Eve Edelheit for The New York Times
MARATHON, Fla. — What would you do if you were running across a bridge and a sheriff’s deputy, exiting from a large vehicle, ordered you to stop? For Peggy Paino, who recently found herself in that unpleasant position during the Seven Mile Bridge Run in Marathon, Fla., the response was pure criminal instinct: Run away. Only it was more of a slow jog.
“I pleaded with him to let me finish the race,” Paino, 66, said of her emotional encounter with the deputy, Frank Westerband of the Monroe County sheriff’s office, about three-quarters of the way across the bridge.