NYC Marathoner Ran Home After Chemo half marathon. The 24-year-old started running about six years ago when he joined the military, but the farthest he ever ran was about five miles.
But this year, Woods and a few friends decided to push it a little further: They wanted to run a marathon—more specifically, the 2020 Los Angeles Marathon.
Rather than go right to 26.2, they decided to try a half marathon first, so they signed up for the Colorado Half Marathon in Fort Collins, Colorado, on May 5. They followed a Los Angeles Marathon Nutrition - Weight Loss.
The morning of the race, Woods felt a little tired—he only got about two hours of sleep the night before—but did not feel anything out of the ordinary, he told Runner’s World. Health - Injuries.
His race was going well until mile 12, when he started to feel tired enough that he and his friend walked a little bit. But they were so close to the finish that they pushed on, crossing the line in 2:19:52.
“I felt tired, but it didn’t seem too abnormal. However, when I crossed the finish I realized that something was really wrong,” Woods said.
He told his friend that he needed to sit down. He started to get tunnel vision, which was the last thing he remembered until he was put in the back of an ambulance.
Afterward, Woods learned that he had actually gone into cardiac arrest, A Part of Hearst Digital Media.
When Woods collapsed, UCHealth EMTs at the finish immediately rushed to action, performing CPR and giving epinephrine through an IV to help restart his heart. They also shocked him with a defibrillator.
At the same time, cardiologist Brad Oldemeyer, M.D., of UCHealth in Fort Collins, Colorado, was at the finish, having just completed the race himself and waiting for his wife to cross the line, too. Hearing the commotion, he went over to the first responders and began to help the lifesaving efforts.
“He got very good, advanced cardiac life support,” Oldemeyer said.
Thanks to the advanced care on the scene, Woods’s heart began to beat again, and he regained consciousness before he was transported to the hospital via ambulance.
Quick action by the medical team helped save Woods’s life, but his experience also raises the question of how you can tell the difference between typical race fatigue and something more serious.
Problem is, that can be difficult, especially in young, healthy runners who may have an underlying heart condition which may not cause outward symptoms or show up on a typical stress test or routine exam.
“Classic symptoms of a heart abnormality can be hard to spot,” Oldemeyer said. “During a marathon or half marathon, people usually feel crappy or bonk somewhere along a run. It’s hard to tell people when they bonk, it could be a heart condition.”
Chances are good that it’s just that you’re bonking—all runners have symptoms associated with exertion, Oldemeyer explained. But it’s important to be aware of new symptoms. A red flag would be a new symptom that you don’t usually feel during exertion that gets worse over time. If there is a change in your baseline and you are no longer able to do what you are able to do regularly, or you have a change in endurance—say you’re struggling to maintain a pace that you know should be no problem, or have shortness of breath or chest pain that’s out of the norm—you should talk to your doctor about a cardiovascular risk assessment.
And this is a big one: If you ever pass out or lose consciousness during exercise, that is a huge sign that you should seek a doctor’s care, Oldemeyer said.
While normal screenings or checkups don’t typically involve stress tests or EKG screenings, Oldemeyer said athletes who are training for long races should undergo a physician’s evaluation to assess for any symptoms or high-risk features in their family or medical history. If any are present, this may prompt more vigorous testing.
As for Woods, after a week of observations and tests at the hospital, doctors still aren’t sure what caused his heart to stop. Because doctors do think that some kind of cardiac abnormality is responsible, his family will undergo tests as well.
Woods has had a defibrillator implanted in his heart, which will shock his heart back into a normal rhythm if something like this ever happens again. His doctors have given him the green light to return to life as normal, which means he can get back to exercising.
After meeting with the EMTs who saved his life, Woods is already looking toward the future—and the next race on his list, which is still the 2020 L.A. Marathon.
“I’m still looking forward to running the [L.A.] marathon,” Woods said. “I’m fortunate to be here, and I won’t quit running.”
