I really loved this blog. You remind me of why I run. I set up a website in honor of my children and started running for them. I would be happy to wear a gold band in honor of Ryan Shay. I did not know him but Kevin Collins trained me this year and he spoke very highly of him. If there is anything my family or my children can help with let us know. We don’t have much but we do have determination to overcome!
Lauren,
That was a great tribute. I think you really captured the essence of Ryan with that. You put into words so many things I knew but could not fully express about Ryan.
This is hands down the best tribute to and window into Ryan Shay’s life that I’ve read so far. Thanks, Lauren, for the love, attention and care you invested in writing this piece — and for the honor you’ve bestowed on Ryan, Alicia and their respective families.
This was a wonderful tribute. I’ve always enjoyed reading your writing, but this was especially moving. Although I never met Ryan, Alicia, or you, I have followed your running careers over the years (I’m roughly the same age as you guys)and I felt an immediate sense of loss when I heard about Ryan this weekend. I was at the trials to watch my boyfriend run and the two of us have been mourning his death all week. The running community is a small one, so an event like this really hits close to home b/c it can seemingly happen to anyone of us. It’s nice to see how loved Ryan was and the tributes his friends are paying him at this time. Good luck with your training and thanks for sharing this with us. Take care.
Lauren,
As a father of a couple of teen-age daughters who are also runners, I started reading this column as a way to help and understand them better. Your words have always been tremendously beneficial for me from that perspective. I am also a professional writer. And, as I’ve become a faithful reader of your column, the real joy for me has been to read the work of someone who obviously has a real gift for writing. Your Ryan Shay tribute is yet another example of a what a truly talented young writer you are. I hope that in your many travels and experiences in the coming years, in running and in other areas, you continue to share this gift with a wide audience of readers. Your Ryan story is about as moving of a piece as I’ve read over the past few days related to Ryan’s unfortunate passing. Thank you for caring so much, and for writing about it in such a heartfelt, evocative and moving fashion.
All the best,
John
Lauren, this was beautiful and a fitting tribute to someone who has touched so many people. I hope that you are always able to hold onto the good memories and continue to share them with the people that Ryan inspired.
Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your thoughts and emotions. I’m just a regular runner who watched the race online and cried with joy when the three qualifiers crossed the finish line, then cried with despair when I learned, moments later, of Ryan Shay’s death. Reading your entry connected me again to that day. I am moved by Ryan Shay’s passion, and by your decision to wear a gold band in his honor.
as an OK runner who came into the sport late but loves it, i’m always amazed at the abilities of the great runners like Ryan. but its great to hear the man and friend he was is just as important
i pray that his family and friends can find piece knowing the good Lord needed a runner in heaven and decided it was his time.
A beautiful tribute to a wonderful, dynamic young man. The tributes from around the world on his passing show what a special person he was. Respected, admired, loved, every thing applies. The young racers who made up Ryan’s extended family on the track, roads and hills are a remakable group. Tough but caring, driven but kind, extremely self-disciplined yet the first to make a wicked joke. Thanks for leading the way in distance running, a truly wonderful and healthy activity.
Not ever having met Ryan or Alice you made me cry! You write beautifully and with so much sincerity.
Last Saturday I was hoping to catch the drama of the US trials by watching the webcast. Unfortunately it was geoblocked so I had to settle for text updates on various running web sites. But it still was very exciting and my heart was racing when Brian Sell moved into that precious third spot. But when news reached me about Ryan’s death it all seemed so tragic.
It’s still hard to comprehend, and my thoughts are with Ryan’s family and his close friends. You story makes this tragedy very personal, despite that I’m living far away in Europe.
Lauren, thanks so much for those remembrances of Ryan, honoring him as to the way he lived his life with intensity, leaving nothing back. He’s an inspiration to us all and I appreciate you sharing how he touched your life.
Thank you Lauren for these words. For those of us who didnt have the opportunity to know Ryan as you did, your tribute allowed us to get a glimpse of his heart. What an incredible heart!
Lauren,
This is a wonderful tribute to Ryan. Thank you for sharing this with us. As good as you are as a runner, you are an even better writer, able to express feelings that most of us can’t articulate, much less understand.
Lauren,
what a beautiful tribute to Ryan. I sent this to my runners so they could read this very beautifully written story of a great guy married to your good friend, Alicia.
I appreciate you sharing this so the whole world could read your feelings about him and his intensity and zest for life.
We will miss his talent as a great American runner and as a Christian, I will certainly pray for Alicia, you and his family and friends.
A moving, well written piece, that not only lays bare the relationship you had with Ryan and his wife, but also exposes what bonds so many of the running community together. When the gun goes off, we’ll fight like mad to beat each other, but when the sweat has dried and our bodies have cooled, we’re back on the journey of creating relationships and life together.
As a fly on the wall of your high school years (I got to know your coach Dave Delong while in Florida that rainy, flooded year of Footlocker) I found you to be as passionate toward running and life as Ryan. It was cool to watch your success and joy in the Southern Section, and now to see you continue on in the pro ranks.
Thanks for writing your reflections on Ryan. A good way of helping us all reconnect with why we love running in the first place!
this is one of the most beautiful tributes that i have ever read and it makes me appreciate what i have in life and that running is one of the ways that i can express myself and can connect with my wife.
Lauren, thank you. Ryan and Alicia thank you.
Hello: I found this page via a link on facebook. I never knew Ryan or Alicia but was heartbroken in reading about his death. I lost my husband in March and feel as if I will forever be in pain from the loss. My heart goes out to your friend, Alicia, and Ryan’s family and friends. Thanks sharing more about your dear friends in this post.
Beautiful narrative. I haven’t been a regular runner for about five or six years, but the recent resurgence of American distance running, of which Ryan Shay was a big part of, has inspired me to get back out there. I am a corrections officer and I was at work when I heard about the trials. I grabbed control of the tv from the inmates and we watched the brief coverage that they had and I spoke a little with them about running and training and some of the young Americans. It felt nice to speak about the sport to a demographic that isn’t too familiar with it. I ran that night thinking about Ryan and all of the other athletes and felt inspired.
I’m sorry for your loss of a close friend. I’ll print your tribute and bring it to work to show the inmates who Ryan Shay was. I hope his wife knows that her husband was a great man who has inspired many and will hopefully inspire many more.
This is a beautifully written and insightful portrait, and seems unmarked by the artifice and sentimentality that can plague eulogy.
I was at the Trials in New York, and as I watched the competitors complete their laps (knowing nothing, at the time, of Ryan Shay’s collapse), I was most moved by those whose effort and will outstripped their bottom line genetic potential. When you know you are absolutely going to finish 10 - 15 minutes behind the winner, and you still push yourself over the course of years in pursuit of that unreachable dream, I think some other kind of victory is achieved.
As a public observer with no intimate or otherwise personal knowledge of Ryan Shay, I feel like his competitive record evinced a runner with prodigious, but possibly limited, gifts. Promise, a positive result, seemed to be followed often by disappointment, and a step back. But the accounts of his life, and his work ethic, which have emerged in the aftermath his death, lift him to a higher echelon than these mixed results suggest.
So much of running - and certainly the outcomes of races for historical purposes - is measured only by the clock. It is elegant that way, but also very unsympathetic and cruel: the tyranny of time as the judge of performance. This outlook seems particularly unenlightened in the days after the death of one whose time was taken too soon.
Lauren: To quote an Al Pacino movie: I’m a bit of an old ghost. I never met Ryan Shay. I saw him run by on two or three occasions. I met his wife in the office of Phil Wharton and I knocked his water bottle off of a trash can when I was hoping to meet Vince and his training partners for a tempo. I am glad I could not find them in time as when I saw them running they were going at a clip that I know for a fact I could not hold.
Though we never met we held one thing in common. I don’t want to call on any of his characteristics as something I may or may not possess but our common was common ground. Buffalo Park. In the days when the likes of you and Ryan were very young Buffalo park was my training ground. It’s a two mile loop park stationed here in Flagstaff. I put in an entire base phase in that park a long time ago and when it is not snowed over as it is now it is where I run. I heard that Ryan frequented the park only he ran it much faster than I ever did. The day of his memorial service I decided not to run because I had to get up early for work and then after was the Memorial service at a time when I would normally run. That morning without warning I woke early and had time to fit in my run. I wasn’t ready but some one was in that park that day. Through natural habitat, sunrise, more natural habitat, a vision and a lone runner I realized it was in fact Ryan Shay in that park. You see though we did not meet he is now transpired beyond space and time and therefore though I am unable to greet him he is able to see things far beyond the reaches of any of our longest runs. I spoke of the incident only to one other runner, only I gave him all the details of the run. I keep it with me I have not written it as of yet.
Sorry I a babbling. I came across your page not even looking for it was actually looking for it. When I read the title well I had to read the whole tale you put down. It is a well written piece and does a great honor to Ryan. As I said, I never got to meet him but know him now a little better by what you have written.
It’s morethan we can imagine: it’s as you say people like that penetrate your heart or become part of your skin. Those who knew him are honored by that knowledge, those who share the same passions are honored in that sharing.
thanks for sharing your side of the tale for others to read,
have fun,
Bo
Not sure if this post is seen by everyone but just saw the new Nike video, CRAZY. Not what I’m used to seeing for most running videos but entertaining for sure. Check it out:
Wow, this is a beautiful memory & tribute. Sympathies to Alicia and the rest of Ryan’s friends and family.
Beautiful. Thank you.
This was an incredibly beautiful and touching piece.
Beautiful!
I really loved this blog. You remind me of why I run. I set up a website in honor of my children and started running for them. I would be happy to wear a gold band in honor of Ryan Shay. I did not know him but Kevin Collins trained me this year and he spoke very highly of him. If there is anything my family or my children can help with let us know. We don’t have much but we do have determination to overcome!
-Vincent Gleason
Lauren,
That was a great tribute. I think you really captured the essence of Ryan with that. You put into words so many things I knew but could not fully express about Ryan.
This is hands down the best tribute to and window into Ryan Shay’s life that I’ve read so far. Thanks, Lauren, for the love, attention and care you invested in writing this piece — and for the honor you’ve bestowed on Ryan, Alicia and their respective families.
Lauren,
This was a wonderful tribute. I’ve always enjoyed reading your writing, but this was especially moving. Although I never met Ryan, Alicia, or you, I have followed your running careers over the years (I’m roughly the same age as you guys)and I felt an immediate sense of loss when I heard about Ryan this weekend. I was at the trials to watch my boyfriend run and the two of us have been mourning his death all week. The running community is a small one, so an event like this really hits close to home b/c it can seemingly happen to anyone of us. It’s nice to see how loved Ryan was and the tributes his friends are paying him at this time. Good luck with your training and thanks for sharing this with us. Take care.
Carly
A great tribute. thank you.
Lauren,
As a father of a couple of teen-age daughters who are also runners, I started reading this column as a way to help and understand them better. Your words have always been tremendously beneficial for me from that perspective. I am also a professional writer. And, as I’ve become a faithful reader of your column, the real joy for me has been to read the work of someone who obviously has a real gift for writing. Your Ryan Shay tribute is yet another example of a what a truly talented young writer you are. I hope that in your many travels and experiences in the coming years, in running and in other areas, you continue to share this gift with a wide audience of readers. Your Ryan story is about as moving of a piece as I’ve read over the past few days related to Ryan’s unfortunate passing. Thank you for caring so much, and for writing about it in such a heartfelt, evocative and moving fashion.
All the best,
John
Lauren, this was beautiful and a fitting tribute to someone who has touched so many people. I hope that you are always able to hold onto the good memories and continue to share them with the people that Ryan inspired.
Thank you, Lauren, for sharing your thoughts and emotions. I’m just a regular runner who watched the race online and cried with joy when the three qualifiers crossed the finish line, then cried with despair when I learned, moments later, of Ryan Shay’s death. Reading your entry connected me again to that day. I am moved by Ryan Shay’s passion, and by your decision to wear a gold band in his honor.
as an OK runner who came into the sport late but loves it, i’m always amazed at the abilities of the great runners like Ryan. but its great to hear the man and friend he was is just as important
i pray that his family and friends can find piece knowing the good Lord needed a runner in heaven and decided it was his time.
blessings to all of you as you heal
That is the absolutely most beautiful memoir I have read. In article, I have read about facts, but you poignantly describe his soul. Thank you.
This is really beautiful;)
A beautiful tribute to a wonderful, dynamic young man. The tributes from around the world on his passing show what a special person he was. Respected, admired, loved, every thing applies. The young racers who made up Ryan’s extended family on the track, roads and hills are a remakable group. Tough but caring, driven but kind, extremely self-disciplined yet the first to make a wicked joke. Thanks for leading the way in distance running, a truly wonderful and healthy activity.
Not ever having met Ryan or Alice you made me cry! You write beautifully and with so much sincerity.
Last Saturday I was hoping to catch the drama of the US trials by watching the webcast. Unfortunately it was geoblocked so I had to settle for text updates on various running web sites. But it still was very exciting and my heart was racing when Brian Sell moved into that precious third spot. But when news reached me about Ryan’s death it all seemed so tragic.
It’s still hard to comprehend, and my thoughts are with Ryan’s family and his close friends. You story makes this tragedy very personal, despite that I’m living far away in Europe.
All my best to you!
Thank you so much for this. I had watched him for yeas but now feel like I know who Ryan Shay was. It’s a beautiful piece. Thank you again.
Lauren, thanks so much for those remembrances of Ryan, honoring him as to the way he lived his life with intensity, leaving nothing back. He’s an inspiration to us all and I appreciate you sharing how he touched your life.
What a well-written tribute…Glad I was pointed over here from the RunningAhead forums…
Thank you Lauren for these words. For those of us who didnt have the opportunity to know Ryan as you did, your tribute allowed us to get a glimpse of his heart. What an incredible heart!
That was beautiful.
Wonderfully said. You’re too good for DyeStat.
Lauren,
This is a wonderful tribute to Ryan. Thank you for sharing this with us. As good as you are as a runner, you are an even better writer, able to express feelings that most of us can’t articulate, much less understand.
Lauren,
what a beautiful tribute to Ryan. I sent this to my runners so they could read this very beautifully written story of a great guy married to your good friend, Alicia.
I appreciate you sharing this so the whole world could read your feelings about him and his intensity and zest for life.
We will miss his talent as a great American runner and as a Christian, I will certainly pray for Alicia, you and his family and friends.
God bless,
Gayle
Thanks so much for this heartwrenching tribute to an outstanding human being.
It brought tears to my eyes with the intensity of the writers feelings.
I will read Laurens profound insights to my daughter Jenny Crain today.
Lauren
A moving, well written piece, that not only lays bare the relationship you had with Ryan and his wife, but also exposes what bonds so many of the running community together. When the gun goes off, we’ll fight like mad to beat each other, but when the sweat has dried and our bodies have cooled, we’re back on the journey of creating relationships and life together.
As a fly on the wall of your high school years (I got to know your coach Dave Delong while in Florida that rainy, flooded year of Footlocker) I found you to be as passionate toward running and life as Ryan. It was cool to watch your success and joy in the Southern Section, and now to see you continue on in the pro ranks.
Thanks for writing your reflections on Ryan. A good way of helping us all reconnect with why we love running in the first place!
this is one of the most beautiful tributes that i have ever read and it makes me appreciate what i have in life and that running is one of the ways that i can express myself and can connect with my wife.
Lauren, thank you. Ryan and Alicia thank you.
Hello: I found this page via a link on facebook. I never knew Ryan or Alicia but was heartbroken in reading about his death. I lost my husband in March and feel as if I will forever be in pain from the loss. My heart goes out to your friend, Alicia, and Ryan’s family and friends. Thanks sharing more about your dear friends in this post.
Beautiful narrative. I haven’t been a regular runner for about five or six years, but the recent resurgence of American distance running, of which Ryan Shay was a big part of, has inspired me to get back out there. I am a corrections officer and I was at work when I heard about the trials. I grabbed control of the tv from the inmates and we watched the brief coverage that they had and I spoke a little with them about running and training and some of the young Americans. It felt nice to speak about the sport to a demographic that isn’t too familiar with it. I ran that night thinking about Ryan and all of the other athletes and felt inspired.
I’m sorry for your loss of a close friend. I’ll print your tribute and bring it to work to show the inmates who Ryan Shay was. I hope his wife knows that her husband was a great man who has inspired many and will hopefully inspire many more.
This is a beautifully written and insightful portrait, and seems unmarked by the artifice and sentimentality that can plague eulogy.
I was at the Trials in New York, and as I watched the competitors complete their laps (knowing nothing, at the time, of Ryan Shay’s collapse), I was most moved by those whose effort and will outstripped their bottom line genetic potential. When you know you are absolutely going to finish 10 - 15 minutes behind the winner, and you still push yourself over the course of years in pursuit of that unreachable dream, I think some other kind of victory is achieved.
As a public observer with no intimate or otherwise personal knowledge of Ryan Shay, I feel like his competitive record evinced a runner with prodigious, but possibly limited, gifts. Promise, a positive result, seemed to be followed often by disappointment, and a step back. But the accounts of his life, and his work ethic, which have emerged in the aftermath his death, lift him to a higher echelon than these mixed results suggest.
So much of running - and certainly the outcomes of races for historical purposes - is measured only by the clock. It is elegant that way, but also very unsympathetic and cruel: the tyranny of time as the judge of performance. This outlook seems particularly unenlightened in the days after the death of one whose time was taken too soon.
Beautifully written.
Lauren: To quote an Al Pacino movie: I’m a bit of an old ghost. I never met Ryan Shay. I saw him run by on two or three occasions. I met his wife in the office of Phil Wharton and I knocked his water bottle off of a trash can when I was hoping to meet Vince and his training partners for a tempo. I am glad I could not find them in time as when I saw them running they were going at a clip that I know for a fact I could not hold.
Though we never met we held one thing in common. I don’t want to call on any of his characteristics as something I may or may not possess but our common was common ground. Buffalo Park. In the days when the likes of you and Ryan were very young Buffalo park was my training ground. It’s a two mile loop park stationed here in Flagstaff. I put in an entire base phase in that park a long time ago and when it is not snowed over as it is now it is where I run. I heard that Ryan frequented the park only he ran it much faster than I ever did. The day of his memorial service I decided not to run because I had to get up early for work and then after was the Memorial service at a time when I would normally run. That morning without warning I woke early and had time to fit in my run. I wasn’t ready but some one was in that park that day. Through natural habitat, sunrise, more natural habitat, a vision and a lone runner I realized it was in fact Ryan Shay in that park. You see though we did not meet he is now transpired beyond space and time and therefore though I am unable to greet him he is able to see things far beyond the reaches of any of our longest runs. I spoke of the incident only to one other runner, only I gave him all the details of the run. I keep it with me I have not written it as of yet.
Sorry I a babbling. I came across your page not even looking for it was actually looking for it. When I read the title well I had to read the whole tale you put down. It is a well written piece and does a great honor to Ryan. As I said, I never got to meet him but know him now a little better by what you have written.
It’s morethan we can imagine: it’s as you say people like that penetrate your heart or become part of your skin. Those who knew him are honored by that knowledge, those who share the same passions are honored in that sharing.
thanks for sharing your side of the tale for others to read,
have fun,
Bo
Hey,
Not sure if this post is seen by everyone but just saw the new Nike video, CRAZY. Not what I’m used to seeing for most running videos but entertaining for sure. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojflsDwF7c0