My Son Ryan Shay

Mr Shay,

I, like thousands of runners thought about your son while they ran today, those thoughts were based in saddness, but also carried the sprit your son showed. The gift of just being able to run and enjoy the people you love gets forgotten in our everyday lifes and Ryan woke us all up.

People can sign a guestbook at

www.mortensenfuneralhomes.com

.

Mr. Shay,

I was watching the olympic Trials marathon last sunday cheering the athletes on a nd saw an ambulance fly by;I thought some runners tripped each other,went down hard.

I was stunned to hear about ryan at the finish line.All of us runners stick together;in a way we are like marines i think;that is there are so may who are in shock who admire your sons courage;his strength to aim high;to give your best is the highest achievement.i only met ryan once.he was quiet;seemed gentle.You raised areally good son.i,m very sorry for you ,your family,and Alicia.

I wish i could do something!

Bill rodgers

I wish I had more than words to offer you and your family after this terrible loss. I will continue to keep each of you in my thoughts and prayers.

A fine runner; a better man. Ryan will continue to inspire us all.

mr shay

i am deeply sorry for the loss that your family has suffered. but be proud of the amazing son that you raised. he was a great runner, and most of all a great man. so in your time of suffering and pain, take comfort in the fact that your son's life made so many people happy.

matt

I usually sit at the computer and laugh out loud at posts on letsrun. On Sunday morning, I read this thread and wept out loud.

I didn't know Ryan or much about him but that connection as a runner who laid it on the line has touched me, like countless other runners, very deeply. My runs since then have been hard ones, the kind I think Ryan would have appreciated.

May you, Mr. Shay, and your family be comforted by God's promise to hold a place for Ryan in His kingdom.

God bless and comfort you all,

To Mr. Shay, (Loving Father of Ryan Shay)

You and your family are in my prayers.

I pray that God would somehow

comfort you and your family during this

time of grief and be with you during the days, weeks,

and months to come.

Right now Ryan is running in heaven awaiting the

day in the future when he will be reunited with you

and his wife Alicia.

Sir, thank you for giving us all the honor to

have known your son (those who knew Ryan) and the

privilege to have witnessed him run and race.

God Bless,

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

23:1 The Lord is my shepherd,

I lack nothing.

23:2 He takes me to lush pastures,

he leads me to refreshing water.

23:3 He restores my strength.

He leads me down the right paths

for the sake of his reputation.

23:4 Even when I must walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no danger,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff reassure me. 1

23:5 You prepare a feast before me 2

in plain sight of my enemies.

You refresh 3 my head with oil;

my cup is completely full. 4

23:6 Surely your goodness and faithfulness 5 will pursue 6 me all my days, 7

and I will live in 8 the Lord’s house 9 for the rest of my life. 10

I'm a member of the University of Washington's cross country team, and I speak for all of us when I say that we cannot image your pain. Our thoughts are with you and your family. Our coaches have spoken about Ryan on multiple occasions these past couple days and we have great respect for him. Thank you for sharing Ryan with us and the world's running community.

Vinny Mulvey wrote:

about 4 hours later we got drunk as lords in downtown Baton Rouge and (this memory just popped into my head now!!) i remember on the way home to the hotel there was a bike sitting against a wall and ryan hopped on it and start shouting "come on Boaz, i'll catch you now!!!".....

I was also there that night and thought I'd share an amusing story.

A few of my teammates wanted to come out and had nothing going on. They got ahold of me and decided to come to the distance runner party. Being field event guys they thought they might feel a little odd walking into a party filled with skinny distance runners so they decided to take on fake personas to try to impress everyone. The only two distance runners they knew, outside of our team, were Ryan Shay and Luke Watson and these guys walked around the room and shaking everyone's hands introducing themselves as such. The jig was up when they got to Ryan Shay

"Hi, I'm Ryan Shay."

"The hell you are."

Despite racing in the same conference through college, this was one of the few times that I ever spent quality time with Ryan but this doesn't change the fact that he'll be missed. He was one of us.

Mr. Shay, Alicia, and Family,

I am a 2002 grad of Notre Dame and although I didn't know Ryan personally, I was very aware of his great athletic accomplishments. Being a member of the football team, I used to see Ryan in the athletic facilities throughout the season and was always impressed with how hard he trained.

Ironically, at a school where football dominates the campus, Ryan was all over the Observer with pictures and articles of his victories. He stole the show.

I'm currently a designer at Saucony, and when I heard we had signed Ryan as one of our athletes I was truly excited because I knew what a competitor he was. I also had the great fortune of meeting Ryan when he sat with our product team to discuss his likes and dislikes with product...he always gave us great insight.

He was, and is, a great inspiration to me and the rest of our product team.

I'm very sorry for your loss.

-chris mahoney ND 02

To Alicia and the family of Ryan Shay-

I cannot imagine what it is like to go through such a tragedy. It is my hope that these messages bring a positive wave into your lives. In such a hard time, it would be hard to move forward and let time heal. But I have been thinking a lot about your family and of Ryan. Just thinking about how he has passed on while doing what he loves is amazing. In the crazy world we live in, it must help to know that he died being the warrior and tough competitor that he was. Reading through these posts...it's amazing how many lives he touched. It is truly remarkable. As his wife, and family members, you must feel so proud of Ryan. It teaches us all to not let a day go by without enjoying it and being thankful for everything. My college coach used to ask us how we wanted to be remembered..what would you want people to say about you after you left. In Ryans case, there are so many people and so many wonderful things about him that it really makes you second guess your life and who you are, where you are going. He was not only a role model in the running world, but also in life. He lived life to the fullest. Anyone in the world could read these posts and want to be remembered like Ryan. Truly remarkable.

As everyone else has mentioned, you are in my thoughts, my prayers. Stay together as a family and smile, knowing that Ryan is in a better place and would want nothing more than for you to enjoy each day.

Like many here, I never knew Ryan, but I have long respected him for his reputation as one of the hardest workers in the sport. With highly decorated pros and weekend warriors alike sharing their condolences and memories, I think that this thread is a testament to the strength of community in our sport. I know that these twenty pages of memories have really helped me to reflect on the preciousness of our fleeting existence. I'm sorry that it had to happen this way.

Dear Shay Family,

The thoughts and prayers of the Notre Dame community are with you. Ryan, as you know best, was an incredible person and runner. He has been and will continue to be the guy everyone here at ND aspires to be. The stories and evidence of his work ethic and attitude will hopefully continue to inspire and define the Notre Dame cross country team.

godspeed and good tailwinds.

Dear Mr. Shay (and Alicia and the rest of the family),

I imagine you’re overwhelmed with emails of support and prayers right now. I used to run against your son quite a lot in college and we found ourselves close to one another my last two years of college. I always admired his competitiveness and grit. My wife Jessica was finishing up her career at Arkansas while Alicia was starting hers at Stanford.

When we saw the news about Ryan on Saturday, we felt such feelings of grief and sadeness, especially for all of you. We couldn’t stop talking about it and tears were shed as we thought about this day. One of the things I used to always say about running was that at least it was just running…you’d reach the finish line (win or lose) and your family would still love and support you no matter what place you finished.

A few minutes later, Jess’ water broke and we gave birth to our first daughter, Chiara Shay Dailey. We have named our daughter in honor of your son to remind us of the day and also to remind us that life is precious. I hope it also has some meaning about another life beginning the day Ryan left this world.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of you in these days.

Adam and Jessica Dailey

we are all very sorry for the loss of your son, he was a true champion and will be greatly missed.

The whole running community throughout the world feel they have lost a brother. One we knew felt the same feelings in the track reps, tempo's and bloody long runs! Thats why its so hard to take- as he was one of us and we all see abit of self in ryan.

I was lucky enough to meet him a few times, and even at falmouth one year someone mistook me for him, this was before the start of the 7.1 mile race and it was clear i was not ryan once the gun went!

my thoughts are with his wife and family at this very tough time,

james thie, great britain

As a classmate and teammate, I feel privileged to have not only seen and watched the unceasing work ethic and mental toughness of a champion, but to have experienced his infectious personality and will to win.

While at Notre Dame, I had imagined that Ryan's mystique was probably what it would have been like to meet the late Steve Prefontaine (another of my idols) in the prime of his running career. I know that Ryan emulated Pre, and I think many a fan did a double-take when watching his running dominance while sporting the long sideburns and moustache and yelling, "Shay, Shay, Shay..." Little did any of us know that he would bare a similar tragic fate in the prime of his career.

He died while doing what many a distance runner finds admirable... testing the limits of the human heart. The spirit of Shay will continue to live in the hearts of all of us... forever a part of the Notre Dame Family and all whose lives he has touched. I will light a candle at the Grotto this weekend for your family, Mr Shay, and all who grieve his loss.

"God, Country, Notre Dame"

Bobby Miske, ND '01

As a classmate and teammate, I feel privileged to have not only seen and watched the unceasing work ethic and mental toughness of a champion, but to have experienced his infectious personality and will to win.

While at Notre Dame, I had imagined that Ryan's mystique was probably what it would have been like to meet the late Steve Prefontaine (another of my idols) in the prime of his running career. I know that Ryan emulated Pre, and I think many a fan did a double-take when watching his running dominance while sporting the long sideburns and moustache and yelling, "Shay, Shay, Shay..." Little did any of us know that he would bare a similar tragic fate in the prime of his career.

He died while doing what many a distance runner finds admirable... testing the limits of the human heart. The spirit of Shay will continue to live in the hearts of all of us... forever a part of the Notre Dame Family and all whose lives he has touched. I will light a candle at the Grotto this weekend for your family, Mr Shay, and all who grieve his loss.

"God, Country, Notre Dame"

Bobby Miske, ND '01

To Alicia and the Family of Ryan Shay:

I met Ryan recently when I had travelled to Flagstaff in July to train with my friends Seth and Justin. At first, I couldn't believe I was actually in the presence of what people call "an elite." But, Ryan didn't put himself forward like he was better than anyone. He treated my friends and I like we were just like him. He made the visit a beautiful one. And, though I only knew him for those three weeks, he touched my life.

I met one of the hardest working people on the planet. When going on runs, I would usually finish much earlier than Ryan. It was such an amazement to see him flying back down the final trail. You could tell he was pushing his body to new heights. His dedication was limitless. You knew that by the smile on his face when he finished.

It was a privilege to know such a person.

When Ryan passed Saturday, it was a shock to my system. I couldn't believe a young person, who was so fit and full of life, could be taken away in the blink of an eye. But everything happens for a reason. God has a meaning and a path for all of us to follow. This was not a loss whatsoever. Ryan will always be there. He is the wings on all of our feet. Think of him and he will live always.

I hope that you are able to find peace in such a difficult time. My heart is with you to borrow. I am so very sorry.

Sincerely,

James Barracca (JB)

Mr. Shay

As a fellow runner and the father of a young son I can't wrap my head around your pain. Please know that we all share your grief and support you as the greater family of runners all over the country. You raised a fine young man and the world is a better place for him having been here.

God Bless you and your family,

Keith Whitman