Ocean City, MD Half Marathon

I got back from Maryland yesterday around 4:30. I had a GREAT race (we all did)! The weather was perfect..couldn't have been better. It was cool, but sunny with a slight breeze. Probably in the 50's or so. Kathleen, Brian & I all exceeded our goals..Brian finished in 1:55, Kathleen 1:58 and I was 2:05 (new PR for me by 6 minutes!). Gregg had a broken toe and couldn't run, but he came along and graciously agreed to be our coach/cheerleader/caddy/chauffeur. And, he did a GREAT job. We planned out where he was going to be around the course to give us drinks, etc. and it worked out great. It was really nice to have someone do that. We jokingly talked about possibly doing that for each other for future races. I think it made a world of difference.

My pace was 9:29 which I was very pleased with. It didn't seem to be a problem to keep that pace until about mile 10-11. By then, my legs were getting pretty tired and I felt like slowing down. I was trying to beat my first half marathon time (of 2:11) and even if I dropped down to 10 min. miles, I'd still beat it. But, I really didn't want to do that..if I could keep going at my current pace I could smash that time. And, that's what I did! I was soooo happy with that.

The course was totally flat other than the bridge at mile 12. The bridge takes you over to Assategue Island. I've never walked on that bridge before (just drove). I didn't realize how high it actually is. They made us use the narrow pedestrian bridge (rather than the one that the cars drive on) which was a little weird. I felt a bit nauseous. I'm not afraid of heights at all, it just felt strange running on it.

Right after I got my medal and was just standing around in the tent talking, a man right behind me collapsed. He landed face down on the concrete. We yelled for help and medics were right there. Within a couple of minutes they started giving him CPR, but you could tell he wasn't responding. They eventually took him away in an ambulance. We couldn't find any news online or on tv about the race so we kind of assumed he must be okay...

My sister-in-law emailed the race director to ask about his condition since we were right there when it happened. She was told that he didn't make it. He was 40 years old. They said his wife was also running in the race.

I just can't stop thinking about that and how tragic it is. You do hear about runners dying in races, but it's actually not very common when you think about how many people are running. Still, it's kind of scary. It makes me wonder what this guy's situation was..did he train, was he experienced, etc. More than likely, he probably had some kind of heart disease or underlying (possibly unknown) issue. I've even been looking online for his obituary. I don't know why. I haven't found anything yet.

Went for a 4 mile run today to loosen up. My quads are pretty tight. Everything else feels good though. Not sure what my next race is going to be...possibly the Freihofers if I can get my daughter to run it with me. I'll keep you posted :)