About Me

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Missoula, Montana, United States
On August 13th 2010

Friday, July 15, 2011

New Challenges

Everyday seems to bring new challenges to the table.  Some are easy to deal with, while others really try to break me down.  My newest challenge is finding out that I have lost the ability to control the temperature of my body.  This causes a big problem when I am outside on my bike. 

Earlier this week the weather was reaching temps as high as 90 degrees.  In the past I would just drink a lot of water, sweat profusely, and push through the pain with no issues.  Now if I push to far I will have a stroke.  So I was forced to quit riding and call for help.  Quitting is usually not an option for me, so you could imagine how this could break me down mentally. 

So what do I do?  I could let it break me and stop training until the weather cools down.  Or I could beat the weather and start waking up early enough so that when I start riding the sun has just started to rise.  I chose early mornings. I refuse to let my new condition hold me back.     

The last three rides that I have gone on have been the best rides yet.  The cool air made me feel strong and gave me the endurance to achieve my longest ride yet.  On Wednesday I rode 50.85 miles, I was very proud of myself for making this happen.  Although it wasn’t waking up early or even biking 50 miles that made me so happy. The reason I was so happy was I didn’t let another big issue of mine hold me back.

A spinal cord injury brings a lot of new issues to ones life.  Any one of these issues could make a person want to give up, but that would mean giving up on your life.  I should have died that day when I crashed on the mountain, but I didn’t.  So when I run into these issues that can be so frustrating, I often stop and think, I’ll take this new life over no life at all.  Life is way too awesome to let your problems hold you back, no matter how big or small.     


  

1 comment:

  1. Joe -

    I could not be more proud of you. So many people would have let the situation ruin their life...you are doing just the opposite and making more of your life from it. You are truly an inspiration to all!

    Love Dad

    ReplyDelete

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