Retired Teacher And Three-Time Cancer Survivor Runs Record-Breaking 134th Marathon
Multiple cancer survivor and marathon runner Brent Weigner hasn’t allowed many things in life to slow him down.
In fact, the inspirational 67-year-old geography teacher from Wyoming was only days away from participating in the strenuous Belarus-Lithuania International Friendship Marathon on July 6 when Runner’s World caught up with the ex-junior high school instructor — a man who, at that point, had taken part in 133 professional foot races around the world.
“I really do have such a grateful heart,” the tenacious Weigner said of his energetic lifestyle to Runner’s World recently.
“God continues to smile on me so I can share the gift of grace and salvation.”
At just 22, however, Weigner was prepared to meet the man upstairs with a far less amount of miles logged on his legs when a military medical evaluation came back to the then-young man with seemingly disastrous results.
“Weigner was prepared to graduate from the University of Northern Colorado after four years of Air Force ROTC and ready to get his commission as a second lieutenant,” Runner’s World notes, “[when] one day, his commanding officer approached him.”
“I’m sorry to tell you, but your military career is over You’ve been classified as a 4-F,” Weigner recalled of the interaction.
A “4-F” is a person deemed unsuitable for military life due to disease or medical defect.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1277586712360471&set=pb.100003274639448.-2207520000.1500483483.&type=3&theater
“I literally started laughing at the guy, because I was [at U of NC] on a track scholarship,” Mr. Weigner remarked.
“[So, I said] ‘sir, you do know I’m a track star, right?’ And the officer said, ‘No, I know you’re supposed to be dead. Didn’t your parents tell you?'”
As it turns out, Brent’s parents were fully aware of his cancer prognosis — “His parents had been too afraid to tell him,” the New York Post notes — but he still managed to pull through the first round of treatments and was soon back to running marathons, until a second attack of the disease nearly stopped the survivor dead in his tracks again.
“[Weigner] required surgery to remove a lump on the side of his jaw, leaving his face paralyzed for half a year,” the Post notes of his second round of cancer.
Six months later, the cancer survivor managed to pull through a second time and celebrated the achievement by asking his girlfriend, Sue, who also occasionally participates in marathons, to become his wife (she happily accepted, and the two are nearing 40 years together).
Now seemingly in remission after a third diagnosis that wasn’t noted by Runner’s World or the Post, the aging Weigner knows his final race is on the horizon, but don’t expect him to give up his running shoes before that time arrives.
After completing the Madagascar Marathon in June, Brent Weigner is on top of the world. The seventh grade… https://t.co/JZmUuPO4NJ
— LeftLane Sports (@LeftLaneSports) July 10, 2017
“I run for the same reason birds fly and fish swim. That’s what I do,” he said.
“I don’t really know why I like to run. That’s just the way I’m wrapped, I guess. It makes me smile.”
Nonetheless, the cancer survivor’s wife has asked Brent to tone down his hobby by participating in just 12 marathons next year.
[Featured Image by Brent Weigner/Facebook]
