While going up the hills of the Bix 7 course isn't easy on foot, imagine trying to do it in a wheelchair.

We caught up with an injured firefighter who is also a longtime Bixer who wasn't going to let anything keep him off the course. 

On a day when hundreds of running heroes took to the streets, the biggest cheers were reserved for a man many say is a real life hero.

"It was unbelievable with the people that support me all through the race, people yelling my name, it was unbelievable," says injured Davenport firefighter Bob Juarez.

Juarez taking on the Bix course for the 18th time and the first since he was paralyzed last summer while fighting a fire in downtown Davenport.

The people alongside the course not the only ones supporting him. His brother Chris and more than a dozen firefighters ran alongside their former comrade.

"He was faster than I was. All the young guys took him so we came behind him," says Dave Thomas, a Davenport firefighter who has ran more than a dozen Bixes alongside Bob.

Thomas wasn't the only one Bob beat. Bob finished the course in 1 hour, 19 minutes, ahead of more than 8,000 runners including his brother Chris.

"It was a good start, but he lost me halfway through," Chris says. "Otherwise, he got me back out there and now I know what to do for next year."

Bob says the hardest part about rolling the 7 mile course wasn't coming up the Brady Street Hill, but going down it instead.

"My hands were burning," Bob says. "They were literally burning, smoking pretty good. It was tough, I just had to make sure I wasn't going too fast."

Bob says he plans on doing the course again next year. His firefighter comrades say they'll keep running alongside of him for as long as he wants to.