Lonnie Harris - A Great Loss

 
Lonnie Harris from 2012 LA Marathon

With a heavy heart, I found out Friday that Lonnie Harris had passed away Thursday night. I wanted to wait till after our little BBQ to mention this, since I wanted us to celebrate everyone's victory first.  For those who have been to our past BBQs, Lonnie usually was there to join in the celebration. 

Lonnie wasn't officially with any Roadrunners group, he would float around, and he was always welcomed.  It was an honor to have him join us this season a few times, and he ran with us during our 20 miler just four weeks ago. He did not run this years Marathon, and I remembered looking for him at the start.  He passed away due to complications of a heart condition. He was 67 years young. I included the explanation from an email I got forwarded from Alan Culver.
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Dear Legacies,

One of our nicest Legacy family members, Lonnie Harris was not able to start the race last Sunday.  Last Wednesday he was taken to the Long Beach VA Hospital in severe pain. 

We have learned that he had a pericardial effusion and was on heavy medication to ease the pain.  I looked up pericardial effusion (maybe Legacy Dr. John can expound on this), which is a condition where fluid builds up in the pericardium, which is the two layered sack that surrounds the heart.  Usually there is a little fluid in that space between the layers but in Lonnie's case, there was a lot more that put pressure on his heart.  Who knows? Maybe it would have been worse if he had started the race.  He has drainage tubes now and the pain has eased.  Now they need to find out what caused it.  That's all I know right now.

Long may you run,
Lou Briones

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On Thursday night at 6pm, Lonnie had passed away.

Lonnie is a Legacy Runner, which means he had participated in every LA Marathon since the very first one in 1975.  It's a very small club. When we were running the 20 miler on Feb. 15, he was telling me of how he was taking classes in meditation, and how great that was, and how I think he was considering getting certified so that he can conduct meditation sessions also.

He had this very approachable radiance that made it very easy to talk to, and it was always great to have him around.  I think anyone who ever met him, or spoke to him, could immediately then call him your friend.  He was very giving in that way.

Last year, during the 2013 Marathon, he joined in with us for the full run, and it was great having him with us. He liked our pace, and I remember...it had gotten hot right in Hollywood like this year, but the difference was that once we got pass mile 13, it got cooler and cooler the further west we went.  By the time we got to Ocean Blvd. there actually was a fog cover, and that made a huge difference.  We had a large core group still with us heading into the finish. 

As I saw the finish line looming in the distance, I remember I told the group we were going to run it in....we started the run, and after like a full minute...I realized that it was still really far away....I had underestimated how much further it was....Lonnie was right by my side...I took one look at him...and he said "let's walk."...and I immediately called a walk.  When we finally were much closer...we ran it in.  I felt like such a rookie next to Lonnie.

2013 LA Marathon Finish

Lonnie Harris....a true class act....we will all miss him dearly.

If you would like to share your story about Lonnie, I will repost it for the group.

Walt