Hi folks,
I’m the friend that organized the ground search.
Thanks for following along. Phil’s story is a stark reminder that even a short run on local urban-interfaced trails can be a huge risk on a hot day, especially when you don’t know the trails you’re going to be on.
This was really the perfect storm of small mistakes we all make. Phil went out for what he thought would be a 45-50min run, and although he hadn’t been there before he felt he knew the area well enough from maps that he trusted his navigational skills and left his phone behind. He was running short enough he decided not to carry water. It was hot enough he decided not to wear a shirt (bigger mistake than the water imo). He never wears a hat. He ran alone. He probably didn’t factor in how much hotter and exposed it would be on the ridge above. He chose a very low traffic area of the park to run in, and decided to enter through the landbank (something many of us do but which makes navigation harder and the number of people around to help far lower still). Some of these aren’t so much mistakes as simply things that marginally increase a Runner’s risk. And it’s not a combo that’s uncommon. We’ve all done these things and we’ve all told ourselves it was fine and that we’d only be out there a short time and could basically crawl for help if we had to. Turns out you can’t.
This took a runner with elite level abilities and decades of experience in ultra-endurance sports , wilderness, and extremes and killed him basically in his backyard in likely less than 90min, after just one wrong turn about 40min into what for most of us would be considered a routine run with routine decisions.
Stay safe out there, and take the elements seriously.