Bad A$$

[Thumper]

Marine Vet crawls across Boston Marathon finish line. He was running on behalf of 3 of his fallen comrades and there was no way he was going to fail to finish.

Each time he ran, Herndon would repeat the names Juarez, Ballard and Hamer.

[geonuc]

Crawling 100 yards on asphalt is certainly painful. The man was definitely determined given his stated goal - failing to finish would have been bad. Good for him.

I do object to the article referring to his effort as a 'heroic victory' but I have a pet peeve when it comes to how popular media labels people as heroes.

[Thumper]

I agree. I'm sure he doesn't consider himself a hero.
But I don't think I'd argue if someone called him a hero.
He put his life on the line for me.
Now he's honoring his friends who gave their lives for me.

[geonuc]

I agree. I'm sure he doesn't consider himself a hero.
But I don't think I'd argue if someone called him a hero.
He put his life on the line for me.
Now he's honoring his friends who gave their lives for me.

I put my life on the line for you, too. Please don't even think about referring to me or anything I did as heroic.

Besides, I was talking about how the article described his marathon as heroic. It was gritty, determined, a test of will, an example of how to honor fallen comrades. Not heroic.

[Thumper]

Yes, I assumed you were talking about the the marathon effort as heroic and I agreed with your sentiment. As for you, you locked yourself in a tin can underwater where the temperature and pressures would kill you instantly. Also, other guys in tin cans may have been searching for you and wanting to blow you out of the water. You did this so that my daughter, my wife, and I might be safer.
If you do not want to be referred to as a hero, I will not annoy or insult you.
But you have my gratitude and admiration.
So does this guy.

[geonuc]

I thought I did it because ... well, my reasons have been lost in the fog of years but they certainly weren't particularly noble.

Anyhoo, this marathon guy deserves accolades. Cramping up with miles to go sounds painful enough but crawling on hands and knees on pavement sounds extraordinarily painful.

[Thumper]

Yep.

[Rommie]

Kudos to him!

We had a guy on sabbatical here two years ago whose wife ran the Boston Marathon. She did several a year, and apparently that wasn't hard enough, so she signed up to be one of the people who push a wheelchair. Apparently the way it works is you have the pusher and the pushee of course uses their arms, but that's not enough to finish in time due to the extra weight etc, so they actually start a few hours early in order to finish. I thought that was insane.

Definitely gonna see if I can volunteer next year, as it sounds like one of those big events the city gets into.

[Thumper]

We stumbled into the Toronto Marathon a few years ago. A buddy had tickets to the Rush show at the Air Canada Center, and he ended up not being able to go. So Road trip for Mrs. T and I. We were walking around mid day and literally stumbled onto the marathon. Watching them made us thirsty so we ducked into a large bar. It happened to also be the day Felix Bumgartner jumped from the balloon and we all watched it on the big screen in there. So that would put the date as October 14, 2012. It was a great day all around.

[SciFiFisher]

I think the reasons people join up are quite varied. The vast majority of them rarely ever speak in terms of "signing up so other people can sleep safe at night". That doesn't make what they do less noble. It just means that most of them don't think "I am a hero. And this is what heroes do!".

[Thumper]

I get that. Some people may have joined because a judge told them, "Join the army, or go to jail." That doesn't make their job less important. And they still may be asked to put their life on the line for the safety and security of their fellow citizens.
But as for "feeling like a hero" or joining just so you can become a hero. I can't imagine that being someone's motivation because I can't imagine it being mine. I think heroes are named by the people affected by their actions. "He's my hero" sort of thing.

[Rommie]

I suspect the trepidation behind it has to do with devaluing what the word "hero" means. To paraphrase The Incredibles, when everyone is a hero, no one is.

[Thumper]

Aah, the wisdom of the Incredibles.

[grapes]

Y'all are my heroes