First Run

Almost 23 years ago, a nurse handed me my son and I was afraid I would break him.  I remember being very careful when I held him, like he was fragile glass.  I had no idea what he would be capable of.  I knew this was going to be a tough journey for him, but I wanted to make it as easy as possible.  I know God knew what He was doing when He gave me Trevor.  I just hoped He was right.  Trevor endured a 7+ hour surgery at Shriner's Hospital, having his legs removed from above the knee.  I was a huge runner back then and used running as my way of dealing with life.  It was not easy, but here we are, almost 23 yrs later.

Not one person could have told me back then what my son would be capable of.  I apparently " won the lottery", so to speak, since his condition did not even have a name back then.  I remember taking it day by day and NEVER told Trev that he could not do anything.  We wanted him to find his way himself and learn what he could and could not do on his own.  He has definitely surprised me by going after life and learning how to do things most of us take for granted.

Half man-Half machine

On Tues night, I got to run with him fro the first time.  I probably should have NOT done a 20 mile ride before, but I have to take my rides when I can get them.  It was a cool evening, which is better for both of us.  Trevor's legs are held on by suction, so when it's hot, he has a potential to throw one.  Not a good thing.  We set off from the house and intended to run 2 miles.

Trevor started the pace, damn he is faast.  I will need to pick up the pace.  He made it look so easy.  He was running without any effort at all it seemed. He wasn't even breathing hard.  After mile 1, I slowed down a bit and started to watch him from behind.  I noticed he wasn't lifting his left leg as much as his right.  I asked him if he was compensating his left side a little.  He said Yes  and how did I know that.  After my explanation we talked about videoing his runs so he could get a better idea of what I was referring to. It would help him a lot to see his form and could him improve on it.

Mile 2 was hard for me.  My legs were not used to running as fast as this, Trevor was about 15 seconds  ahead by this point.  As we were in the home stretch I watched him fall. HARD.  I was not close enough to see what had caused it, but as I reached the spot, I saw a lot of cracked pavement.  He was not hurt and just shook it off.  Standing back  while watching him fall brought back several bittersweet memories.  When I was teaching him to walk on his first set of prosthetic's he fell a lot.  I was told to stand back, with no emotion, and let him get back up by himself.  Still brings tears to my eyes.  I  know it was the best thing to do now, but that doesn't change how it felt then.

We finished our run in less than 18 minutes.  Both of us in one piece and no blood.  I look forward to doing may more of these runs with him, or behind him, as the case may be.  We are going to do this together in Oct.  As together as we can!

*** If you read this, you can see what we are working on next. It's going to be a busy end to summer ***