HS Runner Crawls Across Finish with Shattered Leg (Read 1038 times)

[from ESPN] Ask Markwardt to tell you her memories from the meet, and the first thing she mentions is how perfect the entire day was supposed to be. She was to run the biggest race of her life in the morning. As soon as it finished, she was to drive with her dad from Columbus to Warren, where she would be the maid of honor in her big sister Anna's wedding that night. At the 1- and 2-mile markers, Markwardt was on a personal-best pace. Then, as she entered the stadium at Columbus' Scioto Downs, with about 400 meters to go, she heard her left leg crack. The leg had been sore on and off for the previous two weeks, prompting Berkshire coach Julie Cole to limit Markwardt in practice. When she heard the crack, Markwardt thought it was a muscle pull or tear. She thought she could gut it out to the finish line. "There was a runner from one of our rival schools right in front of me," she said. "I kept staring at the back of her jersey and pushing myself to catch her." But some 200 meters later, Markwardt heard the leg crack again. And again. Then there was a louder crack, and her entire leg gave out. She fell to the ground as onlookers winced at the sound and the sight of what happened. One of Markwardt's teammates, unaware of what had happened, encouraged her to get up. She tried, using her right leg. But as soon as she shifted weight to the left, the loudest crack yet came. And her leg gave out again. "At that point, I knew what had happened. I knew my leg was broken pretty badly. And I knew I couldn't get up again. So I started crawling," she said. She said she thought not of her coach, nor her parents, nor anyone else who had encouraged her to never give up, to see things to the finish. Instead, she thought of the countless stories she had heard about runners who collapsed before a race's end and somehow found the courage to cross that last line. Even if her leg had given out at the 400-meter mark, she said, it wouldn't have mattered. She was going to finish. "They may not have let me, and it might not have been pretty, but I would have tried," she said. "I had come so far. Our team had come so far. All season, we had been working for state, and now we were there. I was almost done, and there was no way I was going to let the team down." So, she finished the race in a time of 20:24.07, only 18 seconds slower than her personal best (20:06), despite crawling for the last 45 feet. The finish was good for 67th place, helping her school to a fourth-place finish in the Ohio High School Athletic Association Division III championship. "When I saw her crawling, I wanted to cry," said Richard Markwardt, Claire's father. "I was just so incredibly proud -- as proud as any father could be." After the race, there were no tears, no screams of horror. Instead, Markwardt sat patiently on a training table while doctors put a splint on her leg and then transferred her to a Columbus hospital. She had broken her tibia in multiple places, her fibula in just one. She needed surgery, in which a rod and a series of screws were placed in her leg to help piece it together. Doctors told her they believed her original soreness was a stress fracture made worse by running in the state meet. They said she likely suffered a partial crack of her tibia at first, but when she pressed on, she shattered the bone in multiple places. And when she stood up to try to finish the race, doctors told her, that's when they believe she broke her fibula. Although her maid-of-honor dress and a hairstylist awaited her, she didn't make it to her sister's wedding. She shed her first tears when she apologized to her sister on a cell phone from the hospital.

I will be the first to admit that this was a situation where you just should not finish. Rather than having a relatively minor break that she can easily recover from, she will now definitely be out for quite a while and may very likely have killed her competitive running career. Run through annoyance, not through pain.

I imagine that her short crawl did not much worsen what sounds like a very serious double break.

I will be the first to admit that this was a situation where you just should not finish. Rather than having a relatively minor break that she can easily recover from, she will now definitely be out for quite a while and may very likely have killed her competitive running career. Run through annoyance, not through pain.

I completely agree - her leg will never be the same.

walk it off! well that coach is in a lot of trouble - ran his team so hard their legs snap?!?!

No Way! It's the state meet for crying out loud! Remind me not to go to war with you. Really.. remind me not to go to war... but if I'm going, I don't want you with me.

*Faces danger of completely being bashed* 1. Are the state meets more important than your health?? In my opinion - NO. This girl is no hero in my eyes, she is ignorant. Ignorant of her body and health. Toughen it out in a rough race - awesome. Crawling over the finish line with a totally broken leg (broken from running) - stupid. 2. What does all this have to do with going to war? Run to Win offered a common sense opinion - he actually might save your life in a war!

Runnergabe ran more miles in October than Cougar89. She wins the argument. I love this place.

I imagine that her short crawl did not much worsen what sounds like a very serious double break.