New York City Marathon runner Rachel Apa told her dad she had “never felt this good” before collapsing in the final stretch, her devastated family revealed.

The 24-year-old, who was running her first-ever marathon, was texting with her father, Steve Apa, until just minutes before she lost consciousness due to the rare and deadly muscle condition, rhabdomyolysis.

Before starting Sunday morning’s race, Rachel Apa told her dad she was “so excited about it,” Steve, who described her death as “unfathomable,” told NBC News.

“I feel amazing,” she wrote in a subsequent text to her dad at around 11:30 a.m. near the nine-mile mark, putting it down to pre-race carb-loading. “I’ve never felt this good.”