Legendary Ultrarunner Found Dead in Wilderness

No signs of violence, Micah True's body taken for autopsy
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 2, 2012 5:49 AM CDT
Legendary Ultrarunner Found Dead in Wilderness
In this March 29, 2012, photo, provided by New Mexico Search and Rescue via Silver City Daily Press & Independent, search and rescue teams, including dog teams, horse teams, a National Guard helicopter and a Civil Air Patrol fixed-wing aircraft scour the wilderness surrounding the Gila Cliff Dwellings...   (AP Photo/New Mexico Search and Rescue via Silver City Daily Press & Independent)

Friends and family of legendary ultrarunner Micah True have been left with only questions and memories after the body of the 58-year-old was found in the New Mexico wilderness on Saturday, reports ABC News. True disappeared while on a 12-mile run on Tuesday in New Mexico's Gila National Forest. "From what I've heard, there was no sign of any struggle," said a police spokesman. "At the end, it's just a recipe for disaster when you go out there by yourself. This is one of those things that, unfortunately, has been happening more and more lately."

"When he was out on the trail running, it was like someone just rang the school bell and said, 'Recess.' It was utter playfulness," recalled Chris McDougall, the author of the nonfiction best-seller about extreme marathoners Born to Run—True was the subject of that book. His body was recovered yesterday and sent to a medical examiner for autopsy. The owner of the lodge he was staying at fears he may have been injured; temps can drop below freezing at night, and True had set out in shorts and a T-shirt, with just one water bottle. "You can get turned around" in the Gila National Forest, she says, "but I wouldn't have thought it would happen to Micah." (More Micah True stories.)

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