See the Remarkable Way This Veteran Is Healing from War | Short Film Showcase

I don't consider myself a marathon runner. I'm not like the elite guys from Kenya and all those countries; that's basically all they do. I'm a working man. I get up and go to work every day. I serve people, and that's the most rewarding thing about my job. It's when I get out there, and I see all these wonderful people, man, and I can give them their packages. That's what I do; they're paying me to be a servant for the people out in LA. I work for the post office. That's especially how I get my training in, is from my job.

In 1986, I ran my first marathon. [Music] It was one of the craziest things that I've ever done in my life. The coolest thing about my first marathon was I ran it backwards. I was out there so long, there was no one at the finish line. As a matter of fact, I finished in last place. Cool it that they gave me my first certificate with completion of the LA Marathon, and they had "backwards" on it, which was cool. After the race, I’ll say, "Oh, I might want to do this again." So the following year, I ran it back once again.

I ran in the best shoes in the world, man. I went Payless Shoes in the early days of the marathon. Everyone about people, they have only $150 pair of shoes; they're sitting on the curb nursing their blisters. And I run back and say, "Look, Payless!" But I just keep going and laugh at them. I've been running in tennis shoes every year. Why pay more? We do Payless.

Well, when 3 came along, I wanted to be creative again, so I picked up a basketball, and I dribbled a basketball for 26.2 miles. That's what the marathon was about when we first was introduced to it. Get out there and do something crazy. It really took your mind off a lot of pain; it just let me realize that regardless of what this marathon is all about, hey, I don't mean to something crazier than that, so I know I got this.

I was 11B. 10 is every treatment. You know, you're just a grunt. Everybody that went in during the Johnson administration, you was going in there to go in the jungle, all the rice paddies. I can remember the first day in Vietnam. A dude, who was, I guess, disgruntled, he shot his foot off so he could go home. I saw that, and from then on, it was just crazy stuff happening. Something was changing; I was adapting to the environment.

When you're afraid, you know, all your senses scare up, man. You want to survive. Now, I was in survival mode when I got here. Doctor here to be a car way out there like a smelly. So that's when I knew I would turn into a stone-cold animal, man. It fit the environment.

That's the rest. We weren't weeble animals out there killing up each other and stuff, man. They knew something was wrong with me. I overheard my mother say, "They don't messed up myself." A lot of times I would wake up; the room would be all messed up because I'm fighting. I'm fighting in my sleep and not even knowing it. [Music]

The negative images are always there, and you just embrace it and just keep running. It’s part of what I'm going to deal with for the rest of my life. The morale thought was something that helped, you know, just have to grow because you put yourself through something, and you don't been through something that was money tougher than its brother.

I hate dancing like a piece of cake, and as cheers progressively started coming up over and over, I'll say, "Order says this is good therapy. This is real good. I'm gonna try this again next year." Sometimes things trigger memories; like I could wake up in the morning soon when the sun is about to rise and look at the skies around, sort of like a Vietnam morning.

The cool thing about it, it's all right; you know, I'm alright with that now. It's just something that I have to excel in and just keep going on with my life. My life is getting better and better. [Music] [Music] [Applause]

I'm involved in a group. I've never been involved in something that's been around for 30 years. I mean, I work for most of it but never party. But that's livelihood, this legacy thing, and we are part of Pelle now, a tradition here. We are, this is Brown Town 30.

I don't know where it's going in the next five years, but I just want to be a part of it because I've been here since day one. I am a legacy runner. We're all in our 60s and 70s now, man. You know, we're not spring chickens anymore. It's not about how long you’re out there; it's about completing the race.

So this put a different spin on me when it's still taking me like some time to complete. Sometimes six hours, but my whole thing was to complete it so I could stay in the game. Oh man, I feel like right now I'm going for number 30; it's what it was really all about.

So I had to dig deep inside my soul and make sure that I do what I had to do to get this number 30, man. You know, it was brutal; it was hot, and I don't feel good. [Applause]

Yeah, we don't need to do this. Are you okay? Didn’t need to get a medic over here. Okay, hey kiddos, get a medic. Yeah, you okay, Johnny? Look, stay with me buddy, I'm gonna call 911. Hi, I'm, and we have a marathon runner who has collapsed. [Music]

When you get to that nineteen-mile mark, and you know you got seven miles, and you think about that, minutes go haunt you. Let's go, tell you now, but you got to put that aside and just go. You gotta grind it out 'cause life ain't nothing but a grind, man. [Music]

If you pray that, get up and go do it, just go do it. Keep going; you'll get to the finish line. I know I feel pain sometimes; my legs, and a king and stuff, but hey, that's a sign of being alive. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Says you. [Music] You. [Music]