Tiffany Raiford
The Boston Marathon is one of the most important marathons in the country, and it’s one that people join to cross off their bucket list, to compete and to enjoy. While there are some of us that like to joke that if you see us running, you should call the police because someone is chasing us, there are people in the world that really do love running; it’s their passion. But not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to run. Some people have experienced severe trauma and injury or illness that prevents them from being able to run, and this is devastating. For one man from Venezuela, however, his health condition was not enough to stop him from not only running, but finishing, the Boston Marathon. Maickel Melamed managed to complete the 26.2 mile marathon despite the fact that he suffers from muscular dystrophy. It took him 20 hours to finish the race in inclement weather, but he did it around 5 am the morning after the race began.
Under no circumstance did he attempt to give up or ask to quit. He pushed through despite the pain and the discomfort, the bad weather and the fact that everyone else in the race finished hours before him. He gives true meaning to the phrase, “It doesn’t matter how slow you go, you’re still ahead of everyone that never started.”
The impressive finish was something that Melamed wanted to do less for himself than for others. His inspiration and his goal is to show the world that being impaired or different is not grounds for giving up. Even though he is severely limited in much of his mobility, he was able to push through and accomplish something amazing, and his example is one he hopes rubs off on others across the world. He wants to inspire those with disabilities, and we dare to say that he’s inspired us all.
Photo by WCVB
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