Before Brian Williams and his son Tom set off to run the Comrades Marathon – an 86.8 kilometer race in South Africa, Brian’s mind was already at the finish. He said, “If we succeed, it'll just be to be the fulfillment of a dream. It'll put to rest many of the ghosts of my past. It's hard to put into words what it means, but it means a lot.”

For his role in the anti-apartheid movement, Brian was exiled from South Africa for decades. He grew old away from his country, had a family in the UK and could not attend his mother’s funeral back home. So to return to South Africa after so many years, running Comrades was about much more than covering that massive distance. It was about reclaiming his sense of home. And running 53 miles in your 70s after a lifetime of not really being that active… it was a triumph of stubbornness, too. 

Listen to the season finale of Athletes Unfiltered.