Post by ray on Nov 7, 2011 22:59:52 GMT -5
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November 5, 2011
25 Years Later, a Marathon Finish Still Inspires
By DAVE UNGRADY
In Bob Wieland’s world, obstacles create opportunities and conquests breed inspiration.
Wieland was declared dead and taken away in a zipped-up body bag in 1969 after stepping on a mortar mine in Vietnam. But he awoke a half-hour later and now breathes life into battles against limitations with his speeches and ultradistance adventures that support charities. Missing his legs but full of heart, Wieland has completed six marathons on his hands. He finished the Ironman World Championship triathlon course in Hawaii in less than five days.
Twenty-five years ago, Wieland completed the New York City Marathon for the first time in about 98 hours, or just over four days, a feat he reflected on this week with typical cheerfulness.
“I finished ahead of 300 million Americans who never finished the race,” he said in a phone interview.
Later this month, Wieland, 65, plans to stop in Washington, halfway through Dream Ride 3, a solo ride across the United States and back on a handcycle. He started the journey July 3 in Los Angeles at the Dream Center, a residential rehabilitation facility that will benefit from his ride. Wieland interrupted the ride in late October in Ohio, returning to Los Angeles to receive an award and to make two speeches. He will resume Thursday.
Wieland’s two marathons in New York helped him build his popularity as a motivational speaker who leads by ultra-example. Soon after he finished a three-year walk across the United States in May 1986, Wieland called Fred Lebow, the founder and director of the New York race, and asked if he could walk the course. Wieland said Lebow encouraged him to enter.
Wieland recalled feeling out of place as he sat at the starting line, his height reaching just short of 3 feet, surrounded by a few dozen disabled runners who began the race about three hours earlier than the able-bodied.
“I felt like I got lost in the shuffle,” Wieland said. “I was like a turtle among 25,000 people, determined to get to the finish line.”
Dick Traum, the founder of the Achilles Track Club, was in charge of disabled runners in 1986. He said Lebow did not tell him that Wieland would compete.
“I didn’t know about him until a day after the race started,” Traum said.
Wieland, with a support crew of three, moved ploddingly, planting his arms and swinging his torso forward and back to take a step. 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.
Walking on your hands requires strength in the shoulders, chest, forearms and triceps. Wieland, a champion power lifter who set four bench press world records from 1977 to 1981, said crossing the United States toughened his knuckles. He covered his hands with four layers of what he called “energy-absorbing materials” and size 1 Adidas shoes with a leather sole to reduce wear.
“I had trained about 5,000 miles on my arms approaching New York,” he said. “But the most I ran was 11 miles a day. The challenge was trying to get there as fast as I could.”
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. Wieland rested with naps up to a half-hour, about two hours a day.
Barry Boyd, a chiropractor and neurophysicist, monitored Wieland’s medications and was with him throughout the 1986 marathon, and again when Wieland competed in 1987.
“At times, it was like I was with Rocky running the streets in Philadelphia,” Boyd said. “People would see him, run up and follow him.”
As they passed an Italian restaurant, someone offered Wieland a glass of wine and bread.
“We said no to the wine but took the bread,” Boyd said.
Traum, who walked with Wieland during parts of the race, remembers that Wieland charmed New Yorkers.
“He was a very amusing and a likable person,” he said. “He was an entertainer. He would work the crowd, and people loved it.”
Wieland was on pace to finish in under 90 hours in 1986, but Lebow asked him to spend the night at a hotel near Central Park to better promote his finish the next day. After about a 10-hour break, Wieland crossed the finish line around noon before hundreds of cheering fans.
“Fred said we’d have press there from all over the world,” Wieland said.
In 1987, he started alone a few days before race day. As in 1986, he made sure to enjoy the journey. He visited a hospital and a church. Wieland enjoyed an encounter with young men in Harlem at 2 a.m.
“They said, ‘Hey, bro, you put on a show for us; we want to put a show on for you,’ ” Wieland said. “They were singers and rappers. They put together a 10-minute show, stomp dancing, with a boom box. It was one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. They said, ‘You’ve been encouraging us, we want to encourage you.’ ”
Wieland completed the course in 81 hours on race day. At the finish, Wieland signed autographs for hours. His reputation grew as he completed the Los Angeles Marathon in 1987, 1988 and 2003, and the Marine Corps Marathon in 1989. He completed the Ironman course on his own in 1988 in 114 hours, starting the race a week early as a registered but unofficial competitor and ending a day before the actual race began.
After finishing his cross-country walk in the early 1980s, Wieland met President Ronald Reagan. When he completes the first half of his bike ride across America, he hopes to be invited to the White House to meet President Obama.
And he is eager to return to New York, a city he loves but has not visited since he sold a condominium here 10 years ago.
Wieland is retired as a marathoner and focuses now on raising money for his foundation, Beating the Odds. He says he is “an invitation away” from returning to New York.
“I lost my legs, but I didn’t lose my heart, and that’s why I fell in love with New York,” he said. “A lot of people have legs, but too many people have lost their hearts.”
November 5, 2011
25 Years Later, a Marathon Finish Still Inspires
By DAVE UNGRADY
In Bob Wieland’s world, obstacles create opportunities and conquests breed inspiration.
Wieland was declared dead and taken away in a zipped-up body bag in 1969 after stepping on a mortar mine in Vietnam. But he awoke a half-hour later and now breathes life into battles against limitations with his speeches and ultradistance adventures that support charities. Missing his legs but full of heart, Wieland has completed six marathons on his hands. He finished the Ironman World Championship triathlon course in Hawaii in less than five days.
Twenty-five years ago, Wieland completed the New York City Marathon for the first time in about 98 hours, or just over four days, a feat he reflected on this week with typical cheerfulness.
“I finished ahead of 300 million Americans who never finished the race,” he said in a phone interview.
Later this month, Wieland, 65, plans to stop in Washington, halfway through Dream Ride 3, a solo ride across the United States and back on a handcycle. He started the journey July 3 in Los Angeles at the Dream Center, a residential rehabilitation facility that will benefit from his ride. Wieland interrupted the ride in late October in Ohio, returning to Los Angeles to receive an award and to make two speeches. He will resume Thursday.
Wieland’s two marathons in New York helped him build his popularity as a motivational speaker who leads by ultra-example. Soon after he finished a three-year walk across the United States in May 1986, Wieland called Fred Lebow, the founder and director of the New York race, and asked if he could walk the course. Wieland said Lebow encouraged him to enter.
Wieland recalled feeling out of place as he sat at the starting line, his height reaching just short of 3 feet, surrounded by a few dozen disabled runners who began the race about three hours earlier than the able-bodied.
“I felt like I got lost in the shuffle,” Wieland said. “I was like a turtle among 25,000 people, determined to get to the finish line.”
Dick Traum, the founder of the Achilles Track Club, was in charge of disabled runners in 1986. He said Lebow did not tell him that Wieland would compete.
“I didn’t know about him until a day after the race started,” Traum said.
Wieland, with a support crew of three, moved ploddingly, planting his arms and swinging his torso forward and back to take a step. 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.
Walking on your hands requires strength in the shoulders, chest, forearms and triceps. Wieland, a champion power lifter who set four bench press world records from 1977 to 1981, said crossing the United States toughened his knuckles. He covered his hands with four layers of what he called “energy-absorbing materials” and size 1 Adidas shoes with a leather sole to reduce wear.
“I had trained about 5,000 miles on my arms approaching New York,” he said. “But the most I ran was 11 miles a day. The challenge was trying to get there as fast as I could.”
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. Wieland rested with naps up to a half-hour, about two hours a day.
Barry Boyd, a chiropractor and neurophysicist, monitored Wieland’s medications and was with him throughout the 1986 marathon, and again when Wieland competed in 1987.
“At times, it was like I was with Rocky running the streets in Philadelphia,” Boyd said. “People would see him, run up and follow him.”
As they passed an Italian restaurant, someone offered Wieland a glass of wine and bread.
“We said no to the wine but took the bread,” Boyd said.
Traum, who walked with Wieland during parts of the race, remembers that Wieland charmed New Yorkers.
“He was a very amusing and a likable person,” he said. “He was an entertainer. He would work the crowd, and people loved it.”
Wieland was on pace to finish in under 90 hours in 1986, but Lebow asked him to spend the night at a hotel near Central Park to better promote his finish the next day. After about a 10-hour break, Wieland crossed the finish line around noon before hundreds of cheering fans.
“Fred said we’d have press there from all over the world,” Wieland said.
In 1987, he started alone a few days before race day. As in 1986, he made sure to enjoy the journey. He visited a hospital and a church. Wieland enjoyed an encounter with young men in Harlem at 2 a.m.
“They said, ‘Hey, bro, you put on a show for us; we want to put a show on for you,’ ” Wieland said. “They were singers and rappers. They put together a 10-minute show, stomp dancing, with a boom box. It was one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. They said, ‘You’ve been encouraging us, we want to encourage you.’ ”
Wieland completed the course in 81 hours on race day. At the finish, Wieland signed autographs for hours. His reputation grew as he completed the Los Angeles Marathon in 1987, 1988 and 2003, and the Marine Corps Marathon in 1989. He completed the Ironman course on his own in 1988 in 114 hours, starting the race a week early as a registered but unofficial competitor and ending a day before the actual race began.
After finishing his cross-country walk in the early 1980s, Wieland met President Ronald Reagan. When he completes the first half of his bike ride across America, he hopes to be invited to the White House to meet President Obama.
And he is eager to return to New York, a city he loves but has not visited since he sold a condominium here 10 years ago.
Wieland is retired as a marathoner and focuses now on raising money for his foundation, Beating the Odds. He says he is “an invitation away” from returning to New York.
“I lost my legs, but I didn’t lose my heart, and that’s why I fell in love with New York,” he said. “A lot of people have legs, but too many people have lost their hearts.”