Tag: Juli Windsor

A Marathon tale of tragedy and triumph

http://youtu.be/bwg_33H7sjo

Recently I had a chance to see an early version of “Undaunted,” a documentary by Boston Globe reporter David Abel about Juli Windsor, the first person with dwarfism to finish the Boston Marathon. But that doesn’t even begin to describe the drama. Windsor nearly completed the 2013 Marathon only to be turned back near the end after the bombing attack.

“Undaunted” tells the story of that day and of Windsor’s quest to compete in 2014. Andrea Shea recently reported on Abel’s project for WBUR Radio. With the trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev now getting under way, I thought you might find the trailer above to be considerably more uplifting.

Two runners with dwarfism to compete in marathon

Click on image to watch video
Click on image to watch video

Two people with dwarfism are running the Boston Marathon tomorrow, and today’s Boston Globe profiles them in a front-page feature. Globe reporter David Abel interviews Juli Windsor, who lives in the South End, and John Young, a teacher from Salem. His story is accompanied by a terrific video of Windsor produced by Thea Breite.

I don’t know Windsor, but I do know Young. He and his wife, Sue, and their son, Owen, are fixtures at Little People of America events, and we ran into them at a district conference in North Conway just a few weeks ago. Here is his blog. Young tells Abel:

The people who support and encourage me are the ones that get me to the starting line, while the ones who doubt or ridicule me are the ones that carry me to the finish line. Whenever I really start to hurt, I think of someone laughing, pointing, and saying, “You can’t do that!” and it seems to give me the strength to carry on.

Best of luck to Juli and John!