First earthquake I ever felt (even AFTER a week in San Fransico/San Jose less than a week after Mr. St. Hellens blew) was in Decatur, IL., on a Sunday morning at 0015, back in '83.
I thought my laundry was unbalanced in the washer...went downstairs and found it in the "swishy" cycle yet.
"Earthquake? Naaaah!"
At 0700, the clock-radio popped on and WBBM-AM/Chicago was on with their news...lead story? "3.2 earthquake hit this morning, in the St. Louis area, at 12:15 A.M.. It could be felt as far away as the Chicago suburbs of..."
"No Chit!!! THAT was an earthquake? COOOL!"
Now, maybe not so cool...
Yep...it the big one...just priming itself for "the day" to come...
It was a very interesting feeling...haven't felt one since...your 5.2 must have been a VERY different feeling from my 3.2 and it appears you were a bit closer...I never did check the distance Decatur was from the St. Louis one...I might see if I can even look that incident up...I'm sure if the news-idiots were able to read about it, it had to have been recorded, officially, somewhere...