I was on the 7th floor of an office building in downtown DC about 82 miles from the epicenter. The noise I remember hearing was kind of a squeaking sound coming from the building itself, or maybe from the cubicle furnishings.
This was my first earthquake experience that I actually felt - I was on a subway train during a 4.5 a few years back, but never noticed because the train is always rocking with the motion of about 6.5.
I always wanted to experience about a 5.0 or so to see what it was like - yeah, pretty cool! Never thought I'd feel it here, and hope I don't feel anything stronger around here. No real damage to my house - maybe expanded some existing cracks in the drywall plaster seams, but nothing fell or broke.
The official reading was 5.8 on the Richter scale.