What got to me was the fact that Terry Hithcock had a great life with the family, the home and the white picket fence around the yard.  He had the whole nine yards.  Then, one day something came along and changed everything.

Wow, how I’ve been there!  But, Terry’s story catches my attention because it also deals with cancer. Terry’s wife Sue was diagnosed with breast cancer. When she passed away, Terry was on his own to do it all by himself. He had a family to raise and there really wasn’t much time to stop and reflect, to stop and mourn. Of course, he probably found time here and there to have a thought and maybe shed a tear. But, when do you get to truly work yourself through the steps of loss and get healthy again when you’re raising a family by yourself?

One day in 1996, Terry decided to blow off a little steam. He decided to take a jog, from his home in Minneapolis, Minnesota to the Olympics being held in Atlanta, Georgia about 2,000 miles away. It raised awareness for cancer. But, it also raised awareness for single parents. That story hits home for me two-fold. I’ve had several family members die of cancer and I’m a single parent.

Terry Hitchcock set out to run the equivalent of 75 marathons in 75 days. People said it was impossible. People tried to talk him out of it. His doctor told him he might not live to tell the story. But, Terry pushed.

Some phenomenal facts about his run, you know other than the 75 marathons in 75 days thing, is that he had a heart attack while training. He ran with fractures in his knee and his ankles. The normal person can’t run through that kind of pain. The average runner could run through it for a few miles. But, only a superhero runs from Minneapolis to Atlanta with fractures and having had a heart attack while training.

“It’s not about this guy who attempted to run these marathons. It’s really an ageless story about somebody who is trying to show other people that they can get through their own daily marathon,” Terry Hitchcock inspires.

From a man who just lost his wife and his job the next day, Terry is truly up against the wall with a family to raise. Fighting through life can be tough enough. But, fighting through life with so many setbacks is earth shattering. It would have to take a superhero like Terry to pull through all that and yet, inspire the same in others.