"I finished ahead of 300 million Americans"

BLOT: (05 Nov 2011 - 11:55:45 AM)

"I finished ahead of 300 million Americans"

In 1986, Bob Wieland, who had lost his legs during Vietnam, finished the New York Marathn, in 98 hours, on his hands. Hot damn. I'll raise a toast to him.

"He remembered the runners reaching him at the end of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge about two miles into the race. 'They came flying by, running, cheering, yelling, "Go for it,"' said Wieland, who was covering less than a mile an hour.

"Wieland's race progress slowed once word spread about his mission to finish the marathon. He stopped frequently to talk with Vietnam veterans, wounded soldiers, the homeless and fathers of disabled children who wanted to meet him or get an autograph."

He, in both his marathons, spent considerable time visiting people on the side and talking to folk. Had he stuck to just resting, he probably could have shaved hours off. There were events, across both races, 1986 and 1987, like nights in a hotel for press meetings and hospital visits and impromptu rap performances—at him, in this case, not by him—that smacks a little of spectacle, but screw it, I'll still raise a toast to him.

OTHER BLOTS THIS MONTH: November 2011