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Aint no big thing to do a marathon, Tiberius seems to be thinking. Thomas Sharp, who’s pushing Tiberius in runner’s stroller at Grandma’s Marathon, might disagree. Photo courtesy of Joy Sharp
“There are better angels among us, and Thomas Sharp is one.”
Brian Larsen
Red-cheeked, tired, and a bit out of it at the finish line, Tiberius, age 6, looked just like he had finished a marathon. In fact, he had, but only because of the extraordinary efforts of Thomas Sharp, who pushed him in a three-wheeled stroller the whole way.
Sharp, 60, a science teacher and track and cross country coach at Eastview High School in Rosemount, Minnesota, first ran Grandma’s Marathon in 1980 when he was 16. “I think I ran it in just a little over three hours,” Thomas said. “I still have my finisher’s t-shirt, although it is pretty shredded at this point.”
Thomas earned another finishers t-shirt at this year’s 2023 Grandma’s Marathon when he crossed the line in a little over five hours, a great time considering Thomas pushed Tiberius (Tibs) Howard- Larsen in a three-wheeled chair used in racing to assist handicapped folks.
Tiberius, who has some developmental issues and doesn’t talk, had some problems at five miles, so Thomas stopped, and Grandma Jane Howard pushed the stroller for a bit until Tibs settled down and Thomas took over again. Other than that incident, it was clear sailing on a nice day for running.
Well, maybe there were a few things that came up. When the stroller got really hard to push, Thomas noticed that Tiberius had his hands on the brakes. At first, Thomas had to stop and put Tiberius’s hands back in his lap, but after a while, all he had to do was tap him on his shoulder, and Tiberius would take his hands off the brakes, and the stroller would get much easier to push. This “breaking” occurred for about nine miles, said Thomas at the end of the race. Not that it bothered Thomas one bit. “It’s not about competing. This was Tiberius’s race. If he needed to stop, we stopped. If he couldn’t finish, it would have been all right. Tiberius was great, and I hope we can do this again next year,” Sharp said.
Thomas competes in three marathons a year and plans to do more when he retires. He was looking for a person to push at this year’s Grandma’s, and he learned about Tiberius through Melissa Oberg, head of the special education program at I.S.D. 166. She and Thomas are friends, and when Melissa told him that she had a kindergarten student who liked to be pushed in a stroller, the planning began.
In between teaching and coaching, Thomas trains about 50 miles a week. “Well, it’s (milage) flexible. It depends on my schedule and the weather. Last winter was another hard winter to train in with all of the snow. That made it tough. I put about 100 pounds of sand in a wheeler and run. My neighbors might have thought it was odd at first but they are used to seeing me running this way now. It took some getting used to running without using my arms, but now, it’s weird for me to run without pushing a stroller.”
How did you get into this program? He was asked.
“Peter Kline is my mentor. He has a website called “Marathons with Meaning” aimed at making running more accessible for people with disabilities. After discovering the site, I was moved. I was hooked. I emailed Peter that I was interested in wheeling a student of mine, and he came and brought me a jogging stroller and said, “’Keep it.’” He was exceptionally kind.”
Thomas pushed his student through three Twin Cities Marathons before the young man died. “He did more in his 18 years than a lot of us do. He was a bright, kind boy with a bad body. He had a degenerative muscle disease. As long as I can push someone, a kid, an adult, a veteran, someone who can’t do this alone, I will.”
No one pushed by Thomas pays a dime to enter a competition. Thomas does raise some money for Special Olympics and a few other groups, but his emphasis is on assisting someone achieve something impossible unless they were helped. “We all have issues, physically and mentally, but some need more help. We just have to get the word out so folks know about this program.”
At the finish line of Grandma’s Marathon, all finishers are given a medal. Thomas put the medal around Tiberius’ neck, and Tibs took it right off and pitched it to the ground. Thomas picked it up and put it around Paisley’s neck, and Paisley cried while giving Thomas a big hug. This had been a lot of planning and preparing for this race. A lot of uncertainty and worry. No one was sure if Tiberius could make it the whole way. Later in the afternoon, as everyone rested, Tiberius swam in the hotel pool. He was back on track, a little red-faced from the sun but no worse for the wear.
Plans are already in the works for next year’s race. Now Grandpa has to get in some shape and get Tibs used to the stroller. As for Thomas, he will take a short rest and then begin training again, striving to let folks know that anyone with a disability doesn’t have to watch a marathon; they can participate in one with a bit of help, the help of a better angel among us.
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