Setbacks

My first real race. 12.5k Super Bull Trail Run at Wooster’s Memorial Park.

I was working hard in preparation but had done little trail running. Several weeks before the race, we met other participants in the parking lot at Memorial Park to do a trial run. It was 2 degrees above zero. The first few miles were very difficult as I made the mistake of joining a group that was too fast for me. I finally checked my ego, slowed down, and caught my breath. After that, I settled into a good pace and found my rhythm.

The morning of the race, I was excited and nervous. How would I do? Would it be as hard as I feared? I knew I had put in the hard work to get me here, but would it be enough?

My friends were all running different length races, so I lined up at the start by myself. And we were off and running. Within about a hundred yards, I was running by myself at the back of the pack. It was a beautiful morning; the snow had melted 10 days earlier. We were running through fields and woods, up hills and down. I cried most of that first mile. I had fought so hard to be here. The Lord was whispering kind words into my heart. Maybe the best mile I have ever run.

I topped another hill, looked at the 1-mile marker, and thought, “Enough tears, let's get this done.”

And then everything changed. A few hundred feet later, I was carefully running downhill, and I came to a shady part of the trail that had patches of ice that the sun couldn't reach. In the process of attempting to avoid the ice, I switched sides of the trail and stepped right on the ice with my right foot. My foot slipped violently, and I plopped down on my bottom. Foot throbbing. I had heard a pop on the way down but didn't know how bad the damage was.

I'll skip the gory details. I broke my fibula, chipped my tibia, and tore two ligaments. They got me out of the woods, and we headed to the ER. As we talked through the x-rays and possible surgery coming up, I told the doctor that I was still planning on running a half marathon in October. He added it was possible. When I met my surgeon two days later, I told him the same thing. He agreed it was possible. Two months later when I met my physical therapist, I told her the same thing. She said it was possible.

I was cleared to run again on June 16. Starting over was even harder than the first time. Mentally it was nearly impossible to adjust my expectations. Running three times a week, physical therapy twice a week, and running a business made things exciting. I had to remind myself over and over again that the outcome was worth the journey. Again, my focus went back again and again to the Sandler Rule – committed to the process, unemotional about the outcome. Just do the behaviors and the results will come.

As I lay on my recliner the first night after the accident, I wondered what would happen to my business during this time. I thought about the momentum I was experiencing from all of the hard work in 2020 after the shutdown. What would happen if I couldn't take meetings, let alone leave the house for the next several weeks? I opened up my calendar and counted how many meetings I had the following week. Seventeen. I would have to move all seventeen meetings. That was just one week. What about the following week? And the one after that.

Sometime early Monday morning, awake again because of the pain and the pain pills, I made a decision. If I could believe that I could run a half marathon in October, I could believe that I could hit my goals for 2021. I would do it the same way I always have, prospecting regularly and trusting Jesus with the outcome and that he will lead me to the right people. Committed to the process and unemotional about the outcome.

It ended up being five weeks before I was able to leave the house, and then it was only via a golf cart. I wasn’t cleared to drive for another five weeks. I sat on my recliner, worked the phone, took meetings via zoom, and sent emails. I hit my prospecting goals each month. The incredible team at The Ruby Group took over my training sessions and covered me again and again.

As I write this article, seven months later, I have passed last year's numbers and have the opportunity to surpass my best year ever. Sarah and I are 10-days away from running our first half marathon. I'm still in physical therapy two times a week and have realized that tearing ligaments is much worse than breaking bones.

Sometime in the last few weeks, the runs were getting longer, my foot was hurting more than usual, and the therapist said that I had gone backward, I forgot that I was a runner. Everything was hard.

Then I had the opportunity to share my story with fellow Sandler trainers from the Great Lakes region. Sharing my story was life-giving and helped me to put things back in perspective. It reminded me why I’m doing this. Why I am willing to put in the work and sacrifice. In business, I love helping people and working with them to achieve their goals and in running I want to be healthy and feel good.

I am a runner!

How do you deal with setbacks? Are you going to hit your goals this year? What are you dreaming of doing? What do you do when you want to quit?

A huge thank you to my beautiful running partner, nurse, encourager, and wife, Sarah. To my friends who have run with me, Wes Miller, Conrad Troyer, and Ken Schlabach. Thank you to my incredible surgeon Dr. Tim Miller from Wooster Orthopedic. A big shout out to Kendrick Mullet and my brother Vince Mullet for all of their instruction and support. Thank you to the Berlin Elite Running Club for all their encouragement along the way.

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#running #iamarunner #goals #halfmarathon