Injured Runner Finished Race After Getting Help From Prisoner On Work Release

• A runner from Utah was limping in pain because of injuries after running only 4 miles out of the 26.2-mile marathon. 
• She thought she’d never gonna make it until she heard someone running from behind and caught up with her. 
• He was an inmate on work release who stayed by her side until she finished the race

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A runner from Utah was able to finish her recent race despite the pain she felt from injuries. Thanks to the help of a prisoner who was out on work release. 

Carrie Kelley shared her experience in the recent Beaver Creek Marathon on a Facebook page for runners. She had run only a few miles from the start of the 26.2-mile running event held south of Salt Lake City on Oct. 3, and was already limping in pain because of injuries. 

“Then about mile 4, I heard talking and someone running behind me. Who could be slower than me? It turned out to be a prisoner out on work release,” Kelley posted on the Facebook group, Run4fun. 

“The lovely Fidel saw that I needed help and came to run by my side for the remainder of the race,” she said, talking about Fidel Ybarra, a prisoner who was on work release assisting in the operations of the event. 

For the remaining 22 miles, Fidel and Carrie ran side by side. 

“During these 22 miles, we talked, encouraged each other through the hot sun & crazy, steep canyon & joked with the sheriffs,” Carrie wrote. “Without his help, I wouldn’t have been able to finish.”

Fidel on the other hand said he did not know exactly why he ran with her. He just saw a bit of himself and his co-inmates in Carrie’s situation. 

“We are normally left at the back and left to our own devices,” he said. 

When he started running with her, he could tell how much Carrie enjoys running, and he couldn’t bear to leave her alone. He did not even expect to be crossing the finish line with her. But he was happy he stayed instead of just hopping into the work van. 

“The feeling of accomplishment was more than I can describe in words,” he said.

Carrie was honestly impressed with Fidel to have finished the race even though he apparently had no preparations. 

Her friend, Elizabeth Lizz Ashby, also shared on Facebook how happy it made her to learn of the inmate’s good deed to her friend. “I cheered him on and celebrated with him all he had done so far,” she said. 

Amy Albrecht, director of the Beaver Creek Marathon, told KSL, “Watching the two of them cross together had everyone in tears.”

Source: TODAY