Watch the heartwarming video of former Marine crawls to the finish line of Boston Marathon:
Video Credit: Facebook/SportsCenter
Marine veteran crawled to finish the marathon as he took part in Boston marathon to honor fallen comrades.
The United States Marine Corps veteran Micah Herndon’s Marine Corps vehicle was hit by IEDs twice during his deployment in Afghanistan.
“For some reason, even after being hit twice, I am still here,” Herndon said.
“My family was my strength while I was gone. After things happen, those emotions sit in you and it makes you realize how important family truly is.”
His fellow Marines, Mark Juarez and Matthew Ballard, and a British journalist, Rupert Hamer died when hit by the explosion from a similar IED.
In 2017 and 2018, Herndon ran half marathons and murmured while running, “Juarez, Ballard, Hamer. Juarez, Ballard, Hamer. Juarez, Ballard, Hamer”.
“I run in honor of them. They are not here anymore. I am here, and I am able” Herndon said.
This year, he decided to run a full marathon – the Boston Marathon.
“I’m doing this on my own,” Herndon told WBZ.
“I say their last names out loud while I’m listening to my music. I just repeat: ‘Ballard, Hamer, Juarez. Ballard, Hamer, Juarez.’”
He crawled using his hands and knees to finish the race and took three hours and 38 minutes to finish the race.
He was then taken into a wheelchair to receive medical attention.
“The pain that I was going through is nothing compared to the pain that they went through,” he said after the race.
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