Youth pastor, 24, collapses and dies during West Coast marathon after kissing wife at mile 19

A youth pastor died Sunday after collapsing while running the Portland marathon — just one mile after stopping to kiss his wife.

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Treyton “Trey” Lara was 24 and his wife, Aundrey Shin-Lara, told KPTV he trained for months before dying.

“I think he’s just always just enjoyed running as just a way to like relax and release,” Audrey said.

Audrey added that there weren’t any signs of distress that morning during the marathon.

“I saw him at 18, 19. He ran over and was able to smile and give me a kiss, and then he ran off, and he looked good,” Audrey told KPTV.

But that changed around mile 20, when Trey collapsed. Audrey said doctors told her he went into cardiac arrest.

He was taken to the hospital, but doctors told her it was too late, Audrey said.

“The grief is coming in waves where one moment it still doesn’t feel real where we’re like I’m just gonna wake up, and he’s gonna be over there,” she told KPTV.

Trey was a youth pastor and Audrey said he was working with other pastors like himself to have a positive impact in the world. More recently, Trey had helped open a youth camp called Camp Genesis during the summer.

“Besides loving Jesus, he loved his friends and family. He was the best big brother, Tio to so many cousins, and some of our friends’ kids would call him Uncle Trey,” Audrey added.

The loss was shocking, according to Audrey, because Trey was health and wasn’t suffering from underlying medical conditions.

She told KPTV that the love people have for Trey is helping her get through the grief.

“He’s the love of my life, always will be. And we’ll see him again,” Audrey told KPTV.

A GoFundMe has been set up for the family as they fo through this difficult time. The page has raised close to $60,000.

The Portland marathon attracts thousands of runners each year.

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