This morning on KSEE Sunrise Faith Sidlow talked with Dick Beardsley of Boston Marathon fame. Beardsley is the guest speaker at the Two Cities Marathon pasta dinner Saturday, November 7. The all you can eat dinner is served from 4 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for children under 12. The Clovis North Campus is located at 2770 E. International (corner of Willow and International) in Fresno.

Dick is best known for his incredible race in the 1982 Boston Marathon. That race, on a very hot March day, was dubbed the "Duel in the Sun" as he battled world record holder Alberto Salazar down to the Finish line. Both broke the American record: Salazar won in a record time of 2:08:51; Beardsley's time was 2:08:53! He was at the height of his professional running career.

Then tragedy struck in November 1989. While using an auger to lift corn into a bin on his Minnesota farm, Dick became entangled in the machine; it began to literally tear him apart. Not expected to live or walk — much less ever run again — he managed to survive.

But that was just the first of a series of events that would forever change his life. During the next few years Dick was involved in a severe car accident; later he was hit by a truck while running; later still, he rolled his vehicle in a snowstorm; and finally while hiking one day, the ground gave out and he fell off a cliff! Each time he ended up in the hospital and had multiple surgeries to try and put him back together.

Due to all the large amount of pain medication he was taking, he became addicted — and that's when his life really started to spiral out of control. It has been a long road back, but Dick has been celebrating every day of his sobriety since February 12, 1997. In 2002 he authored a book called "Staying the Course: A Runner's Toughest Race."

Dick loves running now more than ever. He is a competitive Masters runner, who completes marathons across the world in less than three hours!

Some of Dick Beardsley's Accomplishments:

•Winner (2:11:48) of the London Marathon, 1981
•Second place finish (2:08:53) Boston Marathon, 1982 (Duel in the Sun)
•Winner of Grandma's Marathon (Duluth, MN) 1981 and 1982
•Still holds the course record at Grandma's (2:09:37) set in 1981
•Winner and course record holder (2:16:20) Napa Valley Marathon, 1987
•Guinness Book of World Records — the only man to run 13 consecutive personal bests in a marathon
•Road Runners Club of America Hall of Fame, inducted 1989
•"Comeback Runner of the Year" — Runner's World Magazine, 1991
•"Best Speaker" Award, Minnesota Meeting and Events Association
•Member, Team New Balance
•2006 and 2007 RRCA National Masters Marathon Champion