A Sad Week In Running

   Last week was a sad one if you were a runner. Twice, the running world was shocked and saddened to hear of the deaths of Meg Menzies earlier in the week and then James Callaghan, a few days later.
   Both died while doing something they loved...running.
   Meg died as the result of being struck by an alleged intoxicated driver. James' death is still under investigation but it is believed he was struck twice by vehicles as he lay on a road in dense fog. There is speculation that he may either have been on the road due to a hit-and-run or possibly due to a medical emergency.
   Regardless of who you are and what you do, the death of these two people, long before their time, is sad and unspeakable. If you are a runner, their deaths carry an extra sting.

Meg

   Were I not a runner, it's quite possible that I may not even have known about these sad events. Runners tend to be absorbed by what they do, however, and because we spend as much time as we do following runners and running bloggers the sad news spread quickly.
   While out running Saturday morning, I thought of Meg and James quite a bit. Actually, runners from all over the world were being asked to run in Meg's honour that day and I understand that over 90,000 runners did just that. We are a unified bunch!
   I am still trying to figure out, though, why such a response.
   I think there is a visceral response every time a young mother dies. Not to diminish the role of a father but you start off your life inside your mother and it is through her that most of your needs are met as a child. Whenever a mother is taken too soon, you center in on her kids. And you remember that you were once a kid and the pain then becomes almost palpable.
   For a variety of sad reasons, we lose young mothers all the time and not too many of those losses invoke 90, 000 heartfelt responses, as they did in Meg's case.
   So the running aspect of her death comes into play. Not only was she a runner who died, she died running!
   Probably only once in a blue moon, as I'm lacing up before a run, do I think about the inherent danger in what I am about to do. From the beginning, I followed all the suggested safety tips around traffic, visibility, weather and the odd wacko out there but then that became pretty routine. For the most part, I am able to stay on sidewalks or find places to run where there is no vehicular traffic. Cars are sometimes a nuisance but my experience so far is that they do their best to steer clear.
   In no small way, though, this has now changed. For me and I suspect a lot of runners, the reality of what can happen has hit home, like a hammer to the heart. The vast majority of us will continue to run but I suspect we may somehow run differently, without taking the act as much for granted as we used to.
   As a life activity, a love of running can sometimes be difficult to explain to someone who doesn't run. With most other life activities, at the end there's generally something to show for it---a painting, a knitted  scarf, a carving or sculpture, perhaps a piece of writing. At the end of a run you have...nothing. Well, nothing that can be seen. What's more, along the way you likely suffered some level of pain or discomfort for all your effort. In this way, it's difficult to justify the activity to the uninitiated.


James

   My point is that I think there's something special about running and that we as runners experience it but, at the same time, are both a little mystified by and also somewhat in awe of it. And because it takes on an almost spiritual aspect, when one of us is affected in such a drastic way as Meg and James were this week, then by a strange ripple effect we are all both shaken and moved. Our response is to do that which binds us all together. Run.
   By all accounts, Meg and James were wonderful people with wonderful families. In a world where bad things seem to happen to good people, we are all left, once again, trying to make sense of it all. James was a loving father of four whose death has received less of a public response but his passing hits a little closer to me, a middle-aged man. As mentioned above, there is some speculation that he may have ended up on the road as the result of a medical emergency before he was even struck by vehicles there in the dense fog. I personally am in good health but am also at that age where the risk of a stroke or heart attack, particularly during strenuous activity, lingers in the back of my mind and in the recesses of my chest cavity. For this reason, I was also running for James Callaghan on Saturday.
   One can only hope that if there might be some lasting legacy from a very sad week that perhaps it will be that we will all be just a little more mindful as we run and cautious as we drive. Two people are dead but some motorists' lives have been horribly altered, and possibly destroyed, as well. One of my biggest fears is that, as a driver, some brief moment of inattention on my part might result in the death of an innocent person. I'm not sure that I could live with myself if that happened and perhaps Meg and James will forever remind me that it can happen.
   Not surprisingly, their respective communities have risen up in an attempt to support both James' and Meg's grieving families. Below are two links you can access if you wish to help out. The first one is to aid Meg Menzies' family and the second is a link to the Facebook page of a running group that James Callaghan belonged to. It was a link I found in a local newspaper article about his passing and it was suggested that people could donate through this group. When I went to the link, however, I could find no way to actually donate. To date, I'm awaiting a response from the writer of the article to see if she is aware of any way to donate. When and if I receive more info on this, I will pass it on.

https://www.bonfirefunds.com/meg-cross-Menzies

https://www.facebook.com/groups/164401273668020/