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Micah Herndon ran the 2019 Boston Marathon in three hours and 38 minutes on Monday. Ran and crawled, that's it.
Video of Herndon, a 31-year-old Navy veteran from Tallmadge, Ohio, who finished the four-legged race became viral on Monday. Local and national outlets shared images of his dynamism and determination.
GO TO APPROPRIATE! ? Micah Herndon said, "I'm doing it alone." Refusing help as he was crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The navy said it was repeating the names of 3 fallen soldiers who had been killed in Afghanistan for motivation. #WBZ at 11 pm pic.twitter.com/vntmggCJad
– Tiffany Chan (@TiffanyChanWBZ) April 16, 2019
In the run-up to the race, Herndon frequently posted on his Facebook page the hashtag "#4ballardhamerjuarez ", which coincides with the three names that he wears on his running shoes and that we could see on his right hand during the race: Ballard, Hamer and Juarez.
According to the Washington Post, Matthew Ballard and Mark Juarez, Marines of Herndon, and British journalist Rupert Hamer reportedly died in 2010, following the explosion of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. When his Achilles tendon began to trouble him on Monday and his legs "gave up" towards the end of the race, Herndon told the Post that he had chanted the names of his fallen comrades for help to focus on the finish.
"I did not stop repeating those names," Herndon told the Post. "The thoughts of their memories and their families go through the spirit as they always do."
In videos near the finish lineHerndon can be seen resolutely crawling forward as the Marathon officials create a buffer zone between him and the other riders, allowing him to complete the race.
"Nothing against anyone who had help, but I did not want help," Herndon told the post office. "I wanted to finish alone because the pain I felt at that time, or at any moment, was nothing compared to the guys and families who were lost there."
About three months before the race, Herndon posted a Facebook status explaining what it meant to participate in the Boston Marathon.
"The sense of being accepted in this race is more than the prestige that surrounds the Boston Marathon," wrote Herndon. "It's for my brothers Ballard, Juarez, Hamer and for the families who lost loved ones that day."
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