Sunday February 6th 2011 at 5:28am as I drive across the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge to a race called Kaiser / San Francisco Half Marathon which my wife and I have run numerous times. This year my wife could not run the race due to a broken wrist so I was running alone, with 10,000 other runners. Its a great race through Golden Gate Park and along the Great Highway along the Pacific Coast.
This race was the 41st year for the event and one of the largest groups of registered runners. They also had a 5K fun run for walkers and other runners.
However, this year the weather turned extremely warm for what is typically understood to be our winter weather. When I arrived at 6:00am, it was 65 degrees and during the race I would guess it was up to 70 degrees. Most runners were overdressed, like me that day, and its hard to make a fast engine perform if its overheating.
One runner had just crossed the 13.1 mile finish line and collasped right there with a heart attack and died on the spot. He was 36 years old and a father of two girls. Medical teams could not apparently get to him fast enough.
Its a tragic event to witness.