This blog post is geared more towards friends, family, former co-workers, colleagues, acquaintances, and running buddies that I don’t get to talk to much…but everyone is invited to read along.

I have a friend who I know wouldn’t want me to use his name, so let’s just call him Mr. Green.  Mr.  Green was a groomsman in my wedding and one of my former roommates.  My friendship with Mr. Green is a familiar one:  hang out several times a week, then get married, then have kids and then only see each other a handful of times per year.  Yeah, this is where getting old sucks.

I was fortunate to spend a few hours with Mr. Green tonight for the first time since Christmas break.  Wow, way too long.  You know how the first 5 minutes goes, right?  Something like, “Hey man, what have you been up to?”.  And the reply, “oh the usual.  Nothing new.  Just busy.  Good to see you.”  So that started as you might expect.  Somewhere after that, he asks, “I bet you’ve been running a lot lately, huh?”.  I respond by referencing the car accident.  I see confusion.  I mention the car accident again, with a few more details.  I see more confusion and then hear statement, “You didn’t tell me about that”.

For clarity, we drilled down and acknowledged that I did tell him….but we also established that I told him a week or two after the wreck.  At that point we thought it was a 3 month injury.

Wow.  How could that happen?  Well, probably two reasons.  First off, I’m not on Facebook.  I made the decision to kick my account to the curb three years ago and have not regretted the decision once.  The second reason is that I probably didn’t share too much with him.  Weird.  But seriously, when you see each other so infrequently, you probably aren’t going to spew out all your problems.  Well, not me anyways.

Ok, so that got me thinking….I haven’t been on Facebook for 3 years.  Prior to that, I would know major life events experienced by my friends through their posts if I had not seen them.  It worked both ways.  It was common for me to have an old connection mention marathons if I ran into them in public, even though I may have not seen them for over a decade.  Social media is the only reason they know I am a marathoner.  Or that I have a kid.  Or that I am skinny now.  Or several other things.  But not the wreck.

The wreck is a weird thing to talk about.  I have pain every day.  I want to work out more than I am capable of.  My work/life balance also includes fitting in doctors’ appointments, conversations with my attorney, getting my rehab in for the day, etc.  It makes me a sound like a broken record.  So I tend not to talk about it as much because I don’t want to burden them with that.  But what about friends/family that I only see once every six months?  What about those even less frequent?  I probably give the high-level story 3-4 times a week.  It is kind of exhausting.  I’m not on Facebook posting.  I’m not sharing what happened and others are not hearing. 

So, for those of you who are in my inner circle, feel free to share this with those you know who are not in frequent contact.

For those who didn’t know, please read my first two posts (about David Goggins making me write this blog…).  Here are a few other details:  I got hit by a drunk driver who was at almost 4 times the legal limit when drinking me in a stopped car.  I’ve been to the doctor 147 times since January 3, 2018.  I have permanent injuries because of the accident.  I had to put most of my fitness life on hold.  I’ve had some of my darkest days since that accident.  It’s tough when you have a lifetime of pain and the person who inflicted in on you was only fined $750 because my local DA and judge were both a bit disorganized the day of sentencing.  I decided that I am not going to let this nightmare bring me down.  I am going to use what happened to motivate me to be the best version of me.  I want to be a version of me that is much stronger than the person I was before the wreck.  The increased strength will not only be physical, but emotionally and spiritually as well.  I am on a mission to defy odds.

I frequently wonder how many of you are someone in my circle but do not know all of the details.  Was I short with you on a day I was in pain?  Was I stand-offish one day because I was stressed and didn’t feel like talking?  Did I quit talking to you as much because of a lack of time?  I wonder all those things.  Daily.  Maybe I should have shared more then.  And if you are one of those people, please forgive me. 

And after that, lets meet up for coffee, happy hour or a workout.

Humble Beast.

PS: Happy Global Running Day 2019 your awesome runners!!!