Shortly after mile seven in the 2015 Chicago Marathon, Richard Sikorski had a sudden cardiac arrest. His heart stopped beating and he collapsed in the middle of the road.

He wasn’t supposed to run the marathon. He was feeling under-trained and a little tired. But the energy at the race expo changed his mind. He called his wife. Told her, “It’s pasta for dinner.” He’d rather be around other runners and suffer through 26.2 than stay at home.

The decision to run profoundly altered the trajectory of his life. Sikorski started the race, but he did not finish it.

This is the story of the race to save his life—a race that requires a NASA-like command center, a year's worth of planning, hundreds of volunteers, and a little luck.

Additional reading:* "Last time I saw him he was dead" by Cindy Kuzma

* The Runner's Heart

Episode Credits:

Host: Rachel Swaby

Producers: Cindy Kuzma, Rachel Swaby

Editor: David Weinberg

Theme music: Danny Cocke

Human Race Editor-in-Chief: David Willey

Human Race is a proud part of Panoply.

Follow us on Twitter (@rwaudio) and Facebook (Runner's World Audio).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices