Before 19-year-old Matt Brown was paralyzed, he never liked running. “I absolutely hated it,” he recalls. “I just hated sprints at the end of practice.”
But after one fateful hockey game in 2010, Brown was never able to run again.
He slammed headfirst into the boards, breaking his C4 and C5 vertebrae and leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.
He spent three weeks in intensive care at a Boston hospital. Once he was stabilized, he was transferred to an Atlanta rehab facility specializing in spinal injuries. It was there that Lucas Carr walked into his life.
An Army Ranger who had been stationed near the rehab facility and a fellow native of Norwood, Mass., Carr knew Matt’s parents from years ago when he did odd jobs for them as a teen.
When he heard about their son’s injury, he was determined to get involved.
“I had just gotten out of the Army when his accident happened, and I connected with him personally,” he recalls. “You look at a young kid who had everything stripped away from him at 15 years old, but he’s always stuck by the motto of ‘Never quit.’”
The following year, Carr got the idea that he and Matt should start doing marathons together. He had run several marathons on his own, and he was inspired by Dick Hoyt, a father who had pushed his quadriplegic son, Rick, in more than 1,000 races.
Matt, who hated running before he was injured, wasn’t initially excited by the idea. “I was hesitant at first,” he recalls. But he quickly changed his mind once he got on the road.
Carr and Brown compete at the 2012 Boston Marathon.“It’s really fun and really cool to be able to get pushed and feel that sense of the wind in my face, feel the sense of running again,” he says.
In the first half of 2012, they finished both the Hyannis and Boston marathons, each in under five hours.
Carr pushes Brown in a custommade three-wheel wheelchair designed for long distances and rougher terrain.
To train for the marathons, they compete in shorter races on the weekends. During the week, when Matt’s in school, Carr runs on his own, pushing the chair filled with sandbags. You “train how you would fight, train how you would run,” says the Army vet who has seen combat throughout the Middle East.
When they race together, Matt says they’re “one unit,” but they don’t spend the whole race chatting.
“I try not to talk to him because it messes up my breathing,” Carr says.
Matt typically listens to music throughout the run — he favors country music, Drake and Eminem — but keeps one ear bud out so he can hear the cheers and help Carr monitor their speed.
“You can tell by his breathing and how fast the miles are going by,” Matt explains. “I say ‘pace yourself’ a lot.”
The 2012 Boston Marathon was especially hot and grueling.
“It was close to 90, 95 degrees. . . We hit Heartbreak Hill [an infamously gruesome slope at mile 20] right as the sun was at noon,” Matt recalls.
“I can’t regulate my body temperature really well, so that was tough.” But it was worth it.
“It was unbelievable. . . I will remember that for the rest of my life,” Matt says. “I had people screaming my name for 26 miles.”
After checking the Boston Marathon off their list, Matt and Carr set their sights on New York City’s big race.
“Matt’s never been to NYC, so he was like, ‘I really would love to do that race, I’d love to see it and experience it,’ ” recalls his father, Michael Brown.
There was just one problem: The New York Road Runners said the duo couldn’t participate, citing a rule that says all participants must propel themselves.
“It really was disappointing,” says Michael. “These guys have proven they’re healthy enough to run marathons; they’ve run two.”
It ended up being a moot point when the 2012 marathon was canceled due to Sandy, but this year, they were determined to get in.
But NYRR again said no this past August. Carr turned to the press and social media, drawing an outcry. Days later, NYRR recanted, citing the fact that Carr had helped victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, after running the race himself (without Matt) and finishing just before the explosions.
The Browns and Carr are thrilled that NYRR changed its mind, but they didn’t get an apology. NYRR president Mary Wittenberg “probably felt too embarrassed to send me an e-mail,” Carr says. (An NYRR spokeswoman says they are “looking forward” to the two participating.)
Carr and Matt are also looking forward to Sunday’s race.
“I’m a lot closer to running than I ever thought I’d get back to,” Matt says. “I just love being out there.”