By Don Norcross, Published Oct. 5, 2015 in Competitor.com
Joel Feldman crossed the finish line at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon last month and began sobbing. They were not tears of joy. Feldman was mourning the death of his 21-year-old daughter, Casey, who will never walk down a wedding aisle, never give him grandchildren, who cannot wrap her arms around her father and say, “I love you, Dad.”
Casey Feldman died six years ago, killed by a distracted driver who sped through an intersection and struck Casey, who was walking to her summer job as a waitress.
Remembering the finish-line scene at Virginia Beach, Joel says, “Everyone was real happy and they’re high-fiving. They were jubilant. I didn’t feel that way.”
Joel, who will run the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon on Oct. 31 near his hometown, is telling his story by phone. You can hear his voice cracking, sense the tears beginning to well.
“I was thinking about Casey,” he says, “thinking about the only reason at 60 years old I’m running is because my daughter is dead. … I’m alive and my daughter is dead. I have a future and she doesn’t. That’s the way it is until the day I die.” [….]
Read the full article here in Competitor.com
