After over 3 years of training, a Chinese father has fulfilled a dream of his, completing a half-marathon in his Zhejiang Province, November 25, 2018, reports chinanews.com.
However, completing the event has taken on special significance.
Luo Shujian, a courier from the rural community of Jinhua in Zhejiang, was able to complete his home-town run while pushing his disabled 10-year old son in a wheelchair.
Luo’s son suffers from cerebral palsy after he was deprived of oxygen during his birth. Hoping to find more activities he could do with his son, Luo Shujian says he became inspired by the story of American Dick Hoyt. Hoyt, dubbed by some as “the greatest father in the United States,” is widely known in running circles for competing with his own disabled son, pushing him in a wheelchair through marathons, as well as Ironman triathalons.
Luo Shujian says he began following in Hoyt’s footsteps in 2015, and took up a schedule of 4am wake-ups to take his son on runs with him as he began training to complete a marathon. Noting that his son enjoys watching people run along side him, Luo has since completed 36 different road races across China.
![Luo Shujian pushes his son during an international marathon in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province on November 1, 2015. It was the first race they participated in together. [File photo: VCG]](http://img3.zhytuku.meldingcloud.com/images/zhycms_chinaplus/20181127/0f188cf0-a8e5-4c39-8ca2-5f3a1efc4ed1.jpg?x-oss-process=image/resize,w_650)
“In a situation like the one with my son, it is difficult to see the world outside. So I decided to take my son along to see different worlds through marathons, and give my boy a bit more excitement in his life,” said Luo.
Luo says he hopes he and his son can provide inspiration for other runners around them, as well as for other families which face similar challenges such as his.
