The two books I have just read The Luckiest Man by Jonathon Eig and The Long Run by Matt Long with Charles Bulter are both inspirational. Also the characters are both good role models. They accepted all the bad things life threw at them and made the best of it. Their lives were not identical. Lou Gehrig troubles started as a young boy and continued through life while Matt’s started after the accident.
Both Matt Long and Lou Gehrig were dedicated athletes. They both weren’t natural athletes to the sports they loved. Lou Gehrig had to work hard all through high school to get good at baseball. Matt Long had to work hard one summer to make his college’s basketball team. To get better at triathlons he joined training groups but he didn’t only train with these groups. He would run races without the group. He wouldn’t only take the train to these races he would run from his place in Manhattan to Prospect Park. Then he would run the race and run back to his place in Manhattan. Both of them became accomplished athletes because of their dedication.
Their accomplished athletic careers were destroyed by illness. Lou Gehrig’s was taken away by a terrible disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS. This disease is now known as the Lou Gehrig’s disease. Matt Long’s career of ironman’s, marathons, and fire department basketball team was changed forever by the bus accident. His many injuries made it hard to work never mind finish an ironman and a marathon.
They both did their sports even with the challenges that faced them. Lou Gehrig continued to play baseball for as long as he could with the disease. Matt fought through physical therapy and many hours of training to finish the 2009 Lake Placid Ironman. Since Matt Long is a family friend I can’t wait until the day I meet him and tell him what I think of him. I wish I could have only met Lou Gehrig.
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