Today was a day I'd been looking forward to for so long and I can't believe how quickly it changed into a day of sorrow. It would have been sad nonetheless, but it happened right in front of me and I tried to help save him and nothing we did made a difference.
I'm going to have to go online and find some old video clips of Ryan Shay racing, because that's the image of him I'd like to keep in my memory. Not those empty, blank eyes or the sound of those last few terrible, convulsive breaths or the frantic, fruitless effort to find a pulse between compression sets....I want to remember him young and strong and fast, and very alive.
My heart goes out to Alicia and the rest of his family... Every time I feel like I'm starting to wallow in self pity for how this makes me feel, I remind myself of their heartache and loss that they are feeling today.
Despite all of this, the race still happened and a hundred and thirty other less traumatic drama's played out today. It was tough to see Dan Browne run so strongly and then fade and to see Khalid Khannouchi rally powerfully at the end, but not quite soon enough. There were only three tickets to Beijing being given out today though, and in the end, these were the young men that earned their passage to the games:
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