HEROES-Desiree Davila

With Brian Sell retiring from competitive running to pursue a career in dentistry, the running world was in sore need of a new blue collar standard bearer. Then one emerged from the Hansons Brooks project that Sell belonged to. I have seen the future of blue collar running, and her name is Desiree Davila.



Desi was a virtual unknown to pretty much everybody until the Boston Marathon catapulted her to the distance running limelight. Prior to that race, she was an average runner with a respectable but not spectacular career. But you could see the potential she had, and it finally hit on the Boston Marathon course.







Desi ran a hard race and put the butt hurt on her East African competitors. This is a big deal. American runners are a bit of a joke relative to Kenyans and Ethiopians. The best competition from the USA would not make it in the midpack of these elite Africans. Then, Desiree Davila ran a hard race at Boston, and this changed that mindset. Granted, Desi only came in second, but the winner had to leave in an ambulance. Desiree Davila had put the hammer down. She ran a pure guts race, and she has won the undying respect and admiration of many people for laying it all out in that race. Yet, she is humble pointing out that she only came in second.



This girl has fire in her belly, and she runs on pure heart and work ethic. Many will watch her career blossom from this point forward. But the other thing they will consider is that maybe American runners need to quit being pussies and put the hammer down. Maybe the reason Americans suck is that it is all in their head. If you doubt this, consider that Desi wasn't even considered the best American female in the Boston Marathon that day. If she can do this, what is holding back the rest of them?

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