Team Hoyt

Dick Hoyt is a mentor of mine,  from afar.  Although I’ve never met Dick before I hope to show the same commitment to my future son or daughter as Dick has with his son Rick.  Dick (father) and Rick (son) were recently inducted into the Iron  Man hall of fame in 2008.  They have competed in over 1050 events (as of June of 2011) including 240 triathlons, 22 Duathlons, and 69 marathons.  They run together.  By itself these are admirable accomplishments.  Whats inspiring is that Rick is in a wheel chair.  He was born with Cerebral Palsy.   

Many people thought the Hoyts should institutionalize their son.  Doctors informed them that Rick was a vegetable.  Basically ricks nervous system couldn’t control his muscles.  But, the Hoyts held onto hope that someday their son would cumunicate with them one day because Rick’s eyes would follow them around the room.  With the assistance of a computer at age 11, Rick began to communicate clearly with his parents.

 In 1977, after reading an article in a magazine, Rick became inspired to run.  Dick however was 37 years old and hadn’t run a single race.  But Dick agreed.  After the race Rick told Dick that when they were running, "... (He) felt like he wasn’t handicapped."  Dick chose to run the next 1049 events with Rick over the course of 34 years to empower his son.

http://teamhoyt.com/index.html

Every time I think of this story, I weep a bit.  That a family can take adversity and find such triumph is miraculous to me. 

I like to tell this story because I find it inspiring.  In all our lives we face adversity.  How do we overcome this adversity?  Maybe we don’t feel great about ourselves.  Maybe we don’t like the way we look.   There are many things we can’t control in this world.  What we can control is how we react to our circumstances. 

Dick Hoyt took his adversity and found a way to give his son wings.  He runs to empower his son.  He moves his sons’ life.  I challenge all of us to find ways to motivate our lives. 

Mo-tate.  Motivate your life.