Chapter 27: Running to Heal

by: Paul C. David

"The summer of 2008 hadbeen shaping up nicely. I was a newly minted Marathon Maniac, and I had my next several races picked out already. But things didn’t go according to plan.

On July 1, I woke up early,kissed my wife good-bye, and got on my bike to ride to work. Six days later I woke up in the intensive care unit at Harborview Hospital in Seattle. I had been hit by a careless driver in a pickup truck. I had many broken bones and a collapsed lung and had lost the vision in one eye. Most seriously, I had suffered a traumatic brain injury, requiring surgery to save my life. I spent a month in the hospital and most of the month after that in bed.

Those early months were very hard. I required full-time care and couldn’t walk more than a few minutes at a time. Even the most basic activities wiped me out. There are no guarantees and no schedules for recovery from a traumatic brain injury.  Along the way, I received an incredible degree of love and support from family and friends. My running friends spent many hours with me, in the hospital and at home. There is something extraordinary about relationships forged on the trails, mile by mile. With family and friends like mine, I had no excuse not to focus on getting strong. The gift of hope is powerful.

Things began to improve as fall began. I focused on what I could do—initially, to simply get up and around. Soon I was walking everywhere I could, from home to doctors’ appointments to physical therapy, walking over 30 miles per week. Just after Thanksgiving, I walked the Seattle Half-Marathon, my first distance event since the accident. Then I knew that I would be able to cover the miles again.

I began running again in December. My first group run started on a bitter-cold and snowy morning. I worried about simply being able to keep up. But three weeks later, I ran the Nookachamps Half-Marathon, north of Seattle. It wasn’t fast, but I felt very good about my effort.

On April 4, just over nine months after the accident, I lined up to do the Yakima River Canyon Marathon.My training ramp had been a bit steep, and I needed to walk a bit.But I crossed the finish in just over four hours, and I knew that I was just starting. By the time New Year’s Day rolled around,I had completed 11 marathons and ultras. Along the way, I set a personal best and had run my first two ultra events.

More than anything else, I was able to show myself that I wouldn’t be limited or defined by what had happened to me on that July morning. I also learned that you can’t really separate your own determination from the love and support you receive from others—they’re both essential. Being a Marathon Maniac helped me to heal."