Inspirational... Strongest Dad in the World

This was sent to me today I hope you will take the time to read and view the video it is AWESOME!!!
I've never cried over any e-mail ever well.. except when I got the pictures of my Mom.. But this one had me bawling. Be sure to watch the video after reading the story. Thanks for sharing this with me !!!

Strongest Dad in the World

[From Sports Illustrated, By Rick Reilly]

I try to be a good father. Give my kids mulligans.
Work nights to pay for their text messaging. Take themto swimsuit shoots.
But compared with Dick Hoyt, I suck. Eighty-five times he's pushed his disabled son, Rick, 26.2 miles in marathons. Eight times he's not only pushed him 26.2 miles in a wheelchair but also towed him 2.4 miles in a dinghy while swimming and pedaled him 112 miles in a seat on the handlebars-all in the same day.
Dick's also pulled him cross-country skiing, taken him on his back mountain climbing and once hauled him across the U.S. on a bike. Makes taking your son
bowling look a little lame, right?
And what has Rick done for his father? Not much-except save his life.
This love story began in Winchester, Mass., 43 years
ago, when Rick was strangled by the umbilical cord
during birth, leaving him brain-damaged and unable to control his limbs.
He'll be a vegetable the rest of his life;" Dick says doctors told him and his wife, Judy, when Rick was nine months old. "Put him in an institution."
But the Hoyts weren't buying it. They noticed the way Rick's eyes followed them around the room. When Rick was 11 they took him to the engineering department at Tufts University and asked if there was anything to help the boy communicate. "No way," Dick says he was told. "There's nothing going on in his brain." "Tell him a joke," Dick countered. They did. Rick laughed. Turns out a lot was going on in his brain. Rigged up with a computer that allowed him to control the cursor by touching a switch with the side of his head, Rick was finally able to communicate. First words? "Go Bruins!" And after a high school classmate was paralyzed in an accident and the school organized a charity run for him, Rick pecked out, "Dad, I want to do that." Yeah, right. How was Dick, a self-described "porker" who never ran more than a mile at a time, going to push his son five miles? Still, he tried. "Then it was
me who was handicapped," Dick says. "I was sore for
two weeks."
That day changed Rick's life. "Dad," he typed, "when
we were running, it felt like I wasn't disabled anymore!"
And that sentence changed Dick's life. He became
obsessed with giving Rick that feeling as often as he could. He got into such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.
"No way," Dick was told by a race official. The Hoyts weren't quite a single runner, and they weren't quite a wheelchair competitor. For a few years Dick and Rick just joined the massive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get into the race officially: In 1983 they ran another marathon so fast they made the qualifying time for Boston the following year. Then somebody said, "Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?" How's a guy who never learned to swim and hadn't ridden a bike since he was six going to haul his 10-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried. Now they've done 212 triathlons, including four grueling 15-hour Ironmans in Hawaii. It must be a buzzkill to be a 25-year-old stud getting passed by an old guy towing a grown man in a dinghy, don't you think? Hey, Dick, why not see how you'd do on your own? "No way," he says. Dick does it purely for "the awesome feeling" he gets
seeing Rick with a cantaloupe smile as they run, swim and ride together.
This year, at ages 65 and 43, Dick and Rick finished
their 24th Boston Marathon, in 5,083rd place out of
more than 20,000 starters. Their best time? Two hours, 40 minutes in 1992--only 35 minutes off the world record, which, in case you don't keep track of these things, happens to be held by a guy who was not pushing another man in a wheelchair at the time.
"No question about it," Rick types. "My dad is the
Father of the Century."
And Dick got something else out of all this too. Two years ago he had a mild heart attack during a race.
Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95%
clogged. "If you hadn't been in such great shape," one doctor told him, "you probably would've died 15 years ago." So, in a way, Dick and Rick saved each other's life.
Rick, who has his own apartment (he gets home care)
and works in Boston, and Dick, retired from the
military and living in Holland, Mass., always find
ways to be together. They give speeches around the
country and compete in some backbreaking race every
weekend, including this Father's Day. That night, Rick will buy his dad dinner, but the thing he really wants to give him is a gift he can never buy.
"The thing I'd most like," Rick types, "is that my dad sit in the chair and I push him once."

STRONGEST DAD VIDEO.. AWESOME!

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found video again.. awesome!!

it was removed by u tube user that originally posted it.. so i sat up half the night and search for a site that had it. here it is.. sure gives me a diifferent outlook on things. you can do anything you can dream about.. all ya got to do is want it work towards it and make it happen..

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Sanura

new video

shows a lil bit more of what this kid and his dad accomplished together as a team

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Sanura

This is how the Hoyts have touched other folks!

To: Team Hoyt

I just want to thank you for the influence you have made in my life. You have changed my life forever. If you were not doing the things you have been doing, I would have been in jail or dead. Here is my story of how you have changed my life. I don't know how I can ever repay you.

From the time I was 18 years old till the time I was 28 years old all I did was drink in get in trouble, and I was very good at it. I worked hard and played hard. I usually worked about 70 hours a week and spent the rest of the time doing things that hurt me and other people.

My grandmother died of cancer in 1999. I watched her slowly die day after day. She would tell me all of the things she wished she had done. I sat there and listened to her stories of regret. She led a very good life raising four kids and worked hard to make their lives easier, sacrificing things that were important to her. Her whole life was one sacrifice after another. As I sat there listening to her, I realized I have been wasting my life away. I needed to change things in my life for the better. Life was passing me by and I didn't want to be 60 years old and never done anything important. So I made some changes.

I quit one of my jobs and a friend talked me into joining the local YMCA. I really liked my new lifestyle. I was starting to feel better and had a different outlook on life. This same friend talked me into running a local 5k run. I have never run that far before in my life. I ran the race and did really well. I placed 3rd in my age group of 25-29. Everyone was cheering for me, the positive attitude everyone had mad me feel really good inside. That was in the fall of 1999, I then decided to run a marathon in spring. I had no clue as to what I was doing. The learning curve was huge. I ran my marathon and finished in 3:29:00. I am told this was unheard of with my background. It was supposed to be my last race ever.

I came home one Sunday afternoon and turned on the T.V. and the Hawaii Ironman was on. I didn't even know what that was. I watched with my eyes and mouth wide open. There was this older gentleman pulling, pedaling, and pushing his handicapped son through the entire Ironman race. I could not believe what I was seeing. I finished watching the show did some research on the event. I did not own a bike and I could not swim, and I had no clue what a transition was. I didn't care. If a grown man closing in on 60 years old can push his son through that entire race, anyone can. There slogan was "I CAN". I told myself "I CAN". One week later I signed up for the 2001 Florida Ironman. I trained hard and thought of you guys everyday. You both were my inspiration and still are. I had taped the Ironman show with you guys in it and watched it over and over. I finished the Ironman in 11:27:00. It hurt really badly but I kept you guys in my mind the entire time. That was supposed to be my last one also. I ended up running it again in 2003.

I decided to run the Boston Marathon in 2002 to see if I would be able to meet you two. I ran a 3:14:00 that year and was not able to catch you. I still can not believe a 60 year old man pushing his son in a wheelchair can beat a thirty year old kid in good shape. You are definitely amazing. I was not able to locate you at the race, but someday hope to run with you.

I am now one of the best athletes in the area. I have run many triathlons and many marathons. I have even won a few races over the years. Of all the races I do (35 races a year, every year) I still to this day have not beaten any of your running personal bests. In 2004, I even rode my bicycle across the U.S.A. I spent four weeks and 125 miles a day accomplishing that goal; only because I heard you have also done this. I have a picture of you two framed in my workout room; this keeps me motivated on days when I need some motivating.

You have saved my life. I am now leading a clean and positive life thanks to you both. I am married and quit dinking. I have the respect of everyone I know around me.I do not know where I would be if it was not for me seeing you on T.V. that day. I have always wanted to write this letter to you but I know how busy you both are. If I had to pick a hero it would not be Lance Armstrong or someone famous. My hero's are the two of you.

I hope someday to meet you two. I live 60 miles from Chicago, IL. I know that you will be in town on Jan 31. I would like some information on where you will be on that day. It would be my life long dream to shake your hands.

Thanks for everything;
Keith

Team Hoyt

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Sanura

KUDOS SANURA

Great update wench!

It is an amasing story!!

yep i know its a good one..

made me bawl..

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Sanura