Bob CollinsMarathoners are a different breed; whether they’re a particularly smarter one is an ongoing debate. So fit the story of Tim Cernohous into whatever category you wish.
He collapsed near the end of the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon in Duluth on Saturday morning, the Duluth News Tribune reports.
He didn’t have a pulse. Paramedics performed chest compressions. Then they gave him a shock with a defibrillator.
When he was revived, he jumped up and said “Let’s go — I want to finish the race.”
Then he and his rescuers walked the remaining distance, finishing close to his goal of 1:44, the paper says.
Something similar happened at the 2015 Bjorklund. That year, Cernohous also got into trouble after attempting a late charge, buoyed by cheering. He collapsed that time, too.
Saturday, Cernohous began to experience the tell-tale sign — double vision — upon reaching the closing stretch.
“I thought, ‘Oh, no, not again'” he said. “That’s probably the last thing I remember. Then I woke up, opened my eyes and there are all these people around me. I thought, ‘What the heck is going on?'”
All told, a mere four minutes elapsed from the time Cernohous collapsed until he completed the race. For that, he was deeply appreciative of the first responders and their quick, decisive action. He one day hopes to get their perspective on what transpired.
Cernohous, 33, says he has no plans to scale back his running.
