R.I.P, Ric Sayre

I'm pretty busy right now, to say much, but I'd like us to keep this thread going if we can. It's an important topic.

I'm very sorry to hear about Sayre.

My personal belief as a physiologist is that there is a very definitive and plausible connection between intense endurance training and these heart troubles. This doesn't mean that exercise is unhealthy, as clearly it is not. It means though that a number of us might need to be careful and also make an effort to get the message along to the younger guys coming up, so these sorts of problems can be prevented or at least limited.

"Ric never drank a Coke. He never had a beer, he didn't eat meat. He never did drugs. He never did anything. We always thought Ric would be the one at our memorials poking fun and remembering things, not for him to die at 57," said Wallbank.

Never heard of the guy, but he obviously has touched a lot of people. Bump to honor the man and to hear more stories. RIP my running brother.

Condolences to his family and friends and running tribe.

Another great Oregon runner (the state)in a great running club in the sky...

What a sad day for the running world! I ran against Ric many times, a first class runner and a world class man, he will be sorely missed! Rest in peace my friend!

Ric's passing brings up a lot of memories for me from the time my old pal Sheldon Karlin, NYC winner in 1972, died similarly at age 49. But Shelly had been diagnosed with heart troubles, was on medicine, the restricted diet, had his cholestrol monitored and so on. Less than a month before he died his doctors were excited by how low his cholesterol level was. And he still died shortly before turning 50.

We have an idea about how long a person "should" live but many last longer than that and others don't make it nearly that far. We can always look back and say "they should have done this differently and they'd still be here" but there is no way to know that would be the case.

I never met Ric but admired him from things I'd read and now from comments of those who did and I agree with you; people like Ric, Shelly, Ryan Shay, Travis Landreth and many others should be celebrated here for lives evidently well lived.

Ric I remember you as the guy who kinda started the whole ligher is better thing with the running shoes. I do believe you might have run & won or did well in a marathon run in Waffle Racers. Is this true? What was your training like back in the day, super miles, things ouit of the ordinary? I really like to see how some folks are interested in thinking out of the box or not limited by what someone tells them is correct.

Thanks,

Xxxx

------------

Hey xxxxx,

Hey John,

What a memory? Yes, I did run and win the 1986 Los Angeles Marathon in Nike Waffle Racers. I remember Rod Dixon coming up to me after the race and saying " those are bloody track shoes". Several months prior to the race I read an article in Scientific America about running shoes and weight.

I averaged 90-100 miles a week, which was low average for a national/world class marathoner. I tried running a 10k-10 mile race a few times in the weeks leading up a marathon. I never did a lot of track work, most of time, once a week, I would run six or seven miles and end up at a track where I would immediately run 4 to 6 400s with a 200 jog in between. I almost never timed my intervals. Then I would finish with a two mile jog. I would never wear light shoes for training, only on race day at the last minute would I switch shoes and often those racing shoes where brand new. I loved that sensation of putting on ultra light brand new shoes and taking a few strides right before the gun went off.

I hope this answers your questions. Feel free to ask again.

All the best,

Ric

In 37 years of running and racing, the best training partner I

ever ran with was Kenny White. Kenny had learned how to train by running with Ric in Ashland in the 1980\'s.

Ric had taught Kenny that you could train together and work hard without degenerating the training into unplanned racing of the workout.

Ric also would show up for a run when he said he would be there.

Years later, Kenny and I were coaching cross-country at Sehome High in Bellingham and I remember Kenny passing on the same training cues he had learned from Ric to our young runners. One of those kids was a 9th grade Jake Riley, now a great runner for Stanford. I don\'t know what impact it had on a kid like Jake, but it obviously didn\'t hurt his progress.

Al Reimer

Ric got and brought a tremendous amount out of himself.

We spoke last month. He was to hook up with Steve Spence in the Rogue Valley before the upcoming U.S. Track & Field Championships. He was to visit New Orleans or I was to come to Ashland later this year. He was busy and happy with Phyllis.

He was upbeat and thoughtful and straight-talking and quick to laugh as ever, when we spoke last month. We had so many good laughs, most of them from wry causes, over the 25-or-so years in which I was lucky to know Ric. Ric, like Brian in that other shocking passing seven years ago, left little for remorse in what he gave to life.

Cheers and love,

Don

(Here's the whole of what I tried to post several minutes ago. Thanks to letsrun for this message-baord.)

I am so glad to see the respect and affection for Ric come out on this message-board. Also very glad to know that he and Neely and Steve and Kirsten and all

the Spence family got together in Ashland this past week.

A stream of memories arises when I think of Ric. From San Francisco, Los Angeles,

Las Vegas, Nicaragua, Montreal, ... All carry a little glow--Ric's basic integrity

and generosity and sense of humor.

Here's something I sent out to friends yesterday. It may add to the knowledge-bank.

Hello, friends,

Some of you knew Ric during his heyday as an Open distance-runner--winner of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Montreal, Charlotte, and three Long Beach Marathons--during the mid-1980s to early 1990s. Some of you knew him through Athletes United for Peace. Some of you knew him through organic foods or as a Master and Senior runner.

He was always an exemplary athlete. Always respectful and always all-out as a competitor. He

was so modest that most who worked with him at the Ashland Food Co-op had no idea that he

remains the U.S. runner with the second-greatest number of marathons 2:14 or faster. And he

couldn't break 10:00 for two miles in High School.

Here's how Ric is regarded by peers, posting to the letsrun.com message-board--

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4101578

.

Ric got and brought a tremendous amount out of himself.

We spoke last month. He was to hook up with Steve Spence in the Rogue Valley before the upcoming U.S. Track & Field Championships. He was to visit New Orleans or I was to come to Ashland late this year. He was busy and happy with Phyllis.

He was upbeat and thoughtful and straight-talking and quick to laugh as ever, when we spoke

last month. We had so many good laughs, most of them from wry causes, over the 25-or-so years in which I was lucky to know Ric. Ric, like Brian in that other shocking passing seven years ago, left little for remorse in what he gave to life.

Cheers and love,

Don

(One or more of you may have good photos of Ric. If so, please pass along or post for the public.)

because of people like you i dont like this running site. Bunch of kids that doesn't anything about running and great runners from the past. HAVE SOME RESPECT !!!!

If any of you are in the Ashland area this Sunday:

Ric Sayre Memorial Run/Walk

Sunday, 26th at the Plaza - 9:00am

A community wide event to honor Ric Sayre.

Hey let's not forget, 99% of the population will benefit from rigorous exercise. That other 1% is just genetically predestined to have heart problems early in life. Jim Fixx, Ron Daws, and others have succumbed to heart problems too soon. But who knows? Maybe Ric Sayre would have passed away at 47 if he wasn't a runner?

http://rwdaily.runnersworld.com/2008/06/non-runner-dies-while-not-running.html

While that's true, I think it's still worth thinking about especially as you get older. Does intense, high mileage training when held for many years eventually cause heart problems? There have been threads on here in the past with lots of older guys dealing with A-Fib.

how will i remember ric? it will be in black running pants, oversized black ski gloves, black running jacket and wool cap. even in 80 degrees. running up and down his steep dirt road with star. if i ever saw ric running in shorts i would call my boyfriend and say, "shorts sighting." in fact whenever one of us talked to ric we would always make sure to tell each other the latest ric-isms. it was always our goal to get ric to wear some ankle socks. but ric was old school, all the way down to his white tube socks. i miss him so much.

Family History, Genetics are risk factors are primary issues. Diet, Exercise, Stress can all be addressed through lifestyle changes. Family History can not.

Al Sal is in this family history category.

Another of my favorite Ric stories was a couple of years ago, a couple of the boys from my HS XC team put together a relay team for a local 50k relay race. We were off to a good start going into the third leg, when our 4th leg lined up next to Ric waiting for the incoming baton.

I didn't have the heart to tell the boy who he was up against. I knew the outcome would be made known to him soon enough. Unfortunately though, our boy missed an poorly marked turn and led him and Ric off course. We realized the error pretty quickly and retrieved the now 4th and 5th place runners. Ric was grateful for the lift back to the missed turn where our runner was left in the dust.

We battled back into contention making ground up on some Ric's teammates. Late in the race, our penultimate runner knew he had a world class runner chasing him as he proceeded to run his best split of the day. Ric caught him and pulled away, but he had certainly brought out the best in my runners that day.

2 words; Ed Whitlock.

Could be considered a genetic freak, or perhaps he is the norm; the very unfortunate are those predisposed to heart related issues.

As an Akron-ite, I was aware of him as a kid (I'm 40) and he apparently had a running store somewhere in the North Hill area of Akron which was before me...Anyone that's been around for awhile know specifically know where it was?