Every year, at this time of the year, the Marine Corps Marathon takes place in Arlington and DC. One of my sons and his girl friend at the time ran a few years back and a couple of kids from work are running this year. I get exhausted thinking about it. This is a lead in to the column this morning in the Post by Mike Wise about a marine who came out of nowhere to win a Gold Medal in the 1964 Olympics, Billy Mills. Mills, an American Indian orphan, overcame racism to pull off one of the greatest upsets in Olympic history. He returns every year for the Marine Corps Marathon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...iTM_story.html

For us old timers,the 10,000 meter race was not a featured race and for a US runner to run down the pack and win was shocking to those of us watching. I believe that was the Olympics where Bullet Bob Hayes refused to let the US lose the 400 meter relay and he ran an unbelieveable final leg to catch and pass the teams ahead of him. Like the Mills run, the announcer got caught up in the moment and made it a memorable event. Lots of great track and field moments from the Olympics and these were two of the best IMO.

gw67