john kerry gave up his senate seat in order to be secretary of state. the race to fill his seat included somebody running in the marathon today. gabriel gomez crossed the finish line within minutes of the explosion. joining us now is will ritter, the press secretary arranging a party for mr. gomez when he heard the blasts going off. thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> where were you? >> i was at the corner. we were going to have a press conference, we were going to talk to the media. we were assembling the media. >> he already cleared the finish line? >> he had, fortunately ten minutes earlier. he heard the blasts and turned and saw the smoke from boston public library 100 feet away. >> in terms of the scene and how people reacted, most people's instinct is to run away.