David Goggins motivated me to start this (part 2)
Me and Rocky movies? Call me fanboy. Let’s just say “Gonna Fly Now” played on the church PA system as I walked WWE-style to the stage on our wedding day. Immediately after being introduced as Mr. and Mrs, my wife and I exited the church to the upbeat half of “Going the Distance”. For those of you who are not familiar, those two songs are in almost every one of the “six” Rocky movies. (Just think about the training scenes while running up the stairs in Philly from the movies). I’ve had a 4-decade love-affair with the movie franchise.
December 9: This is where yesterday’s post continues. I’m in the basement where my workout equipment is set up and I’m in a lot of pain. This wasn’t January pain, but it was evident that I had not improved much over the past few months. I got motivated to start working on every rehab movement that has been shown to me by my physical therapist. I would also get on the treadmill for a brisk walk followed by a very slow, 13-min mile jog. I’m listening to Joe Rogan interview David Goggins while this is all going on. I had heard Goggins in the past, but I know I wasn’t in horrible pain, teary-eyed in my basement the other time. While listening this time, I was sucked in… It’s a great story and then he mentions a scene in the original “Rocky” that prompted him to change his whole life around and become a Navy Seal.
During the podcast, Goggins references the scene called “Round 14”. Let me set the stage: the music to the song “Going the Distance” plays throughout this part of the main event fight. Apollo gives Rocky the worst beating you can imagine. No one had ever gone the distance with Creed and we have a scene where the fight may reach the final round. Rocky takes a big hit and goes down to the mat while the referee begins the 10-count. Apollo thinks Rocky is out and begins to celebrate. Rocky’s manager tells Rocky to stay down. Members of the crowd tell Rocky to stay down. Apollo tells him to stay down. Rocky gets up. Rocky hasn’t won the fight. He is hurt. He has one eye completely shut and can barely stand. He has no cardio in the tank. Apollo signs and hangs his head as Rocky returns to his feet. Creed hasn’t lost yet, but his demeanor says defeat. Creed looks tired, spent and all out of ideas. Creed knows he gave everything he had to Rocky. Rocky can’t and won’t give up. Goggins says that Rocky “stole his soul” in that moment when Apollo hangs his head.
It was in that moment that the switch flipped for me. I thought to myself “ok man, you’ve done almost everything you can do to this point, you are in the 14th round. Are you gonna get up and fight harder than you ever have in your life? Or are you going to lay down and let this stupid injury take your soul”?
I thought through all my options and came up with my plan to get up and finish round 14 and if at worst case, finish 15 rounds.
Round 14 would consist of me increasing my PT and chiropractor appointments, have 3-4 cryotherapy sessions per week, fit in a minimum of 15 minutes per day of home rehab-work and mix in DDP Yoga. I would also keep ice on my back and use my inversion table as often as possible. I figured I needed to load up and go all in. I gave round 14 a deadline of February 28. When that didn’t work, we moved on to round 15.
Round 15 would consist if me laying off my rehab work and all other activities after getting an epidural shot with steroids and cortisone. I did not want to do this when it was first presented to me the previous year. We’ll get to that later. But I had to do something new that didn’t involve surgery. This left me with two options: stem cell therapy or the shots. I decided to go with the shots (future blog topic). They helped relieve pain but pain still exists. I was told two weeks ago that my injuries are permanent, or the term they used, “maximum medical improvement”. I finished up with my plan knowing if it didn’t work that I would need to plan for my next fight. And I didn’t lose. The injury won’t take my soul; I’ll take the injury’s soul.
I also decided that when the 15th round ended, win or lose, that I would start this blog. The blog is the kickoff to my second fight. The second fight is my new life with injuries. This second fight will be harder and much more work than the first. I’ll get into all of the specifics of that fight later…
You see, I decided that I would either go the distance and win or go the distance before starting the next fight. I was hoping for the former. I can’t control how the first one ended. The first one ended two weeks ago so it is time to move forward. I will fight harder than most people would imagine in a second fight. Heck, most people probably wouldn’t take on the second fight and probably didn’t work as hard as I did in the first. I’ll keep fighting and use this blog as my outlet for this journey. This journey has been a lonely one so I hope to be helpful to at least one person out there. I’ve learned that DUI victim laws in the state of Kansas are a complete joke as well so I hope to bring some awareness to that atrocity.
As time goes on, you’ll see that I’ve handled this the only way I know how, like a Beast!!
