Race of Love

One day, a son asked his father, "Dad, will you run the marathon with me?"
"Yes, son." The father replied, and they ran their first marathon together.
On another day, the son asked his father, "Dad, will you go on another marathon with me?"
"Sure, son." The father said, and they ran their next marathon again.
Finally one day, the son looked at his father and asked, "Dad, will you run the Ironman with me?"
*the Ironman is actually a triathlon - an almost superhuman combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling and 2.4 miles of swimming*
The dad smiled and answered, "Okay, son. Let's do it."

And here they are... Dick (father) and Rick (son) known as Team Hoyt!




Amazing, isn't it? That video struck a chord within me.

Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts and together, they've run marathons and even trekked 3735 miles across America. What makes it really miraculous is that Rick is paralyzed; he can't walk or talk. In 1962, Dick and his wife Judy were greeted with devastating news when the doctor told them that their first unborn, Rick, would not be able to survive for long because his umbilical cord had coiled around his neck and cut off oxygen to his brain. Rick was born paralyzed and the doctors added that there was no hope for his development. They were wrong.

Despite Rick's condition, his parents never ceased to shower him with love and they nurtured him like normal parents would. Unfortunately, enrolling him into a public school was hard. Rick was turned down many times because the school authorities thought he couldn't understand since he could not talk. But that wasn't true. When a group of Tuft University engineers told Rick a joke, he cracked up - that meant that he could communicate! So they helped build a special interactive computer that allowed Rick to type out his thoughts with his head movements. Soon, he was admitted into a public school.


One day, Rick said that he wanted to participate in a 5-mile benefit run for a local player who'd been paralyzed in an accident. Dick was far from athletic. Yet, for Rick's sake, he agreed to push Rick in a wheelchair. They finished second to last, but nevertheless, it was a great achievement for them. Rick had a passion for sports and marathons.

After 4 years of marathons, they competed in their first triathlon. For this, Dick had to learn how to swim and ride a bike properly. With a newly-built bike (adapted to carry Rick in front) and a boat tied to Dick’s waist as he swam, the Hoyts came in second-to-last in the competition held on Father’s Day 1985.


Dick, who is 65, says, "Rick is the one who inspires and motivates me, the way he just loves sports and competition."

Rick graduated from Boston University in 1993 with a degree in special education. He is now working at Boston College's computer laboratory a system codenamed "Eagle Eyes", through which mechanical aids (like for instance a powered wheelchair) could be controlled by a paralyzed person’s eye-movements, when linked-up to a computer. Here is his testimony that he typed out, "Dad is one of my role models. Once he sets out to do something, Dad sticks to it whatever it is, until it is done. For example once we decided to really get into triathlons, dad worked out, up to five hours a day, five times a week, even when he was working."

Dick is now 65 and he still goes on marathons and triathlons with Rick. Evidently, the love of a father toward his son runs deep. And with the courage and determination that Rick has, it is enough to inspire Dick to keep going. In total, they have completed 229 Triathlons, 66 marathons and much more.

This is what true love is all about.

What a beautiful inspiration. =)

Go, Team Hoyt!!!