As Sheri Haymore moved closer to the finish line after running nearly 13 miles, she complained lightly about her legs feeling weak, but nothing more.
With just 100 yards to go in Saturday’s Canyonlands Half Marathon, the Riverton woman staggered a bit and sat down. Emergency crews rushed in.
“She asked the paramedic, ‘Please let me finish,’ ” Haymore’s sister, Lori Robbins, recalled Monday.
They said no and laid her down on the ground.
Haymore, a 41-year-old mother of three daughters, closed her eyes and died from an apparent heart attack.
“She was so determined to finish the race,” Robbins said. “She was reaching for her goal.”
Robbins is careful about how she retells the story relayed to her by Haymore’s friends. She doesn’t want anyone to think that her younger sister was reckless with her own life.
It simply was her time to go, Robbins said. “She happened to be racing when it happened. It was God’s will.”
The death was the first in the 30-year history of the Moab race.
“It’s very sad,” said Joe Cresto, a former race director who has been involved with it since the 1970s. “We hate to see this happen.”
Haymore wasn’t the only runner to suffer a heart attack. A 54-year-old man had one after completing the 13.1 miles. He was flown by helicopter to a Colorado hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery.
The race, which winds along the Colorado River, has become one of Utah’s most popular. More than 2,600 runners completed it Saturday.
“We did everything we could and our medical team did everything they could,” said race director Ranna Bieschke.
Haymore’s family said medical workers continued their attempts to revive her even after arriving at Allen Memorial Hospital in Moab.
Robbins said her sister went to the race as part of a birthday celebration and a weekend outing with girlfriends.
She was running side by side with one of her 13 friends when she couldn’t continue, Robbins said.
It was the same band of friends that would go out together most Saturday mornings and keep pushing one another when jogging eight or nine miles.
Haymore, a successful sales representative, leaves behind a husband and three daughters, ages 13, 11 and 7.
Robbins said her sister appeared to be in good health. She had finished the half marathon a year earlier. This time, she hoped to run the entire course without ever walking, Robbins said.
“She felt like she was going to run the whole thing this time,” Robbins said. “She had set this goal for herself and she was so close.”