My Body Odyssey attended the 51st Falmouth Road Race- the local, 7-mile pub crawl that quickly evolved into a major, international event with 75,000 spectators and ten thousand runners annually. Our episode features three participants at this year event, including the only runner to have completed all 51 Falmouth Road Races: Dr. Brian Salzberg. 

“I've had just a slew of injuries,” said Dr. Salzberg, a professor of Neuroscience and Physiology at UPenn Medical School. “And they always happen away from Falmouth. So it never stopped me from running the Falmouth Road Races.”

Actually, what may not have stopped Dr. Salzberg is his own tenacity. He’s finished the event with a brain tumor and on torn ligaments. “I did the 7 mile course on crutches in 2008,” he jokes. “ And, as far as I know, I still have the crutch record.”

Born with Spina Bifida, fourteen-year-old wheelchair racer Madelyn Wilson displays a tenacity quite similar to that of Dr. Salzberg, whose race record she could eventually threaten. “Oh, this is my favorite race of the year,” she told us at the Health & Wellness Expo. “I'm always energetic and waiting to do this. Like, hurry up, let's go.”

Are dedicated, highly enthused runners and racers like Dr. Salzburg and Madylen born to train and compete at events like the Falmouth Road Race? Or do the benefits of training and competing motivate individuals to just keep at it until it becomes second nature?

Carol Crutchfield, a charity runner at this year’s race, firmly believes that nurture, not nature, creates lifelong runners.  

“The main thing is, your mind's your worst enemy,” says Carol, author of a book for the beginning runner, And They Shall Run. “So you gotta make yourself get out the door, and that's the hardest thing.”

These inspiring odysseys may help you get out the door more often to run, cycle, walk, or whatever form of activity you choose. And they may motivate you to visit this now famous road race along the iconic Cape Cod shoreline looking out towards Martha’s Vineyard. Tune in for inspiration amidst perspiration at the 51st Falmouth Road Race.  

My Body Odyssey is a Fluent Knowledge production.

 Original music by Ryan Adair Rooney.