MIAMI _ Alfredo De Los Santos was at his lowest point when Achilles International suggested he attempt a marathon. He had just lost his right leg in Afghanistan about eight months earlier. He tried to commit suicide twice since being hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. De Los Santos thought the pitch was some sort of cruel joke.
"I was like, 'What's wrong with these people?' De Los Santos said. 'Can't they see I'm missing a leg?'"
Representatives from Achilles showed him the handcycle, though, and De Los Santos decided to give it a shot. He raced for the first time at the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington and finished in a little less than three hours. His arms were exhausted and De Los Santos declared he would never race again.
On Sunday, he won his second straight Miami Marathon in the marathon race chairs division, adding to a laundry list of achievements, which also includes a national championship. He cruised through 26.1 miles of Miami, Miami Beach and Coconut Grove in just 1 hour 5 minutes 44 seconds _ more than 10 minutes faster than anyone else in his division.
"Every time I come to Miami, I get fired up," said De Los Santos, 50. "You see that crowd clapping you and cheering you up."
The rush he gets from the community has been as important as any race result for De Los Santos. Originally from the Dominican Republic, De Los Santos moved to New York as a teenager and enlisted in the United States Army after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. In 2008, he was serving in Afghanistan and had his leg blown off when his Humvee was attacked. He awoke a few weeks later at Walter Reed.
"Sport was what they used to push me, take me out of my comfort zone because it's pretty easy for somebody missing a leg just to stay in your room, and don't go out and think negative," De Los Santos said. "That's the mentality that I had back then."
