The Real World, Season 17 Episode 23, Recap 8/01

Tyler Duckworth is running a marathon!

Tyler is feeling nervous about the race. As he talks to a friend on the phone, we learn he ran the Boston marathon earlier this year, a painful and apparently humbling experience.

The marathon is a big event, and Tyler is looking for support from his roommates...just not all of them. Paula, Jose and Zach Mann will all be heading out with Tyler to West Palm Beach, the location of the race, but Janelle, John Devenanzio and Svetlana Shusterman are not invited. Or, it's not that they're not invited, it's that they didn't invite themselves. Or whatever.

Things appear to not be resolved before he needs to leave, so he types up a letter to both John and Janelle and leaves a copy in each of their "Real World" house mailboxes before he leaves for West Palm Beach.

The next day, after a bit of a nervous stomach starting off, Tyler starts the race strong, setting a moderate pace for himself to ensure he can make it through the race. When he gets to the halfway mark of thirteen miles, he's greeted by the cheers of encouragement from his roommates. He's feeling better than he expected at this point, and so he kicks up his pace a bit.

And he continues to do well for almost the rest of the race...until his knee gives out at mile 23. With three miles left to the finish, Tyler collapses on the track, with a knee he later says felt like it was being "stabbed." His roommates, who had been anxiously scanning the race for him, find him on the ground. With their encouragement, Tyler gets up and somehow manages to complete the race!

He says later the experience taught him that although he doesn't like to show weakness and appear to need anyone, he really did need the support of his "Real World" roommates to get him through in that moment.