Who says winning is the only thing? Certainly not Barry Roberts, the competitor who finished last in the 2007 SunTrust Richmond Marathon.

Roberts, a 55-year-old from Norfolk, said last year’s race, his first 26.2-mile endeavor, was special for the most basic of reasons: pride.

“People said, ‘Why in the world are you doing this?’” Roberts said. “I said, ‘Because I want to. Because it’s there.’ They said, ‘But you can’t win.’ I said, ‘So what? I don’t expect to win. I didn’t enter to win.’”

Roberts, who will try again today, is an affable man who exudes an impish air of defiance. He ran in 2007 with a fallen arch in his right foot and a damaged ligament in his left. He described his gait as more a waddle than a run. His goal, he said, was to finish the race before the course was closed. He did. He beat the seven-hour cutoff by 6½ minutes.

“Folks who know me will tell you that I’m a little unorthodox,” Roberts said. “If you say to me, ‘That’s crazy. You can’t do that,’ I’m going to say, ‘Yes, I can, just watch me.’”

Roberts, a district shoe coordinator for Dillard’s department stores, lost neither his focus nor his sense of humor last year when he realized, with several miles remaining, that he was the last runner on the course. He said an ambulance followed him with vulture-like patience. He chided the driver.

“I told him, ‘Hey, you’re giving me a complex.’”

And he laughed—inwardly, at least—when he looked back and realized that he had an escort: three police cruisers, blue lights flashing.

“I said, ‘Hey, how about that? I’m a parade,’” Roberts recalled. “I said, ‘You know what? These guys are going to keep collecting overtime until I get to the finish line. I’m probably their favorite runner in the entire race.’”

Roberts, healthier and 25 pounds lighter than he was a year ago, said he hopes to be faster by at least 30 minutes in today’s race.

Today’s three events—the 26.2-mile SunTrust Marathon, the 13.1-mile McDonald’s Half Marathon and the Ntelos 8K—have attracted more than 14,000 runners, a Richmond race-day record.

Contact Vic Dorr Jr. at (804) 649-6442 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

- Republished from inRich.com

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