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Maickel Melamed Completes Boston Marathon

Born with a form of muscular dystrophy, the 39-year-old Venezuelan Jew finishes his 5th marathon

by
Jonathan Zalman
April 22, 2015
A volunteer waits to give a finisher their medal during the 119th Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images)
A volunteer waits to give a finisher their medal during the 119th Boston Marathon on April 20, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

On Tuesday at 5 a.m., Maickel Melamed crossed the finish line of the Boston Marathon in a torrential downpour.

“Everything hurts in the body,” he said after the race, “but in the soul, everything in shining.”

A Venezuelan Jew, Melamed, who has hypotonia, a rare condition that causes low muscle tone in the body, finished the 117th running of race in 20 hours; it was Melamed’s fifth completed marathon course. He was aided by volunteers from Caracas who were there with him every step of the hilly way.

This year’s Boston Marathon marked the second race since the Tsarnaev brothers detonated bombs near the finish line in 2013, which killed 3 people and injured many, many more.

“I sent a message to Boston,” said Melamed. “Boston is still strong.”

Jonathan Zalman is a writer and teacher based in Brooklyn.