My Mom actually sent me this. She is a high school teacher in rural southern Ohio where I grew up. She actually taught at a rival high school – but I forgave her! My sophomore year in high school my school had its first cross-country team. I didn’t run because I was a band geek but I did run distance in track. All of this to make the point that we didn’t have a lot of distance running in the area.

Paxton is currently the coach at my Mom’s high school. I think this is a pretty good story about a local runner trying to be an example for the kids he coaches!

Here are a few excerpts:

Barely able to walk, unable to feel his legs or feet, moving in a forward direction probably on inertia alone, Matt Paxton found himself being escorted by two complete strangers to a waiting wheelchair.

“I just went 26 miles,” Paxton told them. “Two more blocks won’t kill me. Get that wheelchair away from me.”

Paxton crossed the finish line at the 112th running of the Boston Marathon shortly before 1 p.m. Monday afternoon in 2 hours, 50 minutes and 49 seconds – 492nd overall in a field of more than 25,000 runners.

Then, rather than rest, the Unioto High School track coach, headed for the airport.”We’ve got a track meet tomorrow that I’ve got to make,” Paxton said.

Catch a plane, drive home from Columbus, get a little sleep before heading into school the next morning … right?

Not so fast.

“You’re flight’s delayed,” was Paxton’s greeting at the check-in desk at the Manchester, New Hampshire, airport. “There’s another flight, but it’s leaving in 14 minutes.”

As if he hadn’t run enough in one day – a distance most don’t run in a year – Paxton was on the move again.

“At this point, I’m not through security yet. I’m still checking bags,” Paxton said. “Now I’m trying to run through the terminal, but I can’t move my legs. I look like a duck. My knees won’t lift.”

Plus, late in the race he found some added motivation in seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

“I started behind him but I caught him in the first few miles and left him behind me,” Paxton said. “Around the 23 mile mark he’d outrun his handlers (trainers, bodyguards, etc.). He came up on the right side of me just an arm’s length away and his bodyguard came up on the left.”

For runners, it’s almost a code or an unwritten law that in no way should any baggy or long clothing be worn. Most runners, in fact, wear short-shorts a la John Stockton during his early days playing in the NBA.

Armstrong had knee-length black shorts on.

“He looked over at me and I said, ‘Nice shorts,'” Paxton said. “Earlier in the day one of the other runners told me that in no way should I get beat by anybody with long shorts.

“So I outran him for the next two miles.”

With the finish line just a mile away, though, Paxton noticed a motorcycle carrying a television camera man come up alongside him – meaning Armstrong was on his heels.

Armstrong crossed the finish line around 30 meters ahead of the Shermans’ coach, but since he’d started first and the standings are based on cumulative time, the edge went to Paxton.

Lance Armstrong: 2:50.58 – 496th place.

Matt Paxton: 2:50.49 – 492nd place.

I thought it was a good story. The article says that Paxton was one of only 14 Ohioians to race at Boston. My search actually showed 572. But the 33 year old placed 12th in the state! Paxton has raced 15 marathons with a 2:53 in the 2006 Columbus Marathon. From the results I found at MarathonGuide.com this Boston time was actually a PR for him.

Congratulations Matt on a great run and thanks Mom for the article!

[tags] Boston Marathon, Marathon, Chillicothe [/tags]