More from The Q&A: Wheelchair marathoner Richard Vaughn
No doubt it is an admirable thing for anyone to go 26.2 miles, but Vaughn isn’t like most who’ll be out on the streets of Oklahoma City. He is in a wheelchair, and it isn’t one of those fancy-pants racing chairs either. It is a heavy, conventional chair.
He still plans to finish the marathon in less than six hours.
So, what are you doing Sunday morning?
Jenni Carlson: You’ve done the Memorial Marathon before, right?
Richard Vaughn: I’ve done it the past two years. I met Mark Bravo at the Little Rock Expo before I was doing the Little Rock Marathon. I saw the Oklahoma City booth, and I thought, “What’s in Oklahoma City?” When I met Mark … he gave me a brochure. I went home and I read it, and I said, “Oh, this is for the Memorial. I’ve got to do this.” The only problem is, it’s only six weeks after the Little Rock Marathon, so it doesn’t give me a whole lot of time to recover.
JC: Very true.
RV: But last year I ran it in memory of one of the people that perished at the Murrah Building, and then had my picture taken by that person’s memorial and we e-mailed it to the family. I intend to do that again this year.
JC: I love that idea.
RV: There’s never going to be closure for those families, but the families need to be honored, too, because they’ve suffered a lot.
JC: Can I ask how you came to be in a wheelchair?
RV: I don’t mind talking about it. I don’t usually talk about it because I’ve always said it’s not so much what I’ve done in my life, it’s what I’ve learned. But … when I was 17, I fell 85 feet off of a scaffolding. I was sandblasting a building, and a harness broke. Just literally shattered my back. I actually got up to the point where I was walking on crutches. Then when I was 39 … I reached over a box and picked up a computer and broke the spinal fusion. That put me right back in a wheelchair.
JC: What first inspired you to start doing marathons?
RV: I’ve been playing wheelchair basketball for 30 years. I’ve been active in wheelchair athletics, but nothing in the way of endurance activities. But in 2005, a friend at work was going to walk the Little Rock Marathon. He said, “Why don’t you do the marathon?” That night, I left my house and started pushing around and just couldn’t stop. It felt good. I went the distance. Then, I got invited to Memphis for the St. Jude’s Marathon … where I broke my neck during the marathon.
JC: Wait. What? Timeout. How does that happen?
RV: The St. Jude’s Marathon ends in their baseball park. When I came up over the ramp and all the people are cheering … I got this rush of adrenaline and hit the wheels and I hit the warning track and it was pea gravel. My front casters sunk down in it, and I whiplashed my neck. I went ahead and popped wheelies all the way around the outfield … and went ahead and finished the race. But the next week went to the doctor and had to have a vertebrae removed.
JC: Wow. Marathoning is a whole new extreme sport for you.
RV: It’s a different paradigm than basketball. It’s team-oriented, but it’s also that you’re beating another team. So there is a certain animosity. But in marathon, everybody is encouraging everybody else and you’re only opponent is the course. … Incidentally, this marathon is very special to me. This particular race Sunday … is my 10th marathon. No. 10 is very special to me.
JC: I read somewhere that you once said that in not using a racing chair you were making sure you didn’t have an advantage than anyone else didn’t have. That’s a powerful sentiment.
RV: Flying down a hill at 35 miles an hour passing people … I like running with the crowds, not away from them.
JC: How much of a physical toll does 26.2 miles take on you?
RV: I use weightlifter gloves without fingers. Then I tape the pressure points where blisters might occur. I spend three nights a week in the gym lifting weights, keeping my shoulders, elbows, triceps and biceps strong. So, really it doesn’t take much of a toll on me at all, except at the end of the race I’m usually pretty hungry.
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Being his son I have been front and center for most of his races. Though there is one I would love to be there for. However the Boston Marithon will not allow anyone who has finished in a wheelchair in more than 3:30. Though it is understandable to ensure that no one will be in the marathon for more than 6 hours it is equally not understandable that someone who has put in as much work if not more work than the rest of the field. Perhaps I am partial as I am close to the situation, however I have personally seen the work and dedication that deserves an exemption to the time requirements for the bostin marathon.