The Inspiring Reason Behind a Marine’s Crawl to the Boston Finish – Runner’s World

• Marine Micah Herndon crawled to the finish line of the on April 15.
• The Ohio native runs for veterans, specifically three friends he lost while serving in Afghanistan.

By now, you’ve probably seen the video of the Marine crawling to the finish line on his hands and knees at this year’s Boston Marathon.

That was Micah Herndon, a 31-year-old Marine veteran from Tallmadge, Ohio, who was running not only to qualify for the , but also to honor three fallen friends: fellow Marines Mark Juarez and Matthew Ballard, and British journalist Rupert Hamer.

All three were killed when their vehicle hit an IED in Afghanistan in 2010. Herndon was in the same convoy at the time.

Those are the people he had on his mind throughout the entire race as he aimed for a 2:53 finish. He clocked a 2:55 at the —his third 26.2-mile race—in September, so he only had to shave a couple of minutes off to run a time that would let him bypass the lottery for the NYC Marathon.

But, as the Boston course so often does, the hills took a toll on him, as did the humidity. Around , his right leg started cramping. Then two miles later at mile 22, both of his legs locked up.

“That’s when I realized I wouldn’t get my goal time,” Herndon told Runner’s World. “I felt like a failure, like I failed my brothers who I had lost. I still had 4.2 miles to go, and I could barely keep a power-walk pace.”

But Herndon was still on a mission for his brothers, so he vowed to finish by any means necessary without aid. His legs held up until he turned onto Boylston Street. He made it most of the way down with the finish line clock in sight. But about 75 to 100 yards out, he stopped.

“I couldn’t lift my legs up anymore. They couldn’t move forward,” he said. “I wasn’t just going to sit there and let people carry me and quit. Not through the the toughest times of that race did quitting enter my mind. I started the race by myself; I was going to finish it by myself.”

Unable to walk, Herndon began crawling, telling runners and medical staff not to help him until he was across the line. That worked for a bit until his right hamstring locked up.

But again, that wasn’t going to stop him.

“If I can’t crawl,” he said. “I’m going to low crawl.”

Luckily, his hamstring loosened up soon after and he returned to his hands and knees. Tunnel vision made him deaf to the vociferous cheers that followed him through the final yards. The second his bib registered that he had crossed in 3:38:00, the crowd went nuts. He was whisked away before he could even get his entire body across the line.

“I was still trying to get my shins and toes across the line because I wanted to get my entire body across without help,” Herndon said. “Before I could even try, they lifted me up, put me in a wheelchair, and took me to the medical station.”

Herndon was only there for about 30 minutes, which is less than the 33 minutes it took him to complete the final 1.2 miles of the race. At the medical tent, he received a banana and some Gatorade which helped get his legs back.

After that, he finally received his medal, though he missed out on the finish line goodie bags.

Nevertheless, he was happy to be done. He found his family, and was bombarded with media and fans wanting to hear his story. Herndon didn’t get home until Thursday because he’s been doing interviews with Good Morning America and just about every media outlet you can think of.

“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” Herndon says. “I’m still in shock about how fast everything travels through social media. Spreads like wildfire.”

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Though he’s been busy since the race, Herndon has squeezed in time to celebrate. Yesterday while preparing to leave Boston, he stopped by his favorite brewery, Samuel Adams, with his wife. He even got an unexpected invite to the New York City Marathon despite missing the time for guaranteed entry.

“I really didn’t know what to say,” he said. “I’m grateful and thankful from the bottom of my heart, but part of me would still like to get that time underneath the qualifying time for my age group. So I will be training for that for New York.”

For that race in November, he will also have his three friends—and all veterans—in mind.

“These guys are the reason I run,” Herndon told Runner’s World. “I’m running to get their story out there and to get veterans’ issues out there. I want to bring light to these issues that go unseen.”

Gear & News Editor Drew covers a variety of subjects for Runner’s World and Bicycling, and he specializes in writing and editing human interest pieces while also covering health, wellness, gear, and fitness for the brand.