Last Runner Finishes Boston Marathon at 5 a.m.

One of the most inspiring stories to emerge on a day that always has plenty of them came around 5 a.m. this morning, when the Boston Marathon’s final racer crossed the finish line.

Meet the Boston Marathon’s last-place finisher: Maickel Melamed, who suffers from muscular dystrophy, took 20 … http://t.co/afSdVxxkJV

— shelbylaneMD (@shelbylaneMD) April 21, 2015

Venezualan Maickel Melamed has muscular dystrophy, a condition that impairs his movement. He started his race around 9 a.m. Monday and braved some seriously bad weather to make it to Boylston Street. Photographer Michael Blanchard went out to see him finish, and recounted the final miles in a Facebook post:

I came upon about a hundred people [on Beacon Street] walking (very slowly) and singing while cars passed by them. It was truly one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. I walked with them over the Fenway bridge, through Kenmore Square and up Commonwealth Ave until we turned the corner to Boylston. That’s when the torrential downpours started and did not stop. Somehow everyone ignored the rain and kept going. At around 4:30am, 20 hours after starting the race, Maickel crossed the finish line of the The Boston Marathon.

Melamed is a professor and motivational speaker who has competed in several other American marathons. The AP has raw video of him finishing in Chicago which gives a sense of how he moves. Boston will be his final race, CBS reports. And though the weather and hills didn’t make it easy for him, the city has special meaning; his parents brought him here as an infant for medical treatment. After he finished this morning, he sent a tweet out to supporters thanking them for their support. “Today we conquer the impossible, today more than ever,” he said in Spanish. 

Hoy conquistamos un imposible, hoy mas que nunca #SomosPosible Gracias a todos. #VAMOSBoston — Maickel Melamed (@maickelmelamed) April 21, 2015