Baylor WR Benitez Runs Longest Pattern to Date at Virtual Silo District Marathon

(I learned today that five pieces of content that I had submitted to Texas Runner and Triathlete editor Lance Phegley to be included in an edition that was to feature what runners and triathletes did to keep themselves motivated during the COVID-19 pandemic was not included by the publisher in the purported last issue of the magazine.  As a result, I'm posting the content here on the blog to share with those who might have expected to see it.  I haven't seen the publication yet, but it is my understanding that the number of pages was dramatically reduced from the last quarterly edition.)

While Baylor wide receiver Ricardo Benitez's head coach Matt Ruhle was taking a new job with the Carolina Panthers and four teammates were preparing to be drafted in late April's NFL Draft, he was still training, but differently than the rest of his teammates.

Sure, the Plano West graduate had been studying new head coach Dave Aranda's playbook for the 2020 season, but Benitez was training to run the Silo District Marathon - Chip Gaines' creation two years ago that raises money to benefit the foundation of the late Gabe Grunewald, a professional runner who succumbed last year to a rare form of cancer.

Ricardo knows all about rare too, but differently.

Benitz is 4-foot-2. He was born without femurs, a disability known as femur hypoplasia.

While the Silo District Marathon, like all other events across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic, was cancelled, Benitez still planned to cover the distance that same weekend, Saturday, April 25, 2020.

The Gaines' called in their volunteer coordinator - and one of Waco's most notable local athletes - Nancy Goodnight for help.

Not only did Goodnight, a veteran of more than 160 marathons and 16 Ironmans, design the course she - and her daughter Elizabeth - along with a pair of Benitez's teammates, Bears signal caller Brandon Bass and safety Will Baxter, covered every step of the way with Ricardo.

He also received support from other area runners, including the Waco Striders Running Club, who set up aid stations, cheered for and offered encouragement the entire way.

Even those with the cancelled Chalk Waco Chalk Art Festival drew a colorful eagle with the saying, "Rise with wings like eagles," just beyond his finish line at the end of the Suspension Bridge which spans the Brazos River.

"This is our guy right here," Bass, the former Addison Trinity Christian Trojan, told KWTX-TV.  "I mean, we do everything together.  I wasn't just going to let him do this by himself."

Not for one minute out of Ricardo's 13-hour, two-minute time that started that morning at 4 a.m.

"Sunburned, tired and blistered, they refused to leave his side," said Goodnight.

And for Ricardo?

"He never, ever really quit," Goodnight told KWTX-TV.  "No matter what, he wasn't ever even considering quitting.  Not for one minute."

The extremely outgoing mother of four daughters and endurance sports community leader was for one of a few times -- at a loss for words.

"I've been trying to think of how to describe this day since I crossed the finish line, but it was utterly indescribable," she said on her Facebook page post-race.

After he finished, he remarked to KWTX's Julie Hays, "I won.  We won."

No, Ricardo, we all win - because of feats like yours.