At Least 6 Runners Took Scary Spills at the Trials. Here’s How They’re Bouncing Back – Runner’s World

Distance running doesn’t typically count as a contact sport. But during Saturday’s Olympic Marathon Trials, a handful of runners found themselves in tangles with competitors or flat on the pavement.

Kaitlin Goodman, 32, remembers feeling boxed in starting in the large lead pack. About a half mile in, her ankle rolled and she fell to the ground. She sprung back up, but quickly toppled again.

Some moments right after the fall she doesn’t recall, she told Runner’s World by phone two days later. Others play in slow motion in her mind: Letting out a blood-curdling scream. The stampede of feet surrounding her—some of which, others told her later, stepped on her. Seeing her sunglasses on the road and grabbing them.

When she rose again, her right ankle throbbed and her left quad ached. But she’d come into this race after a long recovery from a hamstring injury and felt in the shape of her life. Despite her panic, she surged forward—using mantras like “smile every mile” and seeking out her Boston Athletic Association teammates in their bright yellow jerseys.

At mile 10, the adrenaline wore off, and her pain worsened. She wondered if she’d broken a bone, and if continuing would cause long-term damage. About 3 miles later, she stepped off the course and onto a cart to the nearest medical tent.

Ryan Vail, 34, also left the race after an unfortunate step into a sewer cap between miles 14 and 15 led to a tumble. An Instagram post from his Brooks Beasts coach Danny Mackey revealed torn shoes and a swollen foot, for which Vail sought imaging.

At about four and a half miles in, 32-year-old Tyler Pennel was part of the lead men’s pack when someone behind him clipped his shoe. His heel popped out and he fell to his left onto the pavement, scraping his knee and hip and tearing his glove.

Tinman Elite’s Reed Fischer, 24, was behind Pennel and fell down in the same pileup. The pair—and several other runners who fell with them, including Andrew Epperson and Haron Lagat—got back up quickly.

When Fischer touched his forehead, blood stained his fingertips—he’d sustained a cut above his eyebrow severe enough that medical officials later suggested stitches.

But he hadn’t blacked out, didn’t see stars, and his legs felt fine, so he continued.

“I tried to keep myself as calm as I could, which is a weird thing to try and do when you’re in the most important race of your life and it’s not going according to plan 20 minutes in,” he said. (The Trials was his marathon debut; he’d qualified with a 1:02:06 at the Houston Half Marathon in 2019.)

Less than a half mile later, Fischer tripped on a change in road surface and fell again. This time, he landed hard on his right hip then laid on his back on the ground, a moment captured on video and shared widely on social media.

Why did runners take tumbles?

A total of 672 athletes—444 women and 228 men—started the race. That’s a far larger group than the elite fields at major marathons, all jockeying for position.

Not only do more bodies equal more opportunities for bumps and knocks, they also block the view of obstacles ahead, said Richard Hansen, D.C., a sports chiropractor and the coach of Boulder-based Roots Running Project, which had five athletes competing. Visibility was likely also limited by the bright sunlight interspersed with shadows and shade from buildings. Fatigued athletes’ eyesight can’t always adjust to lighting shifts, he said.

The Atlanta Track Club took steps beforehand to minimize risk and account for the larger field size, changing the course to reduce bottlenecks, according to Jay Holder, director of marketing and communications. And the Atlanta Department of Public Works filled hundreds of potholes—remnants of nearly 20 inches of rainfall this year—in the days before the race.

But factors beyond their control, such as high winds, may have played a role. Pennel noticed the pack slowing each time a gust blew through. His pileup occurred after one such gale, when athletes behind him didn’t slow as much as those in front of him.

And then there are the shoes. Many newer models with carbon fiber plates—including the Nike Alphafly, pairs of which were distributed free to all Trials qualifiers—have high stack heights, with foam under the midsole of the shoe measuring about 30 to 40 millimeters. That could create additional instability in some runners, especially those who hadn’t trained or raced in the shoes before, Hansen said.

Goodman and Fischer both wore the Adidas Adizero Pro, which has a carbon fiber plate but a lower stack height. Pennel—who’s a member of the On ZAP Endurance team—wore the Nike Vaporfly Next% on special dispensation because the equivalent prototype from On wasn’t ready in time.

The question becomes: Drop or continue?

Deciding whether to keep running after a fall isn’t easy. Dreams don’t die easily, especially in a race as important and competitive as the Olympic Trials. Plus, the adrenaline rush that accompanies a fall and the recovery from it can mask pain, making it hard to assess symptoms, Hansen said.

Medical resources along the course included EMTs and athletic trainers at every hydration station, five ambulances, eight more EMTs on bikes, and eight quick-response teams ready to deploy swiftly. But the decision of whether to stop or continue, even after seeking treatment, rested with the athlete. Medical officials “can make recommendations, but a participant has the right to deny those recommendations,” Holder wrote in an email.

In the unfortunate case you find yourself in a similar situation:

Return to the present. Unless they’re injured so severely they can’t bear weight, most athletes naturally bounce up and keep moving. As you go, bring yourself back to the present moment by focusing on your breathing, recommends Hillary Cauthen, Psy.D., a certified mental performance consultant and marathoner in Austin, Texas. Then do a body scan, which reduces your stress response and allows you to inventory injuries.

Check your head. If you hit your head, your biggest concern should be head injury, Hansen said. Conditions like concussions, brain bleeds, and facial fractures aren’t always immediately apparent. If you hit your head again, you risk second impact syndrome, which can be instantly fatal. Symptoms like severe disorientation, blurred vision, headache, unusual neck stiffness, or numbness or tingling along your jawline should prompt you to stop, he said.

Scan your body, again. If you choose to proceed, continue assessing your pain levels. Aches or injuries that loosen up with motion may not be a serious long-term risk to run through, Hansen said. But pain that worsens over time or impedes your ability to run with a normal gait warrants more concern.

Ease back into it. When Pennel determined he wasn’t too hurt to continue, he set his sights on returning to the lead pack. But with nearly 22 miles to go, he gradually reeled them. He stuck with them for most of the rest of the race, finishing 11th in 2:12:34. Lagat also recovered well, running a personal-best 2:13:04 for 13th place.

Adjust your goals. After his second fall, Fischer reflected on the effort he’d put into training and all the friends and family members there to support him. His main objective switched from making the team to honoring them and building mental toughness for the future. He eventually finished 97th in 2:24:48.

Feel your feelings. Regardless of whether you DNF or continue, a race with a fall probably doesn’t represent your ideal scenario. Allow yourself time to feel disappointed, angry, frustrated, or grieve the loss of your goal, Cauthen said. Goodman has spent the days since taking stock: “How it happened—it’s unbelievable, in the worst way, that I went down and that’s where my Olympic dreams were dashed,” she said.

But then, celebrate your accomplishments. As Fischer’s social-media mentions bear out, most people will praise runners who grind out a tough finish, even if it’s slower than planned. Cauthen points out that it’s often even tougher to make a choice to quit to preserve your long-term health. Those decisions should also be applauded and don’t make you a less gritty or resilient competitor, she said. Plus, you deserve to be proud of the miles you ran in pursuit of your goals, regardless of the outcome.

Then, look forward. “It sounds cliché, but there is always another race,” Fischer said. While he’s disappointed in his time, he believes finishing strengthened him. He’s been aqua jogging this week, and unless his injuries worsen, will line up for races in the near future. the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, on March 29.

Because X-rays showed no breaks or other serious damage to Goodman’s ankle, she’s also looking to the future. “I don’t know how quickly I can turn around and what will be next, but something big,” she said. “I’ve got a lot of fitness I have to showcase somewhere. There’s some unfinished business.”

Contributing Writer Cindy is a freelance health and fitness writer, author, and podcaster who’s contributed regularly to Runner’s World since 2013.