One of the Boston Marathon's most beloved athletes, Rick Hoyt, has died at the age of 61. "It is with profound sadness that the Hoyt Family announce the passing of our beloved brother and uncle, Rick Hoyt this morning," the Hoyt Foundation announced Monday. The family added he passed away due to complications with his respiratory system. Rick Hoyt was a longtime staple on the Boston course, pushed in his wheelchair by his father, Dick, for more than four decades from 1981 until 2014."As so many knew, Rick along with our father, Dick, were icons in the road race and triathlon worlds for over 40 years and inspired millions of people with disabilities to believe in themselves, set goals and accomplish extraordinary things," the Hoyt family posted. Rick Hoyt, who had cerebral palsy and was a quadriplegic, retired from competition in 2021, months after the death of Dick, who was 80."It's hard to believe they both have now passed on but their legacy will never die. Dick and Rick Hoyt have inspired millions around the world," Dave McGillivray, Boston Marathon race course director, said in a statement. In addition to the Boston Marathon, Dick and Rick Hoyt competed in more than 1,100 marathons and triathlons.A bronze statue of Dick and Rick Hoyt was dedicated near the Marathon's start line in Hopkinton in 2013.The Boston Athletic Association released a statement remembering Rick Hoyt as a "friend, mentor, pioneer and Boston Marathon finisher.""Rick Hoyt will always be remembered as a Boston Marathon icon and for personifying the 'Yes You Can' mentality that defined Team Hoyt. We are fortunate to have been able to call Rick a friend, mentor, pioneer, and Boston Marathon finisher. His legacy will live on through the Rick & Dick Hoyt Award, which is presented each April around the Boston Marathon to someone who exhibits the spirit of Team Hoyt through advocacy and inclusion," the B.A.A. said. The family said a decision will be made about whether the previously planned Dick Hoyt Memorial “Yes You Can” Road Race set for Saturday will continue as planned or be postponed.

ROCKPORT, Mass. —

Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb's love of running began when she was a young child. She felt it was a way of living and seeing the world.

"I just wanted to experience life and running was a time when I felt the life force of the universe," Gibb, who is now 80 years old, said.

Gibb, a native of Winchester, Massachusetts, is a legend in the sport of distance running, as she is the first woman to ever run and complete the Boston Marathon.

In 1966, the Boston Marathon was still an all-men's race, but Gibb applied to run in it anyway. She received a letter back in response to her application that denied her entry and read: "Women are not physiologically able to run marathon distances. We can't take the medical liability."

"I crumpled it up and threw it away," Gibb said.

Gibb, who was living in San Diego, California at the time, ran out her door after tossing the rejection letter and raced up the beach for 20 miles to release her anger.

After that run, she decided that she would find any way to run the Boston Marathon that year. Gibb convinced her initially reluctant mother to drive her to the marathon start line on April 19, 1966.

"This — that people think is impossible — is going to throw into question all the other misconceptions and false beliefs about women," Gibb said she told her mother.

On race day, Gibb ran around Hopkinton, which is located around 30 miles from Boston, for 40 minutes to warm up for the marathon and find a place where she could sneak into the field of runners.

She eventually hid behind a forsythia bush that was near the start line and joined the race pack shortly after the starting gun.

Gibb was wearing her brother's Bermuda shorts, a hoodie and boy's sneakers in an effort to disguise herself, but runners around her eventually started to figure out that they were racing against a woman.

"At first, they didn't realize that I was a woman," Gibb said. "Then, I could feel this studious silence behind me and I could hear the guys behind me talking. 'Is that a girl? Is that a girl?' I turned around and they said: 'It is a woman! Wow, this is fantastic!'"

Gibb said the runners around her also told her that they would not let her get kicked out of the race, as word that there was a woman competing in the Boston Marathon quickly spread.

"The guys were really supportive. They said. 'We won't let them throw you out. It's a free road,'" Gibb said.

Gibb recalled the press showing up to her parents’ home, asking about her competing in the race. She took the attention to be a positive aspect of her run.

"This is what I wanted to do. I wanted to stop the stupid war between the sexes and show men and women can share all of life," Gibb said.

Gibb went on to have a working career, which not many women had back in those days, first as a lawyer and later as an artist. She continues to create paintings and sculptures today.

She also continues to run: as much as 10 miles through local trails and on the beach. Her artwork is often influenced by her running journey because, for Gibb, running was always about the world she saw along the way.

"When I run I feel — I still do — when I’m racing down the beach: 'Wow, I’m alive! I’m alive!'" she said.

CINCINNATI —

If you missed the feel-good stories of the Flying Pig for the last year and a half, you weren’t alone. The Flying Pig was canceled altogether last year and pushed back from May to this weekend, this year.

But we have “pork-tacular” story to put you back into the running spirit. A Mason man who's proving age really is just a number.

Wayne Wheeler didn't start running until he was 37 when a co-worker was going to run the Heart Mini, which was 9.3 miles.

“And I was just blown away that anybody could run 9.3 miles. So I started to jog," Wheeler said.

But once he started, he never looked back.

“After several months I really liked it a lot. And it's taken me on a journey that's unbelievable," he said.

That was 45 years ago. Wheeler is 82 now.

"I'm middle-aged,” he says laughing. “OK, upper middle-aged!"

Despite being upper middle-aged, on this fall day, Wheeler is training for his seventh Boston Marathon. Wayne knows that sounds crazy. It sounds crazy to him.

“I always question around mile 22, why am I doing this to myself, but there I am," he said.

He's run in 700 road races in 18 states. One of his favorites is the Flying Pig.

He's run eight full and eight halfs at the Flying Pig alone.

He thrives on those dreaded hills. But it’s not all about that runner's high. It’s about giving back too. In the 10 years of running the Pig, Wheeler helped raise $356,000 for cystic fibrosis.

Wheeler’s passion has taken him down many roads and the one he loves the most is teaching kids to have a passion for running. He's coached for 25 years, the last 17 years for Mason Middle School's cross country and track teams.

The kids love Coach Wheeler as much as he loves coaching.

“He's just an amazing coach. He makes everyone better," Tyler Groff said.

And Pedro Capiello, another cross country runner for Mason Middle, agrees.

“He's just amazing. Great. He's just the best coach ever," Capiello said.

Wheeler's best pace was long before these kids were alive. In 1984, he was running a 6:45 mile. He's slowed down a bit over the years but this 82-year old is still outpacing most of us.

“I never say never and I never say always. I don't know if it's my last or not," he said.

One thing's for sure, whether it's a marathon, a few miles, or in life, Wheeler will be inspiring everyone in his path.

Unfortunately, the night of the Boston Marathon Wheeler developed kidney stones and wasn't able to race. He’s planning on running the half-marathon at the Flying Pig this weekend. So we’ll see this inspiring 82-year old at the Finish Swine.

A runner who faced the ultimate adversity during this year's Boston Marathon got to meet with the person who helped save her life.

Meghan Roth went into cardiac arrest eight miles into last Monday's 26.2-mile marathon.

"It was literally seconds when, all of a sudden, I kind of went fuzzy, and I remember looking down at my feet, then all of a sudden I just went down," Roth said. "I don't even remember hitting the ground."

Several people sprang into action, performing CPR on her until an ambulance could arrive.

Cameron Howe, a nursing student at Boston College, saw Roth collapse and immediately sprang into action. "I saw her stumble, and thought that was odd, since they were only at mile 8."

Marie Rogers of Milford joined him. She spent 47 years working as a critical care nurse before retiring last year. She was at her brother's condo that overlooks the marathon route.

Rogers and Roth met for the first time on Thursday. Rogers described to Roth what she witnessed.

"I saw you go down the first time, but then somebody helped you up," Rogers said. "You got up and it looked like you were going to go down again."

Rogers said one of her siblings called her and said they needed a nurse.

"When I got to you, you were flat out on your stomach," Rogers said.

Rogers said she and another nurse couldn't detect a pulse in Roth, and immediately started CPR.

"They shocked you three times, I'm sure you didn’t feel that," Rogers told Roth during the meeting.

Rogers said another person on the route called 911, as others worked to help Roth until paramedics arrived.

"It was just nice to see people coming together," Rogers said.

Rogers said the entire time following the incident, she kept hoping that Roth would be OK.

"I kept saying, 'oh dear God, I just want to know if she’s okay,'" Rogers said.

Roth was rushed to the hospital, then taken to Tufts Medical Center for treatment.

Now back home in Minnesota with her 10-month-old baby boy, Roth and her mom can't say enough about the help they got in Boston.

"I'm just so thankful," Roth said. "All I could think of was my grandson and not having his mother and just so many thanks."

"I'm just so fortunate," Roth said to Rogers. "I just can't thank you enough and everyone. It's just, oh my gosh, it's just so scary and I'm just so fortunate to be here and home."

"I'm so blessed for her and being there for me and saving my life," Roth said. "It's incredible."