During my Air Force career I was in three helicopter crashes. You can see why I hate helicopters, lol. The last one I was in resulted in 2 surgeries on my left knee and to this day and forever I have a screw in that knee. I had a third surgery on that knee from tearing my medial meniscus while on a winter run. I had a 4th knee surgery - the
RIGHT knee this time - in August of 2005 for another torn meniscus.
I am a cancer survivor. When I started running in Turkey I started losing some weight, which I needed to do anyway. I thought "Wow, this running is great, it really works!" But then I kept losing weight! Turned out I had cancer. Through my treatments, I kept running as much as possible. Sure I got sick at times, felt nauseous and downright bad once in a while and sometimes even had to stop along my route and get sick. Yet I kept getting out there. Running helped me stay focused and I had - and still have - this *superstitious* belief that as long as I was able to run I would be okay, I would win. The other thing I had going was that I had recently met Gail who gave me great inspiration to keep on trying.
So here I am now, still running 11 years after my last treatment. I honestly believe two things saved my life: my love for Gail and hers for me; and my running. Due to my running, I had learned to listen to my body and knew something was wrong, so my cancer was detected very early. So I can say that running literally saved my life.
Whatever trials you go through, NEVER GIVE UP. It doesn't matter how many times you get knocked down, it only matters that you keep getting up! Maintain a positive attitude when you do experience a negative and find a way to turn it into a positive; list all the ways how it is going to make you a stronger person. And definitely keep your sense of humor. If you can find a way to laugh at yourself about it all, I can't tell you how much stronger and better you will feel. Stay focused and determined. Human beings can do amzaing things when we put our minds to it.
Happy running!
