Sad.....

This is a sad post so if you aren't up for sad today skip on by.......
Last year when mum was here we travelled up to Folsom and I spent a day volunteering at the Rock n River 50 Ultra Marathon.  It was an awesome day and at the end of it I decided that this was the race I would choose for my first ultra.  The race directors were Robert and Linda Mathis. About a week ago I emailed Linda and got no reply, I thought it was odd.  Today I went on to the race site to check out registration and saw this:

We are sorry to announce that this race is cancelled until further notice. Sadly, Robert and Linda Mathis (race directors) were tragically killed on Friday, December 30th. 


Needless to say, more than shocked.  I googled to discover they had been hit by a drunk/drugged  driver while crossing a road on a pedestrian crossing.....not out running, not doing anything remarkable, just doing their business in their home town.  They were legends in the ultra community and I really enjoyed my day with both of them.....particularly Linda. They ran their race with integrity and a genuine caring for the runners, that's why I had wanted to run it as my first.
The whole thing has just made me more determined to do a 50 miler.  If some drunken arse can take it all away so quickly then best we all think hard about what it is we really really want to do while we do all those other things like paying mortgages etc etc.
I have new plans for my race, but will save it for another post as this is not so much about me as tipping my hat to some inspirational people who have undoubtedly helped many aspiring runners achieve their dreams.  A sad loss.