While most of you know me as a hockey guy, truth is I don't play. I don't skate very well. I handle the puck like Tom Sestito. I can't score on the Shooter Tutor.
I am a runner, though. In fact, I have been training for a Boston qualifying attempt in May. So needless to say Monday's Boston Marathon was of interest to me.
Hockey fans will be interested to know that among the many inspiring stories out of Boston on Monday was the story of former NHLer Bobby Carpenter running the marathon while pushing injured women's hockey star Denna Laing in her wheel chair. The duo finished the 42.2km race in just over 4.5 hours - a very impressive time.
Laing was paralyzed in a women's game ahead of the 2016 Winter Classic, ending a promising career.
For the 53 year old Carpenter, who played nearly 1200 games in the NHL, this was his second consecutive running of the Boston Marathon. Carpenter has been friends with Laing's father since his youth.
The duo ran for the Journey Forward charity which is dedicated to improving the lives of people with spinal cord injuries. They have raised more than $80,000.
"I love the fact that we're running for Journey Forward," Laing told NHL.com. "It gives me a sense of doing something bigger than myself and that place has been so good to me. The people are great. And there are so many people in there working so hard every day. We're all just looking to get better and keep getting to be our best selves.
"I think that Journey Forward's the perfect representation of what the marathon stands for, because everyone's looking at the marathon to go a little further and do something that they wouldn't think that they could do before, and that's exactly what we're doing at Journey Forward. They're pushing us to be better, go forward, and do something that you might not have thought you could a couple months ago or a couple weeks ago."
You can donate to Journey Forward here.
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