Flashes of Panic

I’d heard that Jack Foster died this weekend in New Zealand, but hadn’t heard how.

For those who’d never heard of him, Foster was an astounding athlete at his best, not so much for his absolute performances but for the time span one would consider his “prime.” Specifically, Foster ran his fastest marathon in 2:11:19 at the age of 41, winning a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games and setting a record for marathoners over 40 which would stand for sixteen years (until 1990, when his countryman John Campbell would shave off fifteen seconds in that spring’s Boston Marathon, a record which stood at least ten more years.)

To put that mark in perspective, there are only two American men, of any age, who have run faster in the past two years.

I discovered this morning, reading the newspaper stories, that Foster was hit by a car while riding his bike. Which, frankly, gives me chills.

Now playing: Ritz from Magician Among The Spirits by The Church