that now it's going to be a weird reminder. It overshadows anything else."