some of you might have heard about this guy and some might not but i think his story is pretty amazing.
Story for those who are not familiar with it:
- Strongest Dad in the World -
From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly
I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans. Work nights to pay
for their text messaging. Take them to swimsuit shoots. But compared
with Dick Hoyt, I suck.
Eighty-five times he’s pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in
marathons. Eight times he’s not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a
wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy
while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the
handlebars–all in the same day.
Dick’s also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his
back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a
bike. Makes taking your son bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much–except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years ago, when Rick was
strangled by the umbilical cord during birth, leaving
him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs. ``He’ll be a
vegetable the rest of his life;’’ Dick says doctors told him and
his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. `Put him in an
institution.’’
But the Hoyts weren’t buying it. They noticed the way Rick’s
eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took
him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked
if there was anything to help the boy communicate. No way,'' Dick says he was told.There’s nothing going on in his
brain.’’ "Tell him a joke,’’ Dick countered. They did. Rick
laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain.
Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor
by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally
able to communicate. First words? Go Bruins!'' And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out,Dad,
I want to do that.’’
Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described porker'' who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. `Then it was me who was handicapped,'' Dick says.I was sore for two weeks.’’
That day changed Rick’s life. Dad,'' he typed,when we were running, it felt like I wasn ‘t disabled anymore!’’
And that sentence changed Dick’s life. He became obsessed with
giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such
hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979
Boston Marathon.
No way,’’ Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren’t
quite a single runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair
competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the
massive field and ran anyway, then they
found a way to get into
the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast
they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year.
Then somebody said, ``Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?’’
How’s a guy who never learned to swim and hadn’t ridden a bike
since he was six going to haul his 110-pound kid through a
triathlon? Still, Dick tried.
Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour
Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old
stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a
dinghy, don’t you think?
Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own? No way,'' he says. Dick does it purely forthe awesome feeling’’ he gets
seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smi le as they run, swim and ride
together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished their 24th
Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of more than
20,000 starters. Their best time’? Two hours, 40 minutes in
1992–only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you
don’t keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy
who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.
No question about it,'' Rick types.My dad is the
Father of the Century.’’
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago
he had a mild heart attack during a race. Doctors found that one
of his arteries was 95% clogged. If you hadn't been in such great shape,'' one doctor told him,you probably would’ve died
15 years ago.’’
So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other’s life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care) and works in
Boston, and Dick, retired from the military and living in
Holland, Mass., always find ways to be together. They give
speeches around the country and compete in some backbreaking
race every weekend, including this Father’s Day.
That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really
wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
The thing I'd most like,'' Rick types,is that my dad would
sit in the chair and I would push him once.’’
heres a video of them in action.