Carrie Kelly was running the Beaver Creek Marathon in Utah on October 3, when an injury caught up with her after 4 miles. She was struggling and limping in pain. Fidel Ybarra was working at the race and stepped in to lend her some support. He ended up finishing the remaining 22 miles with her.
“The lovely Fidel saw that I needed help and came to run by my side for the remainder of the race,” Kelley explains. She says they talked, encouraged each other through the hot sun and steep canyons, adding, “Without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to finish.”
Fidel was wearing work boots and had no marathon training, but says he didn’t want her to run alone. “I could have stopped and jumped into the work van with the deputy that was following us, but something kept me going,” he says. “I feel like by the end, I was in more pain than her, but the feeling of accomplishment was more than I can describe in words.”
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