50 STATES, 50 MARATHONS IN A WHEELCHAIR

     For this blog, we chose two states and read chapters about them in the books, 50 Abilities, Unlimited Possibilities: Racing to the Final Finish Line From Salt Lake City to the Mountains of Montana and 50 Abilities, Unlimited Possibilities: Wheeling Through 50 States. These books talk about Paul Erway and his friends journey in completing 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 weeks. This is really and eye-opening reading about our society and the motivation behind what we as human beings do regardless of our abilities and disabilities. The two states I focused on were Arizona and Virginia/ DC, where his sub-titles for them were enthusiasm and integrity.                                                               

Phoenix, Arizona:

    The first state I read was his experience in Arizona. The subtitle for this chapter is enthusiasm, which can give the idea that it required a lot of devotion and eagerness. Grant came in 3rd place, Aaron in 8th and Paul in 9th place. Paul and his friends knew how great this race was planned and the accommodation given to them and how amazing the race was. Thought here were challenges, there was support for people in wheelchairs. There was a lot of motivation for this race as Paul described, they also had healthy food and music playing throughout the race as a form of entertainment to keep people in the race. They were very familiar with the staff and Paul described them to be friendly, and even talked about how they already had a great relationship with the lady designated to the wheelchair division. The weather also played a great part in how Paul felt about this race. 

     The first takeaway I got from this chapter is that support is very important for motivation. Paul seemed excited talking about the entertainment provided and the food. Throughout anything we do, it can be better when there's a great motivation and enthusiasm behind. Paul and his friends felt seen and wanted there. The music being played and people around to help was a great idea. The planners of the race had ways to continuously keep people going. The second takeaway for me was having people knowledgeable about wheelchairs and the help they could provide. Paul talked about how they had their packets ready and didn't have to be in the crowd struggling, he also talked about the help that was available in case there was any failure with their equipments. This shows a lot of research and planing were put in this to accommodate everyone. 

Arlington, Virginia/ Washington, DC :

     The second state I read about was Arlington, Virginia and Washington DC. The sub title for this chapter was 'Integrity'.  He ran the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM), the author talked about more about Aaron's race experience. Grant ended the race in 3rd place, Aaron ended in 5th place and Paul ended the race in 6th place. They were both happy to be there. With this race being planned by marines and most of the support came from them, it felt important to Aaron, as Paul described it as where he felt it was homey since he served in the Marine corps. This race was huge with many racers signed up, as he described, "the starting line took both sides of the four-lane road for about five city blocks" (Erway, pp.178). Even during the cold weather, people came out for a good course. The race had a section called the Road to Honor, where Paul described it as being an emotional section where they pay respect to fallen service marines along the roadway decorated with American flags.  The race consisted of many people. Paul also talked about there being 13 wheelchair racers and then 77 hand cyclists. The gave the wheelchair racers the chance to line up first at the front of the start line and then after, everyone joined after. Paul also shared how the Marines on every side during the race were there to cheer them up to keep going and the difference that made. During the race, they encountered so many steep hills but couldn't give up because of the marines on each side cheering them on. He talked about close to the end where the uphill was so steep that most wheelchair racers had to stop and turn around to go back because they couldn't go, but for him and Aaron, they pressed on to go. At the end of the race, Paul talked about Aaron's emotion being that he was very proud at the end of the race because the marines lined up to shake the runners' hands and it was very unbelievable for him receiving a medal from a marine.  On the behind the scenes section, the last time Paul ran this race was in 1988, where he described it as the first time his wife had seen him cry and his second marathon to finish. Paul talked about his experience and how the race had difficulties especially for the wheelchair racers. Paul described how he ended up hitting a curb which bent his front wheel, he ended up in wet grass and took a lot of strength for him to move and how his wife pulled him to the side away from the racer's way. Paul did not give up, even though he said he would never do a marathon again,  and just worked on growth and also the people worked on ways to improve accommodations for people who use wheelchairs. 

My first takeaway from this race was that being clear about instructions and accommodations for people who need assistance is  very important. During Paul's first experience, he bent his front wheels which made it difficult for him to move because even though instructions were already made, he missed it because he did not know what was ahead of him to prepare for. After reading this, I realize that we can not assume everyone gets the instructions, it's better to have warnings and this information everywhere. If Paul had personally been prepared for all that, he would have been totally fine during that first marathon and not feel the need to say he would never do it, because during this current race that they had better accommodations, he did well. The second takeaway is that the surface of the ground matters for people on wheelchairs. Paul talked about how the final part of that race was on a grass park which required a lot of strength for him to push and also his wheel started sink. This seemed as a very difficult section for the wheelchair racers because it wasn't on a flat concrete surface anymore but mud from everyone running on the grass. How smooth a person in a wheelchair goes and how bumpy they go depends on the surface and slopes. It was also difficult for Paul and Aaron when they were going on the uphills with steeps and some of the wheelchair racers had to turn around when they got to uphills they couldn't climb. It's important that society gets to be universal in everything to help accommodate people or communicate and have people prepare for what's ahead.

     Reading these two chapters made me realize that communication is important, we cant make assumptions that people know how things are and it's important to support people who need it to reassure them. I realized also that wheelchairs wont go smooth on just any surface and with some, there might be support or extra strength needed for the person in the wheelchair to be comfortable.  Another thing that stuck out to me from reading this is knowledge is very powerful and its important to help people but its also very beneficial to help while knowing how to help and being a great support tot he ones who need it.

                                                     References

Erway, P. (2017) 50 abilities, unlimited possibilities: Wheeling through fifty states from Jackson to the                   Boston marathon bombing. Silver Tree Publishing. 

Erway, P. (2019). 50 abilities, unlimited possibilities: racing to the final finish line from Salt Lake city to            the mountain of Montana. Silver Tree Publishing.