The Boston Marathon is the grand-daddy of all marathons in the world, it has the prestige, the prize money, the elite runners - some of the winners consider a victory here greater than a victory at the Olympics - in the running world, BOSTON IS IT!
Part of the IT factor is the stories of those who make it here.
Just before the elite runners came by, before the news helicopter hovered overhead, before I held my camera poised to catch Randy coming by, Jay came by.
The crowd cheered, I cheered...I blinked back tears.
I have no idea if he was born this way, or if he used to run like Randy and a car accident forever strapped him into this chair, or if a disease is slowly eating at his muscles, but either way here
he was pushing 26.2 miles,
backwards,
unassisted,
uphill,
with only the push of his left foot.
It was watching someone try, really try to do something hard - mentally and physically. Jay's story was at one extreme but it encapsulated the human ability to do amazing things. It was Boston at its' Best - it was someone not letting life knock them down, but moving, moving down a 26.2 mile stretch literally one foot at a time to say, "hey, don't let obstacles stop you, keep moving, win your personal race in life." It was inspiration.
