I’ve spent time reflecting this week, with gratitude and thankfulness for where I’ve been and where I’m at.  I sat in a doctor’s office 3 years ago and heard him utter “all I can do is recommend surgery” and you have reached “maximum medical improvement”.  He also reminded me of my age at the time and tried to gently inform me that my marathon running days were likely over.  A second doctor confirmed the same thing but discouraged surgery.  There was a decision to be made, gamble on surgery which may not fix the issue or accept that I was never going to feel any better.    

Hold my protein shake. 

I wasn’t going down like that, both options sucked.  It was time for plan B; a plan in my back pocket I would use if doctors gave up on me.  I believed in my ability to rehab this injury a different way.  But they were tapping out.

Maybe they didn’t think I would work for it.  The next 15 months required time and commitment and was never easy.  Maybe the doctors believed I had too many outstanding bills.  There was a pending civil suit between me and the other driver’s insurance company to pay medical expenses.  The most I would ever see after paying my attorney was $65k, due to weak Kansas laws.  (Especially considering the other driver’s blood alcohol was nearly 4x the legal limit).  I had already racked up nearly $50k in medical expenses at the time.  I had lines of credit with two doctors, and they would eventually need me to settle up. 

The remaining $15k wasn’t going to cover surgery let alone any medical expenses for the remainder of my lifetime.  The settlement wasn’t going far, and the pain was still there.  It wasn’t as bad as the early days but was still experienced every single minute of the day.  It was continual, without a shutoff button.  And it could go from bad to worse with one wrong step or lifting something more than 10 pounds.  The other driver was sentenced to 6 months of probation; I was sentenced to a lifetime of medical expenses.

I had mixed emotions that night.  Anger, sadness but mostly relief.  I didn’t have to wonder if and when my issues would be resolved by doctors.  I was at peace with closure in one chapter so I could move along to the next one.  After 145 doctors appointments, 3 epidural shots, 3 new mattresses and every therapy you can think of I realized there were two things that made me feel better.  Cryotherapy and DDP Yoga pushed me to feel better, which I recognized while pausing those activities.  One doctor discouraged DDP Yoga all together, so I’d periodically second guessed DDPY.  As doctors’ bills piled up, I quit doing cryotherapy on two occasions.  My improvement regressed each time I stopped DDPY and especially cryotherapy, confirming its effectiveness through elimination.  And most important, I trusted God to guide me through this journey of becoming pain free.  I prayed countless hours and he provided me with this plan.  Although a difficult journey, I felt closer to Him than I did prior to the injury.  It was time to go all in with DDPY and cryotherapy.

I didn’t sit around and think about my plan; I wrote it out.  But I started with big goals.  What do I want to do when I fully recover?  What are my goals for the next 5-10 years and beyond?  How do I make all this mean something?  I laid out all my short-term and long-term goals as well as long-range goals.  I wasn’t going to give up on my recovery plan and knew it would eventually work.

My largest ongoing goal is to use the injury experience to help others.  I didn’t know what that would involve, but it motivated me to start the Injured Beast blog and eventually return to social media after a 3 year disconnect.

That list had lots of other items, too many to list here but I’ll name just a few.  I wrote out my fitness plan for June 2019-December 2019, all the way down to miles ran, hours of DDP yoga and the precise number of sit-ups, squats and cryotherapy sessions I would complete.  (And of course, I’ve set new goals every year since).  Before the accident, I was 506 days into a consecutive-daily running streak.  One of my new goals was to run 1,000 consecutive days for an average of at least 3.5 miles.  As an extra, I set the goal to complete an average of 42 minutes of “non-running” exercises over the 1,000 days for a total of 700 hours.  I’ll significantly exceed those targets when I hit 1,000 days on July 27.

The goal sheet also included one I set a few years prior: become an entrepreneur before turning 50.  This became official in March 2022 with the opening of iCRYO Wichita West.  At that point, I had no idea that I would open a cryotherapy center.  I was reading books about real estate investing and exploring dozens of business concepts but never landed on anything that jazzed me up.  I also wrote down “become a DDP Yoga Instructor” and complete a 50-mile Ultra-marathon.  I’ve been able to cross those two off the list.  The list also includes qualifying for the Boston Marathon which I’ve since back-burnered.  50-miles was supposed to be a “one and done” accomplishment, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case after completing my first ultra.  I have my sight set on competing 100-miles.  I’ve become more passionate about ultra-running than I ever was about Boston, which is still a bucket-list goal.

My two biggest “long-range” goals are to one day give a Ted Talk as well as be a guest on the “Joe Rogan Experience”.  Now, I acknowledge that those are very lofty and difficult goals to obtain, statistically speaking.  But why not set that up as a goal?  It’s not something that is going to happen today, tomorrow or next year.  Or in 5 years.  But, in order to be a guest on either of those platforms, I would have to do something significant.  You must be one of the best at what you do to get an invite to one of those shows.   But if you don’t want to be one of the best at what you do, why are you doing it?  What is your motivation?  I don’t even know what that “thing” would be and why Joe Rogan would want to discuss it with me.  If that is the ultimate goal, then every small, medium and large goal that I challenge myself puts me one step closer to whatever that “thing” may be.  It’s not about being on the show, it’s about doing the work that would make me worthy of being on the show.

I no longer experienced daily pain 15-months after writing down these goals.  I’m thankful to have already exceeded so many of my fitness accomplishments while adding more difficult challenges.  But most importantly, I am thankful that through the journey I have become a better father and husband while growing closer to Christ.  iCRYO has been an amazing blessing as we’ve helped reduce pain for so many people who have walked through our doors.  Each week I’m thankful for comments like “I’m back in the gym for the first time since…” or “I’m no longer taking medication”.

Lots of work to be done.   

Go get it.