'I'm Still Shell-Shocked,' Says Boston Marathon Finish Line Announcer

Kim Opperman of West Hartford is a marathon runner who has gone the distance eight times, but on Patriots Day he chooses to volunteer instead.

For the past five years Opperman has stood on a "lifeguard" chair just past the Boston Marathon finish line, making announcements to keep the runners moving through the finish area, and alerting medical personnel when he sees a runner having problems. He got the volunteer job through a friend of a friend.

Opperman was perched on his platform, facing the finish line Monday afternoon when he heard a big boom. "What were they doing setting off a ceremonial cannon," he recalled thinking.

"When I heard the second boom, I knew there was a big problem," he said.

Opperman was on the corner of Clarendon and Boylston, about a block and a half from the spot where one of the bombs detonated.

The police or race officials – he now can't recall who it was – came by quickly, telling him to shut everything down.

"I'm still shell-shocked. It was surreal," he said Tuesday night.

"There's so much good energy at a marathon, especially Boston. It's the premier running event – the preeminent race," he said. That positive energy was shunted as everyone stopped in their tracks, he said.

Opperman headed to the operations center to return his microphone, watching as other volunteers at the finish line poured gallons of water into the gutters to clear the area so emergency vehicles could get through. 

A Boston Globe reporter at the operations center asked Opperman what he saw. "I saw a big white plume," he told the man, and later he heard that same phrase reported in multiple newscasts. 

Opperman said the injured were taken from the scene quickly, brought to the medical tent in the finish line area that was already staffed with 850 volunteers. "Nurses, doctors, they take the day off [to volunteer]," he said.

There was a lot of panic initially, Opperman said. "Some of the runners were really shaken. They're already drained, and there was some panic there," he said. 

As he walked back to his car, on the outskirts of the race area, he saw people crying.

Opperman was able to get out of Boston, went to his brother-in-law's house, and was back in West Hartford by 8:30 p.m.

Opperman plans to run his ninth marathon in October, the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in Schenectady, NY, which is a much smaller race. He doesn't plan to run Boston, joking that he is "quite a bit too slow," plus he doesn't want to train during the winter months, but he plans to return to his volunteer post next year and thinks the race will be bigger than ever.

"I'll be there. This isn't going to beat us," he said.

"Next year is going to be the 118th year. They're not going to stop it," he said.