Grace Nolan was supposed to be at the front of the women’s field at the Detroit Free Press Marathon on Sunday, October 18, returning to a race that had quickly become one of her favorites.

Sadly, she never made it to the start line, as Nolan, 25, died early Saturday following a car accident in Walled Lake, Michigan, the night before, according to the Detroit Free Press . Her boyfriend, Matt, was also in the car. Nolan’s family said in a Facebook post that he “sustained significant injuries [but] thankfully survived and is expected to recover.”

Her father, Jason Nolan, shared the news by describing just how many different parts of people’s lives his daughter occupied.

“If you knew Grace, I don’t need to tell you what an amazing human she was, truly extraordinary,” he wrote. “Daughter, sister, girlfriend, friend, mentor, scholar, athlete, comedian....those are just a few of the ways to begin describing Grace.”

The marathon community knew her especially well as an athlete on the rise.…