A lot of people know I run. Well I had an intense championship race on saturday. Here's my story.

I started the day by waking up at around 12:30. My race was scheduled for 12:35. So I ran out of bed, got dressed in yesterday's clothes, flew out the door with what I needed. Didn't eat or hydrate. didnt go to the bathroom. Ran like a madman to make the start, and fell down 3 of the 5 flights of stairs I had to go down. Injured my knee. Made it to the starting linr in my running gear 10 seconds before the gun. I didnt even get to warm up or wake up. I ran the most painful race of my life, and it was 32 minutes of pure pain. When I finally finished I walked off to a bench and sat there. I didn't know until later but I was severely shaking. I was going through the beginning stages of shock. My face was white as a ghost, I wasn't breathing right, and my heart rate was through the roof (close to 220 I think, yikes, almost had a heart attack) and then I had the coach and everyone come up to me and ask if I was ok. No, I am NOT OK, I had a terrible, pain filled race. The pictures they took of me proved it. I was exhausted. I died basically. Still now I am exhausted and dead, and in tons of pain. I shouldnt even be awake right now...

I wrote that saturday night. So there it is everyone.

Wow dude, that must seriously suck

Maybe you should have at least grabbed a drink or something, but that would have probably ruined everything and disqualified yourself. Hopefully you get better soon

You sir are a trooper. That was a great story. Next time, try not to hurt yourself.

legacyme3 : I admire your guts because I don’t think a lot of people would be in condition to walk properly after falling down three flights of stairs let alone compete in a race. I have fallen down stairs before and I’m disabled so I can only imagine how much pain you were in because I remember how much pain I was in and I was hurting like hell.

I realize that in your case the reason you got hurt was likely because you were in a rush and didn’t have adequate time to warm up to compete beforehand. I will be honest with you although you busted and rushed to get to the race on time, if I was your coach especially by the sound of you condition I wouldn’t have allowed you to compete.

It would have angered you likely but your well being is more important than anything else and there would have been other races for you to compete in. By competing in your condition although admirable and a clear demonstration of your determination; you could have injured yourself far worse and thus could have taken yourself out of other competitions in the process.

I actually remember one time when I was in high school (and, I don’t remember much from that time.) when I got the idea to try out for the wrestling team. As I said, I am disabled but I have always been competitive and thought despite my disability that I could at the very least make an attempt to compete and if nothing else prove a point not only to myself but to other people that disabled people are not second class citizens which to be honest with you was a big problem in the schools I went to.

Anyway, I wasn’t trying for a specific weight class or anything like that I was trying to get myself in some form of shape just to be able to try out. I went through physical therapy when I was in school and they who were therapists were outright against me trying anything of the sort despite the fact that I had been medically cleared. (As I said, treated like a second class citizen “You can’t do what “Regular” people can do” etc.) Despite everyone telling me to wise up probably because I was young and dumb at the time I ignored them.

I had more of a rebel mentality back then and although I had a head on my shoulders, I also had an attitude which more often back then won out over my common sense.

Anyway, because I was already a writer at the time I was use to pulling all-nighters. Between that, lack of sleep and preparing in the wrong way to try out I ended up waking up one day with severe chest pain. I went to school and ignored it; by second period my girlfriend and a few friends at the time helped me to the administration office and called an ambulance. I was taken from school to the hospital. I was having trouble breathing and we were thinking that I was having a heart attack.

When I got to the hospital, they told me I had a severely pulled muscle in my chest and although my heart was fine that was causing me the pain and the feeling as if I couldn’t breathe when I exhaled and such. I ended up sitting home for two weeks on medication for pain and when I went back to school they made me use a wheel chair for a couple of weeks while I was in school. I never made it to try outs and those who were adamantly against me trying out gave me a look as if to say “We told you so…” etc.

I kept my disappointment to myself and basically told them all where to go and how to get there and such. I don’t regret for a second attempting to get myself in condition to try out and, I still think many years later that had I had someone helping me to get in condition the right way, I would have been able to try out and who knows may have even made the team because although my disability affects my legs and back, I have always had solid upper body strength.

The mistake I made back then (and there were plenty of mistakes I made back then…) was I tried to do this on my own with no one to watch over how I was when I tried to work out or, to work with me on my conditioning and such. If I had the people in physical therapy behind me and even if I befriended a couple of people on the team I would have been in better condition than I was.

When the people in physical therapy basically laughed at me and stopped just short of saying “What are you crazy?” I got this “Well F you all” mentality for lack of a better term (My apologies if I offended anyone.) and said the hell with them I’ll do it myself. Big mistake.

Although I love combat sports I was doing this strictly to prove a point more than I was for self-gratification although I also wanted to prove to myself that I could do it…

I still often say to family and friends that if they were to allow disabled people to attempt to Box I would again try my damndest to get myself in condition knowing more than likely I would take a beating and knowing that I am not in any semblance of condition just to prove a point. It wouldn’t matter to me if I was as I am now 27 years old or in my 50s I would do it. I do have Boxing in my blood though so I wouldn’t be afraid whatsoever of a potential beating. Now that is my New York mentality to the core.

It isn’t a necessarily wise idea though… The point I am getting at here is you’re still young and don’t have any physical limitations by the sound of it and it isn’t worth potentially causing yourself more injury that will take longer to come back from or even god forbid permanent injury just for the glory of competition.

I cover fighters on a regular basis who either don’t have the physical ability to compete at the highest level of the sport or fighters who were at the top for years and years who were great, even legendary who fought and fight on way past where they should all because they love competing more so than any financial benefits. Which, if you’re a fighter who fights too long more often than not you’re not making the money you once garnered and sadly, more fighters fight on past their physical and competitive prime because they need money.

It’s sad for me because I love the sport, always have, always will and when people see stories like that they incorrectly place blame on the sport as a whole when in reality it boils down to the individual and that individual’s situation. Muhammad Ali is the perfect example of a great legendary athlete who transcended time yet all too tragically fought on way too long and is now looked at as the definition of pugilistic Parkinson’s disease.

Although in all the years I’ve covered Boxing and have done it exclusively since 2003 I have only covered one death in the ring but, when I see some of these fighters especially those of advanced age I do worry…

I’m sorry if I rambled on and seemed like I drifted into a book… I just feel the best way to give advice is to draw upon either my own personal experiences or things I’ve witnessed or, in this case both. I am a writer after all so I am very detail oriented.

Please take enough time to recuperate and please don’t attempt anything like that again… Competition is a thrill no doubt but it isn’t worth causing physical damage to yourself which could as I said have long lasting repercussions. The bottom line is although you showed your medal by competing hurt, you’re going to want to compete another day and if you’re dealing with lingering injuries you will not be able to compete to the best of your ability.


Feel better kid...

Haha, bad luck eh...
Well, it's good to hear that you're recovering, but man, that must be bad luck. I've ran a lot of races, and never has THAT happened to me LOL.

Geldra :

Yeah, that was my first time with that. All the stress and pain finally caught up to me and destroyed me for like a half hour.

I've been told by some people its no less than a miracle I am standing. hahaha

Wow man I'm sorry to hear that Atleast your doing good now

I'm glad you're okay, now, dude... Boy, that was quite a mishap on your part!

Damn. That is some bad luck right there. I know what it's like to nearly have a heart attack so I feel you. I hope you feel better soon. So who actually won the race?

legacyme3 : Ouch! Sorry to hear about the pain you're going through. The main thing is..you made to the race...and you're alive despite all the pain! You're a trooper and troopers always win in my book. Next time just be sure to set your alarm clock 2 hours earlier so you'll be prepared.

I have a question. Do you race everyday or it is certain days, weeks? Anyway, I hope you never have to go through that exhausting, painful experience ever again! keep your head up..

YourMajestyKen :

I race basically every saturday. Not this week though. No race. Even if we had one, I'd have to sit it out. My coach said that he never wants me to pull that **** again. Neither do I haha.

XxChaosxX : Not us, that's for sure.

bombergirl123 : it is and it isn't. See I suffer from anxiety and literally can't sleep some nights.

Man I have had just one experience with that. I suffered from heat stroke and heart shock. The day that it happened it was 103 degrees outside and we were running through the desert. This was the worst race I ever had, 12 miles a full on sprint up and down hills in the desert. I saw people throw up pass out and fall into cactus, I made it all the way through till the end, but when I got there I fell to the ground. When I woke I was being transported to the hospital and they were jump starting my heart. I did not have any surgery done but I had heat stroke and my heart beat so fast that it stopped. That was the second worse experience of my life. I understand with you I hate when people come over and ask if you are ok when you are obviously not. This is not something that you can truly understand (I think) until you run. I hope that you start feeling better just drink a lot of water and just chill for a day. Then if you have any candy from the Holloween then I would say you should not eat it until you are feeling better.

I hope that you can get back soon, you are a strong guy you can get through this.

How far did you run? Sounds like hell if you ask me. I go through intense pain every time I run for a long distance, mostly because I'm extremely competetive and getting anything worse then 3rd in a race makes me wanna cry.

Glad you made it through alive though.

Whoa man. I'm glad you didn't either kill yourself or have a heart attack. I'd NEVER be able to do that, mainly because I suck at running even though I enjoy it. :/

the_casualty :

It was an 8k college race. So about 5 miles. On absolutely NOTHING. I will NEVER do that again unless I need to. It was pure pain.

Yipes!

legacyme3 : that totally sucks. If they asked me if I was ok, I would punch them in the face when I healed.

It was definitely the scariest moment of my life. Especially considering the fact that I AM a strong runner. It's not like I'm new at this or the day was all that hot or cold.

Whoa man i would have freaked out if that happened to me feel better

OUCH! That sounds really painful and I know how much you run and how fast you are. I bet you would still beat me in a race even if you suffered from heart attack. It's true though. But it's amazing how you still kept going, if that were me, I would just whine and complain to my mom and my coaches. You truly are admirable, my friend.