My Story

Boston

marathon

My Story

Paul's Dream

Life is Good!

My friend Mr. Gene and I had the goal to someday run a marathon and we did. We then set out to qualify for the Boston Marathon. We did it! We qualified when we ran the New Orleans Marathon (2012) with a time of 3:22. Then, we ran the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. We had a flat tire on mile 14 but still finished the marathon with a time of 3:39. We were able to finish about 50 minutes before the bomb hit close to the finish line. We also qualified & ran in the Boston Marathon on April 17, 2017. Another phenomenal race! We went to Salt Lake City on April 30th, 2021 planning on that marathon being our last marathon race together - our time was 3:43 minutes and we qualified for the Boston Marathon again by 7 minutes! So, the last Boston Marathon on April 18th, 2022 was our last race together.

We ran the Chicago Marathon on October 7, 2018 and had a great marathon with over 51,000 in the race. When me and Mr. Gene are running, I feel like we're just as good as everyone else in the race. That I'm just like everyone else around me and I don't have a handicap. Mr. Gene and I have now ran in over 300 races together, including a 50 mile ultra marathon back in Nov. 2014 in Nashville, Tn. We finished! And you know what? We win every time we run a race. Because our goal is to always finish the race and do our absolute best to beat our finish time from last year. WE WILL always finish the race. Please go to the contact us link and send me an email or go to my Facebook page. Thanks & Stand Strong!

Hello, my name is Paul Appleby and I'm 35 years old. I was born on September 30, 1987 with cerebral palsy and that's because there was a complication and I wasn't able to get enough oxygen to my brain when I was born. But, you know what? We all have the unique challenges to overcome. There is a reason & a purpose of everything that goes on in our lives. We MUST learn to accept things and give life our best. Life is good and I've got a great mom and dad and they're Bob & Phyllis Appleby. They've always been here for me. I had a tough time at first and don't know where I'd be without them. 

I've come across challenges and I worked hard and graduated from Bartlett High School when I was 20 years old. I have a great friend that likes to run with me. His name is Mr. Gene.  We've been running races together since July 3rd, 2004. I love running with Mr. Gene.

St. Jude

marathon