Beardsley

Well last week I talked about Alberto Salazar so I felt it was fitting to talk about Dick Beardsley this week. Beardsley is famous for his neck to neck race with Salazar in the 1982 Boston Marathon. A race that is known as the "Duel in the Sun"

Beardsley's running times speak for themselves. You can look them up if you want and you will be impressed. What I would like to talk about however,is the man Beardsley has become after his best running days ended. Beardsley has become a motivational speaker across the country. After his prime, Beardsley had a few near fatal accidents that led to him receiving pain medication. Beardsley became addicted to the pain killers but has since fought off his addiction. This is the main topic of many of his inspirational speeches he currently gives across the country. The Dick Beardsley Foundation is an organization that teaches young people to avoid drugs and become healthy and active.

I greatly respect Dick Beardsley for his running career but I have an even greater respect for what he became afterwards. His knowledge of knowing how to give everything you have can be very inspiring when talking about overcoming drug addiction which is something that sometimes takes great amount of will power to overcome. Beardsley, being a runner, knows all about will power and can therefore be of great help to people fighting an addiction.

It's great to hear stories of people who turn a mistake they made in their life into something remarkably positive. Dick Beardsley certainly accomplished this.