One of the great stories within the Boston Marathon is the father/son duo of Dick and Rick Hoyt.  Together they run marathons and even complete ironman triathlons.  It is quite an amazing story considering that son Rick can’t walk.

When running marathons Dick pushes Rick in a wheelchair; and when completing triathlons Dick pulls Rick in a boat for the swimming event and for the biking portion Rick rides on a specially equipped bike.

When Rick was born the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck leaving him unable to do much physically.  He can’t talk and about the only control he has over his body is slight head movements.  He communicates by way of a computer that he can control with head movements.

His parents wanted to have Rick live as normal a life as possible.  To that end they have tried to have him included in the everyday activities of life. Rick graduated from public school and went on to earn a degree in special education from Boston University.

Their athletic career began when Rick was in high school and wanted to compete in a local 5 mile road race to raise funds for an injured athlete.  Dick who was far from a distance runner agreed to push Rick in a wheelchair.  They finished in second to last place and Rick told his dad that when they were in the race he did not feel that he was disabled.

So together the father and son entered more events.  At first they were met with resistance.  Race officials and participants weren’t sure what to make of them and many individuals were uncomfortable having them around. But Rick’s parents kept to their goal of having Rick participate in the “normal” activities of life.  In 1981 they asked to run the Boston Marathon but were told by the race officials that they first needed to run a Boston qualifying time at another marathon.  The only catch was that the Boston officials said they would have to qualify using the faster qualifying requirement for individuals Rick’s age rather than use the slower qualifying time for Dick’s age bracket.  So Dick, whose stocky and barrel chested frame is not your typical distance runner build, set to work.  Needing a time of 2 hours and 50 minutes they achieved a sub 2 hour and 46 minute marathon and in 1983 were officially in Boston after running in the race unofficially the prior two years.

In 2006 Team Hoyt ran Boston for the 25th time.  This happened to be the first year I ran Boston and it was neat to see the admiration the Boston fans had for the Hoyts.  Rather than being outcasts they are now inspirational heroes and received a standing ovation along the entire 26.2 miles of the course.

Here’s a video that tells a bit more about Team Hoyt and has an inspirational ending:

watch?v=flRvsO8m_KI

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Howard                                                Miles:   1,602.6    Steps:   2,356,972

Isaiah 40:31