CJ Albertson crossed the finish line of Sunday’s New York City Marathon in 2:10:57 to take 10th place – just three weeks after running his personal best of 2:08:17 at the Chicago Marathon. A day after the race, he paid tribute to Miguel Marin, a former runner for him at Clovis Community College, who died in a car crash in Fresno County on Saturday. He was 22 years old.

Here’s what you need to know:

– Marin died after his car hit a parked semi-truck in Reedley, California, in the early hours of Saturday morning.

According to YourCentralValley.com: “Officers say a preliminary investigation shows Marin was traveling northbound on Reed Avenue when he allowed his vehicle to veer to the left, across the southbound lane of Reed Avenue, and onto the west dirt shoulder where the truck and trailer were parked, facing in a northerly direction.”

– One of Marin’s friends told ABC30 Action News, “This guy had like two jobs, he was paying for his college, he would still find time in his day to run as well, and he would always be there, no matter what for you.”

– Albertson was informed of Marin’s passing on Saturday. He wrote on Instagram: “I got the call Saturday morning, and kept thinking I’d wake up next.”

– A GoFundMe has been set up to assist his family with expenses.

– Albertson says the team will run in honor of Marin in Friday’s Northern California Regional Championships at Toro Park in Salinas.

CJ Albertson Remembers Miguel Marin

“When I heard about it, it was difficult because I was very aware I was racing the next day. I wanted to do well. We talked about running all the time. We talked about professional running all the time. He was always following every race and everything I would do. He’d talk to me about training. Just everything. He was a very big supporter of me. It was so heavy but then at the same time, I felt like I needed to do well.

Running is so hard because it’s not football. It’s not these big emotional sports where someone gives, like, a pump-up speech and it’s like the movies – like in Miracle when someone gives a speech, they get emotional and have to get hyped up. You really have to be just calm, collected and maybe have some passion. But it’s very controlled in you.

He was a very passionate person and very caring and had a lot of feelings. When we would talk about his racing, that would be such a big thing. Like, ‘I know you have all of this going on in your life but we have to bring everything down. When you’re running and when you’re racing, we just have to be steady and be stable.’ Especially in the big moments, he just really wanted to show up for himself and his team. We tried to work on not overdoing it – just manage those emotions. In the years of working with him on that, I had to do that and not be like, ‘I am going to go and win the New York Marathon in honor of him.’ No, I’m not. I’m probably not. I can’t have that emotional mindset where I’m going to run super hard. I had to do what I know is good running and what as a coach I’ve tried to instill in him.”

Albertson went on to add:

“[Coaching] is fulfilling, but it also sincerely does make me better. It makes me a better athlete. Miguel, just the way that he wanted to get better as a person and as a runner. He was a young person, didn't have life figured out and was still trying to figure himself out. I'm still trying to figure myself out. Just seeing him put the effort into himself that he did. There were so many times that made me be like, ‘I can do this. I can be better and improve upon things about myself and my emotional stability, my mental stability.’ All these things improve just by the relationship that we had.”