August 20th- Raelee’s Last XC Race

Raelee ran her last XC race at Etown’s Run for the Gold on Saturday evening, August 20, 2022. She felt good going into the race; like she had done everything right as far as water intake, stretching, and nutrition is concerned. It wasn’t long into the run that we knew something was wrong. She clasped her chest as she ran, her vision became blurry, and even Coach Hughes (and Athletic Director at BE) tried hard to get her to bow out. It was evident she was hurting. In typical Raelee fashion, she kept going. But her finish was terrifying. She collapsed, struggling to calm her breathing and slow her heart rate. Her pulse was threaded, her breathing was shallow. A little while later, she came to but knew this was it. Her body wasn’t going to let her compete any longer. After a follow up appointment with her Cardiologist, and really no reason as to why this happens when she races, it was her decision to stop running competitively, and focus on just staying healthy. While it is not how we wanted this to end for her, she has many more things to do in her life. This was just part of her journey.