Ryan Shay - Dead at 28 (Read 1620 times)

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/olympics/11/03/bc.oly.marathon.death.ap/index.html Anyone see this yet? Thoughts going out to his family from me too... Runner dies in U.S. marathon trials Posted: Saturday November 3, 2007 11:51AM; Updated: Saturday November 3, 2007 12:59PM NEW YORK (AP) -- Top distance runner Ryan Shay died during the U.S. men's Olympic marathon trials Saturday after collapsing about 5½ miles into the race. He was 28. New York Road Runners president Mary Wittenberg said Shay was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital and was pronounced dead at 8:46 a.m. "It cuts a knife through everybody's hearts," Wittenberg said. Wittenberg said Shay received immediate medical attention. "There were several layers of medical response," she said. "It was very quick." Shay of Flagstaff, Ariz., hit the ground near the Central Park boathouse, a popular Manhattan tourist spot, during the 26.2-mile qualifier for the Beijing Games. The death came a day before the New York City Marathon. "He was a tremendous champion who was here today to pursue his dreams," said Craig Masback, chief executive of U.S. track and field's governing body. "The Olympic trials is traditionally a day of celebration, but we are heartbroken." Shay was a favorite going into the 2004 trials but was hampered by a hamstring strain and finished 23rd. He was the 2003 U.S. marathon champion and was third at this year's U.S. 25K championships. He also won the U.S. half marathon in 2003 and 2004. He was the NCAA 10,000-meter champion in 2001, the first national individual title in track for Notre Dame. Shay was the U.S. 20,000-meters (20K) road racing champion in 2004, making him a four-time national champion. His wife, Alicia, also is a top distance runner. She was a two-time NCAA champion and the collegiate 10,000-meter record-holder during her days running as Alicia Craig at Stanford. She and Ryan met at the 2005 New York City Marathon and they married in July. Alicia was hoping to make it to Beijing in the women's 10,000 meters. "My thoughts and prayers just go out to them and their family," said winner Ryan Hall, a college teammate of Alicia's at Stanford. "It's a sad thing." Shay, who was born in Michigan and graduated from Notre Dame, qualified for the trials at the 2006 Twin Cities Marathon. "It's a big loss for the running community," said 2004 women's marathon Olympic bronze medalist Deena Kastor, who once trained with Shay. "It's a day we should be celebrating. It has cast a pall. The distance running community is very close."

Unbelievable! So sad.

Ryan was from a small town in northern lower Michigan, Central Lake. Five kids in the Shay family: all great runners. His dad is a well known cross country coach. This is devastating to the Shay family and the whole community. Very sad.

Great dedication thread on Letsrun for Ryan started by his dad.... http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2203897&page=0

i was so sad to hear this, earlier. i had a running date w/ my roommate in central park this afternoon, and running past the boathouse... i had to stop and walk a bit. my heart goes out to his family and friends. i haven't posted the news or commented widely on it b/c i have so many friends running tomorrow and i dunno. i just haven't wanted to bring it up to them in case it does a number on their minds/moods.

Ryan Shay was a teammate of mine at Notre Dame. Our careers overlapped for 4 years. Whenever I think of the best runner I've ever personally known...I think of Shay. He defined everything that is important to be a successful distance runner. The one thing that stuck out above anything else with Shay was without a doubt, his toughness. You could see it in every stride he took. Purposeful, passionate, furious. That was how he ran. Every day. A lot of people criticized him for the way he trained. The miles were one thing, but lots of guys run a ton of miles. With Ryan the criticism was more that he ran them too hard without enough rest. On the other hand, I don't remember him being injured from running very often. There is no other runner I've known that approached running with such a single-minded focus. From the first day I met him, it was obvious that he was going to do whatever he had to do to become great. At ND, this wasn't appreciated at first. He hammered everything and everyone his freshman year in cross country. It didn't matter what the workout pace was, or what the race strategy was. To Ryan, it was simple. It was running and you always did it as hard as you could. There was no point to him in holding back. The older guys had some problems with it. Even us younger guys couldn't wait to see him get put in his place once the season really got tough. When it did, he held his own. He earned a lot of respect by doing it his way. Eventually, he started to compromise and find a way that was better for the team dynamic. He ended up being an incredible captain of the team later in his career. Guys respected him and looked up to him. He returned the favor. He was a great mentor for the rest of the team when they needed him. He was a very geniune and caring guy. It took a little time to get to know him, but the people around him were very important to him. One of my favorite Shay stories was a weekend a few of us spent at the Mt. Sac relays. We were all having career-best weekends. Shay went 28:26 in the 10k, smashing his PR. I chopped over second off my 800 PR. Another guy, Luke Watson, destroyed his steeple PR. We were riding high. The three of us went for a run the next day and ended up god knows where. We ran off-road, off-trail up a huge hill somewhere in the Socal countryside. We got a fence at the top of hill that extended out past a drop-off. We had no intentions of going back the way we came, and with coiled barbed-wire across the top of the fence, the only option was under the fence, with nothing but a 100 or so feet of air below us. Shay didn't hesitate. He inched toward the drop-off, clung to the fence, swung his hands to the other side and climbed up vertically and over horizontally with his arms to where he could put his feet on land again. Watson and I looked at each other in disbelief, and in our minds, had no choice but to follow. Which we did. The rest of that run was so adrenaline-filled, I wished I had a watch on my last 5k split. Watson, with an once or two of intelligence, dropped back. Shay and I were going mano y mano, refusing to back off. I couldn't believe I was hanging with him. I don't think he could either. But it didn't matter. We raced the hell out of the last 2 miles of that run. Shay did finally break me in the last 1/2 mile. We got back to the hotel, and saw Watson jogging up, his shins bloody from the all the crap we ran through. Shay and I looked down, seeing the same on our own legs. The three of us just looked at each other and laughed. I'll remember that day for the rest of my life. RIP Ryan. You were, and continue to be, an inspiration.

Thanks for sharing, Mishka. Great story, great memory.

Just saw this tribute on another forum

I'll do that! Count me in as well...