COEUR d'ALENE - Four North Idaho runners escaped injury during the suspected terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon Monday.

Three North Idaho residents were among the 23,181 runners in the marathon. All three finished before the blast hit about 4 hours and nine minutes into the race - two runners made it across the line by a little more than half an hour before the blast.

Michael Ehredt, 52, Hope, finished in 3:23.08 - 5,473rd among men and 6,580th overall.

"It was all so surreal," Ehredt said from his Boston hotel room. "I was just one block away when the first one went off."

If it wasn't for a twist of fate, he might have been right where the bomb went off. Ehredt said he had finished the race and walked through the corral to get some water and change his shirt.

That is when he ran into a sponsor, who wanted to walk back to the finish line to see his racing companion finish the race. He asked her to wait while he changed out of his wet clothes.

Ehredt said his sponsor insisted that he go to a hospitality area to change indoors, and that took about 10 minutes. Had he continued to change where he was originally planning to change, they would likely have been right at the finish line where the first bomb exploded.

"After I changed, we walked down to the barricade near the finish line, and when we were about a block away, the bomb went off," he said it was like a big firework going off. "It was really strange, but everyone was on top of it right away."

He said they were stunned and watched as emergency workers jumped into action, and then suddenly the next bomb went off.

"About 10 or actually 17 seconds later a second bomb went off just down the street," he said. "And I just said stop right here."

He said the race organizers quickly began stopping racers from crossing the finish line. His race companion was stopped about a half-mile before the finish line.

Both of them eventually made it to safety, he said.

"We just didn't know what was going on," he said. "It was really, really strange."

Sarah Hironaka, 36, Coeur d'Alene, officially finished in 3:24.51 - 1,287th among women and 7,071st overall.

Valerie Estes, a personal friend of the family, said Hironaka called to let everyone know she is safe.

"We were all relieved that she is safe," Estes said, adding they were proud of her finish. "She even ran a six minute mile."

Keith Hertel, 50, Bayview, finished in 2:37.44 - 1,551st among men and 1,651st overall.

His coworkers, who asked to remain anonymous said they were all trying to reach him when they heard the news of the attack, which was difficult because authorities had shut down cell phone service in Boston to prevent anyone from using a cell phone as a detonator.

"Someone in the office finally got a text message saying he finished the race, and was out of harm's way when the blast hit," one coworker said. "He is safe, thankfully."

Greg Gervais, owner of Copper Basin Construction, was registered for the run, but according to a company spokesperson Gervais decided against running the event this year.

Staff writer Brian Walker contributed to this story.