那份爱，让我永生难忘（1/2）

A Dad Who Truly Cares

里克·赖利/Rick Reilly

I try to be a good father.Give y kids gifts.Take the to swi.Work nights to pay for their text ssagg...

But pared with Dick Hoyt, I’a loy.Eighty-five tis he’s phed his disabled son,Rick, 26.2 ilesaratho tis he’s not only phed hi 26.2 ilesa wheelchair but also towed hi 2.4 ilesa dghy while sedaled hi 112 ilesa seat on bicycle handlebars—allthe sa day.Dick’s also pulled hi cross-untry skig, taken hi on his back ounta clibg and once hauled hi aept save his life.

This love story beganWchester, Mass.43 years ago, when Rick was strangled by the ubilical rd durg birth, leavg hi bra-daaged and uo ntrol his libs.“He’ll be a vegetable the rest of his life,”Dick says doctors told hi and his wife when Rick was hs old.“Put hian stitution.”

But the Hoyts weren’t buyg it.They noticed the way Rick’s eyes followed the around the roo.When Rick was 11 they took hi to the engeerg departnt at Tufts Uy and asked if there was anythg to help the boy unicate.“No way,”Dick says he was told.“There’s nothg gog onhis bra.”

“Tell hi a joke,”Ditered.They did.Rick ughed.Turns out a lot was gog onhis bra.Rigged up with a puter that allowed hi to ntrol the cursor by touchg a switch with the side of his head, Rick was fally able to unicate.First words?“Go Br!”And after a high school cssate aralyzedan aident and the school anized a charity run for hi, Rick pecked out,“Dad, I want to do that.”

Yeah, right.How was Dick, a self-described“porker”who never rahan a ile at a ti, gog to ph his son five iles? Still, he tried.“Then it waswho was handicapped,”Dick says.“I was sore for o weeks.”That day ged Rick’s life.“Dad,”he typed,“when we were runng, it felt like I wasn’t disabled anyore!”

And that sentence ged Dick’s life.He beca obsessed with givg Rick that feelg as often as he uld.He got to such hard-belly shape that he and Rick were ready to try the 1979 Boston Marathon.“No way.”Dick was told by a race official.The Hoyts weren’t quite a sgle runner, and they weren’t quite a wheelchair petitor.

For a few years Did Rick jt joed the assive field and ran anyway, then they found a way to get to the race officially: In 1983 they ran another arathon so fast they ade the qualifyg ti for Boston the follog year.

Then sobody said,“Hey, Dick, why not a triathlon?”How’s a guy who never learo swi and hadn’t ridden a bike sce he was sixgog to haul his 110-pound kid through a triathlon? Still, Dick tried.Now they’ve done 212 triathlons, cdg fruelg 15-hour IronansHawaii.It t be a buzzkill to be a25-year-old stud gettg passed by an old guy tog a grown ana dghy, don’t you thk?

Hey, Dick, why not see how you’d do on your own?“No way.”he says.Dick does it purely for“the aweso feelg”he gets seeg Rick with a taloupe sile as they run, swi and ride together.This year, at ages 65 and 43, Did Rick fished their 24th Boston Marathon,5,083rd pce out of ore than 20,000 starters.Their best ti? Two hours, 40 utes1992—only 35 utes off the world rerd, which,case you don’t keep track of these thgs, happens to be held by a guy who was not phg another ana wheelchair at the ti.“No question about it,”Rick types.“My dad is the Father of the tury.”

And Dick got sothg else out of all this too.Two years ago he had a ild heart attack durg a race.Doctors found that one of his arteries was 95clogged.“If you hadn’t beensuch great shape,”one doctor told hi,“you probably would’ve died 15 years ago.”So,a way, Did Rick saved each other’s life.

Rick, who has his oarts ho careand worksBoston, and Dick, retired fro the ilitary and livgHolnd, Mass.always fd ways to be together.They give speeches around the untry aeso backbreakg race every weekend,cdg this Father’s Day.

That night, Rick will buy his dad dner, but the thg he really wants to give hi is a gift he ever buy.“The thg I’d ost like,”Rick types,“is that y dad sitthe chair and I ph hi once.”

我努力去做一个好爸爸。我送孩子们礼物，带他们去游泳，上夜班为他们挣信息费……

但是，与迪克·霍伊特相比，我是一个糟糕的父亲。有85次，他在马拉松赛跑中，推着自己身患残疾的儿子跑完26.2英里。其中有8次，他不仅推着坐在轮椅中的儿子跑26.2英里，还接着在游泳比赛中，拖着坐在橡皮艇上的儿子游了2.4英里，用自行车载着儿子走了112英里——这一切都是在同一天里做的。迪克也带着儿子去越野滑雪，背着儿子爬山，他还骑自行车拖着儿子穿越了美国。比起迪克的所作所为，你带着儿子去打保龄球，就显得太差劲了，对吗？

本章未完，点击下一页继续阅读。