Rabbi Seth Phillips of Congregation Keneseth Israel, Allentown, was running his second Boston Marathon when two bombs exploded near the finish line.

"I had just finished, and was collecting my medal when I heard a boom behind me," Phillips told The Press the day after the April 15 tragedy. "I turned around and saw a huge amount of smoke, then the second explosion.

"I was too far away to hear the screams or crowd sounds."

As the last group of runners were approaching the finish line around 2:50 p.m., a bomb exploded near Boylston and Exeter streets.

Thirteen seconds after the first explosion, a second bomb detonated a block away, near Boylston Street and Ring Road.

Phillips said everyone around him was encouraged to keep walking away from the area.

Before the blasts, when he was about two miles from reaching the finish line, Phillips was thinking about slowing down or even walking.

Then he saw a runner with a prosthetic leg, and that runner's courage inspired him.

"I realized I had no excuses and kept running," Phillips said.

Until he turned on his phone, Phillips was not aware of the magitude of the bombings, other than seeing a huge number of fire trucks and helicopters.

The rabbi was shocked, angered and saddened when he realized what happened.

"The most startling was getting to the airport and seeing all the troopers with machine guns," he said. "I am glad to be back in the Lehigh Valley, a loving community.

"I am touched and blessed to be part of a loving community that stretches over two continents."

Phillips arrived back in the Valley around 9 p.m. Monday.

"I was concerned the airport was going to shut down, but my flight took off," he said.

Phillips, who was running his 53rd marathon, began running when he joined the Navy.

"I am a retired Navy chaplain," he said. "About six months after I was going to the gym every day, my colonel asked me if I wanted to go running.

"I thought it was a test. We ran six miles and a marathon is 26.2 miles."

Three people, including an 8-year-old boy from Dorchester, Mass., were killed and approximately 200 others were injured in the bombings.

FBI special agents along with other law enforcement authorities in Boston are investigating the bombing as an "act of terrorism."