By CHRIS CHRISTO
Participating in the 26th edition of the Trinidad and Tobago International Marathon was an ordinary man with extraordinary drive. Dr. Richard Holmes, retired, of North Carolina USA, is living the dream of many who wish to run the world 26.2 miles at a time.
Richard Holmes, centre, flanked by local MarathonManiacs.
Last year, Dr. Holmes (a 3:18 marathoner back in his 30s), set his sights on achieving the Ten Star MarathonManiac challenge of 30 marathons in 30 countries/US states/Canadian provinces in 365 days.
After this Trinidad run, he will be three marathons away from the highest echelon on the MarathonManiacs rankings.
Dr. Holmes humbly describes himself as a “slow runner who never knew when to quit” ;but his feats speaks volumes. He twice ran the 50 states and DC and is on his second round of the Canadian provinces and seven continents.
On completion of this second round of Canada and the continents he will be part of an elite group of seven to have done so.
Interestingly, he is only the 12th person in the world to have completed a marathon in every US state, Canadian province and continent and only the 7th to have run a second marathon in every US state.
It was not always like that.
From his first marathon in 1978 he only did 2 to 4 marathons annually to stay in shape because he was an active duty soldier.
In 1986 he had an enforced 3-year absence from any form of running due to a ruptured knee that had to be rebuilt (ACL - anterior cruciate ligament - reconstruction).
Following surgery, both his doctor and physiotherapist were convinced that he would never be capable of marathon running. He did not believe them.
In 1989 he started a running streak that lasted 2,490 consecutive days- over 20,000 miles. That sequence ended in 2005 when he undertook foot surgery to remove an inflamed nerve. He had a smaller streak subsequently, a mere 942 days, which ended when he broke his heel in a marathon.
He now avoids streaks because “it completely dominates one’s life”. Notwithstanding, he has run every day since November 7, 2009.
Through the welcomed shade in Prada St
It was back in 1997 that it first dawned on him that he could run a marathon in every US state. So he set some new goals and the number of marathons increased dramatically, averaging 13 per annum up to 2008.
With the MM Ten Star challenge on his plate, he ran 34 marathons in 2009, though not all were in separate countries/states/provinces, as required by the Ten Star challenge.
Despite his protestations, he was bestowed the Humanitarian Award 2010 by the 50 States & D.C. Marathon Group for giving his time and energies in helping a five year-old, who had developed a rare form of cancer, to raise funds and awareness.
Over the past three weekends he has run in steadily increasing temperatures from below freezing 4ºF in Iowa to 45ºF in California and a hot 85ºF here in Trinidad.
Since the ACL rehabilitation he has crossed over 200 marathon/ultramarathon finish lines; Trinidad is his 231st. He always finishes every race started.
Best wishes to Dr Richard Holmes on the remaining three marathons to complete the MM Ten Star achievement - Marrakech, Morocco (Jan. 31), Valencia, Spain (Feb 21) and Antartica (Mar. 7).
Running the world indeed!
