Runner’s ‘Death’ Is Her Own Inspiration

Her heart stopped twice after a half -marathon.

The News Tribune, based out of Tacoma, Washington, has an interesting story about Stephanie Arnold.

The 44-year-old mother can tell people that she’s died.

Last year, Arnold clocked a PR in a half-marathon but has no recollection of it. The reason: her heart stopped at the finish and was restarted by paramedics twice, who performed CPR on her.

The process took 30 minutes.

“My son Stephen told me I started with nine lives, like a cat, and I’ve now used two of them,” Arnold recalls.

The cause of the episode was later determined to be sudden cardiac arrest, which is strange, because Arnold, a mother of two, says that she’s been athletic her whole life.

After her heart attack, Arnold was put into an induced coma where and was placed into a cooling suit that let her body heal at 97 degrees.

“I wanted to run again, and I have,” she said. “And I want to promote heart-healthy living. I’ve done a lot of research, and there’s such an increase in heart disease because of lifestyle choices. We don’t eat right, we don’t exercise — and our children are dying too young.”