Runner With Muscular Disorder Completes Chicago Marathon In 16 Hour, 46 Minutes

By Lisa White in News on Oct 14, 2013 3:30PM

Photo From Maickel Melamed's Facebook Page

Need some motivation to start your week off right? We’ve got a pretty great Monday morning dose of inspiration courtesy of Sunday's Bank of America Chicago Marathon. Out of the supposed 45,000 participants, there always has to be one last runner to cross the finish line. While some racers feel discouraged or disappointment if they finish later in the race day than they wanted or see the pace car looming behind them, the crowd cheering on Maickel Melamed were all smiles Monday morning as Melamed finished the Chicago Marathon course at 1:30 a.m.

Melamed isn’t your average runner, he suffers from a form of Hypotonia, which is a state of low muscle tone that affects motor skills and body movement due to a variety of medical conditions. So a man that has severe lack of control over his muscles and the movement of his body trained and completed the Chicago Marathon yesterday. It makes everything we did over the weekend (and in general our entire life really) pale greatly in comparison.

Melamed’s official time (according to his Facebook page) was 16 hours and 46 minutes. We can barely fathom being on our feet that long by choice, let alone trekking across the city 26.2 miles. The 37-year-old Venezuelan athlete was accompanied by a large support team and an even larger group of fans cheering him on as he made his way through the course and finished in Grant Park early Monday morning.

This isn’t Melamed’s first marathon, having already completed the New York and Berlin marathons. As the Chicago Tribune reports, he hopes to run the Tokyo and Boston marathon, the remaining two World Marathon Majors.

Billy Russo, who coordinates publicity for Melamed, said one of the first things Melamed did after he finished was bring the race medal to his father. Talk about a picture perfect moment. Cheers to Melamed and all the runners who finished or attempted the marathon this past weekend for the great reminder that in life a little determination and believing in yourself can go a long way.