John Wilkie was just 60 yards away from finishing a 13.1-mile race when his foot caught on the wheel of a spectator’s stroller, sending him crashing to the ground.
“I had thought about what I would do if this ever happened so I had it ingrained in my mind to tuck and roll,” the 73-year-old grandfather of three tells PEOPLE. “I leaned to the left and put my arm down.”
Being mentally prepared wasn’t enough to protect Wilkie from the violent fall that knocked his glasses right off his face and dislodged one of his contacts.
“The brunt of the force was taken by my forehead,” he says. “There was so much blood that it looked like a Halloween costume.”
Before the veteran runner could even process what happened, two men rushed in to help.
“Two angels came out of the sky,” Wilkie says. “I didn’t bounce more than once before these two fellows helped me off the ground and across the finish line.”
The two men, Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon runner Nathanael Dillard and spectator Colin Jackson, then took Wilkie to the EMT tent where he was told he’d need stitches to close the gash above his left eye. Wilkie’s wife, who is a nurse, then took him to the emergency room where he received 5 stitches.
Everything happened so fast Wilkie didn’t get a chance to thank the men he calls “angels.”
On Wednesday, a local news station brought Wilkie and Dillard together for a Skype call.
“He’s a navy veteran and he’s been running and does about 10 half marathons a year so he’s well aware of runners’ issues,” Wilkie says. “I’m just very grateful that he was there.”
Wilkie explained that he took up running 10 years ago as a way to stay healthy after retiring from civil engineering. Sunday’s race was his 8th half marathon and he has more races planned for this year.
After speaking with Dillard, there’s one more event he hopes to add to his list: reuniting with his rescuer to run together.
“We talked about maybe down the road being able to run another half marathon together,” he says. “I’ve made a couple friends for life, that’s for sure.”
