Myrtle Beach Marathon runner still in critical condition

The wife a Tennessee man who collapsed Saturday while running in the Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon hopes he will be woken from a medically induced coma Tuesday.

Wendy Graziani said her husband, Alan Gassel, 61, was in stable but critical condition Monday night.

“Things are definitely looking good,” Graziani said.

She said Gassel has been running several marathons a year for the last 16 years, including the Chicago Marathon.

Halfway through the Bi-Lo Myrtle Beach Marathon on Saturday, he sent a text message to his wife.

Graziani, who was at their home in Lenoir City Tenn., was happy to hear her husband was right on track and running at his normal pace. About a half an hour later, however, she got a call from an unknown number. On the other end was a woman she didn’t know asking if she was with the race’s emergency team. She said somehow the line disconnected and she started to think something had gone awry.

“I kept waiting for that text message saying he had crossed the finish line,” she said. “I was and waiting and waiting and waiting and never got it.”

Hours later, she learned he never finished.

Mark Schecker, the marathon’s medical director, said Gassel had collapsed around mile 18 and was resuscitated by EMS workers before he was transported to Grand Strand Medical Center.

“It was such a coincidence where he collapsed was U.S. 17 and 82nd Avenue,’’ Graziani said. ``He was within feet of Grand Strand Medical Center and his down time was only about 11 minutes from the time a bystander got to him and the time he got to the emergency room.”

She said they’re lucky.

“My husband runs several marathons a year, and I’ve gone to several with him,” she said. “Usually, there’s one or two deaths. Not very many marathoners that suffer cardiac arrest like he did survive.”

They’ve been married for 20 years, about the same time his running career started. In fact, they used to race in shorter distances and biathlons (biking and running races) together.

Graziani said he had already registered for this year’s Chicago Marathon, but he obviously won’t be competing. She said his running career is probably over.

“I already told his brother I’ll break his leg,” she joked. “In all honesty, I think his running career, at least distance running is over. I don’t want to have to put him or our family through this ever again. He can find something else.”

Graziani said she and her husband talked about something like this a few weeks ago.

“I said, ‘You know, marathons kill people,’” she said. “He said, ‘No, improper training kills people.’”

She hasn’t completely figured out what she’ll say when she gets to speak with him, but she said she does plan to let him know how near death he was.

More than anything right now, Graziani is simply grateful.

“I want to thank everybody who helped save my husband’s life that day,” she said. “I would love to find out who those people were.”