Former Dowagiac resident Christie (Wade) Cook, 38, of Kalamazoo, finished the 117th Boston Marathon in 3:45:29 Monday despite two bombs exploding near the finish line, leaving an 8-year-old and another person dead and scores injured.

“That was a shock,” said Christie’s mother, Terrie, of Dowagiac, who received a text from her daughter that she was okay and driving back to Michigan.

The first blasts took place about four hours after the start of the men’s race, with several thousand runners yet to finish the 26.2-mile course.

News outlets reported a loud explosion heard on the north side of Boylston Street, near a photo bridge marking the finish line, with another blast heard shortly afterward.

Cook, a 1993 Union High School graduate who won her age bracket at Steve’s Run last summer, described herself Friday as “very excited … I want to soak in all I’ve read about,” so she and her husband, Greg, made a weekend of it in Boston.

The mother of three sons ages 11, 9 and 7 only began running in January 2010.

Boston was her third marathon.

— Dowagiac Daily News