In Good Company with David Beckham and Kalin Lucas

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I have been surfing the dreaded internet, typing "Achilles Rupture" into every search engine and sometimes it makes my stomach turn quick little puke-y flips and sometimes I find out that I am in good company. As it turns out this is considered an "older persons" injury...WHO'S CALLING ME OLD??? It also seems to go along with those weekend warrior types, you know the type, you might even be married to one. The guy that hasn't exercised since the the first Bush Administration, but is sure he can play a game of basketball without stretching ;) I am not too old and I have actually been fairly consistent in my workouts this year. And as my surfing has unearthed, it turns out, it's not just old outta shape guys that rupture their Achilles! Just in the past few months, two count 'em TWO elite athletes have also (also meaning "just-like-me") have had to have their muscles and tendons sewn back together.

First up David Beckham! Becks is one of the most well known people in the whole world. At age 34 (almost 35) he did the deed of completely tearing his achilles - and might I add it wasn't even a back flip! Now, for me it's a bummer, but for Becks, he was on the cusp of history!!! He was about to be the first player to appear in the World Cup for England FOUR times!!! That's a healthy career! I, on the other hand was just hoping to get to the grocery store before the milk ran out.

The reports on Beckham's recovery look like this on the world wide web: “The plan includes a complete recovery in six months, at the end of which he can play again,” the club said. http://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/news?slug=ap-beckhaminjured

I don't mean to sound glad about that, because I certainly don't wish any pain on another human being. What makes me happy or I guess content is that I have been given the same time frame. In reading Beckham's story as well as the next athlete's, I wondered how my mid-west recovery process would compare to the State-of-the-Art care and rehab of these elite athletes. (I feel a little like Rocky right now, you know the one where he fights Ivan Drago? Drago has all of the high tech computers and trains in a lab while Rocky is out in a cabin in the snowy mountains using rafters and logs...Hears hoping I have that kind of heart)! :-/

So Becks ripppped his achilles in March and there are pictures of him walking about in a walking boot. With three weeks in I can't tell you how much this lifts my spirits!!! So much so that as I "sit" (I'm really laying back with my foot up) here writing, researching, skimming through pictures, I dozed off and IT happened again, A promising little dream of myself walking and it didn't even hurt! I was cautious, even in the dream, but I was doing it! Thanks Becks for the images, it truly gives me hope :)

Closer to home, during College Basketball's March Madness, one of Michigan State's beloved Spartans did the same number heading into the Final Four! What heartbreak! Kalin Lucas, tore it up, literally! Lucas was given a 4-6 month recovery time table. I'm guessing they threw that 4 months in there because he was born in 1989! Whatever whipper-snapper! And it's no surprise that reports are out there saying he is recovering ahead of schedule. Being the competitor he is, I expect there is a certain title he has his eye on! And a goal can be the greatest gift in recovery! (Also, at this time it looks like State fans should partially thank Lucas for his recovery efforts as having an impact on keeping a certain Izzo in the house)!

I found some interesting little connections in my rummaging through the internet machine. They are silly, but here we go. David, Kalin and I were all born in May! David and I just one year apart, Kalin and I one day apart! (Ok, 15 years and one day). The Boys are both 6 feet even and I am 5 feet even! I was born in Detroit and raised in the tri-county area, Kalin is also a Metro-Detroiter. David Beckham now plays in Los Angeles and I have been to Los Angeles :) And most fun of all, these guys are exceptional athletes and champions of their respective sports AND in 1988 (a year before Kalin Lucas was born) I was the Class III Compulsory Michigan State Champion in gymnastics (wow that really makes me feel like Al Bundy reliving the glory days).

Well, I'm in good company with this wretched little set back and I just wanted the guys to know that they are in good company too... with some suburban housewife in the middle of right here :)

EXTRA:
As I was writing about Kalin and how his goal for a certain title was a great recovery tool, it dawned on me that I needed a goal. I was planning on running The Brooksie Way Half Marathon this October, the doctors say NO, NO, NO!!! They say I can run it next year, but I don't want to wait 'til next year! I know I'm no Kalin Lucas, so I won't push the time frame. I'm actually a year older than Becks and I read today that his recovery is NOT going a quick as he'd like. So with all this in consideration, maybe I can start training by Thanksgiving (good timing - I'd hate to be completely sedentary with all those carbs in my reach) and be ready for an event in say February? What do you think? What is there in February?
This is my new goal, to find a goal!
Suggestions welcome!
Maybe not more than a 10K. Is that too wimpy? Too much? We'll see :)

TRIUMPH AT THE TRACK!!!

It was a long day and it went well into the night, but I didn't notice until I looked back. Thursday was the 25th Oakland County Middle School Track and Field Championships held at Clarkston High School.

I proudly joined the Oakview team this season as an assistant coach. You may recall from previous posts that it was in fact at track practice when this Road to Recovery began (2 weeks ago). It has been a remarkable season and it didn't end anything less than remarkable.

These two weeks have been bumpy at best. I have been struggling with my limitations and NOTenjoying my lack of mobility!!! But there was track , THANK GOODNESS, there was track. I was clearly not as effective as a coach, but THANK GOODNESS (again) we had Coach Witherspoon. I couldn't get to practice on time due to having to wait for a ride :( But I had a ride in the form of my fifteen-year-old son who luckily has his permit :) Seeing MY kids (yes they are ALL MY kids)! was pure joy (O.K. some headaches when they were chatty or didn't "feel" like it, but mostly joy)!!!

Sure, sometimes I got a little jealous watching them run while I had to sit in my wheelchair, but mostly I just loved watching them work, push, endure, improve... Coaching at the long jump pit helped too. Getting to talk one on one with an athlete and discuss what they are feeling and asking them to run faster, jump higher, hold your feet up, get your eyes up...watching, tweaking, improving...ahhh!

I have coached for many years (17 oops, now 18 years). I sometimes forget that I love it when I'm in the thick of it, but stepping back ( or should I say rolling back) and watching my kids was/is glorious and although I was sitting in a chair, for that short part of the day, I didn't feel totally broken, totally helpless or totally useless.

On to the meet. County Championships. Oakland County Championships is the LARGEST middle school track meet in the NATION!!! You heard me! In the U.S.A! And my kids were there and my kids kicked BUTT!!! I should tell you that my kids are a part of an incredible track program that has a culture 13 years in the making all thanks to Coach Z. His drive and vision are the reasons I got to be a part of such an incredible season. He will hunt kids down in the hallways at school and tell them, not ask them, but tell them they should run track. He can be a goofball (remember the juggling and again the start of this blog), but he will also encourage and teach these young athletes and expect from them the things they don't realize they can do...run faster than they ever have before!

Geez, I keep getting all side tracked from telling you about one of the greatest competitions I have ever been a part of. Thursdays meet, was full of ups and downs, but mostly ups! My kids were individual and relay champions in several events. I watched one of my boys get his PR in the mile improving his PR by 30 SECONDS!!! And crushing the Oakland County record by 10 SECONDS!!! I can't YELL LOUD ENOUGH how AMAZING that is, but it is AMAZING!!!!

Over all Oakview had 6 individual and 2 Relay teams as Oakland County Champs!!! AMAAAAAAAAZZZZIIIIINGG!!!! The Boys team won as a team and so did the Girls. The girls posted points in 14 out of 16 events!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! They set school records and County records and personal records and it was GOOOOOOOOOOD!

So maybe this seems a little off topic for a achilles blog, but remmeber, this is the road to recovery and this season is the reason I'm writing, but it's also a reason for me to keep getting up and getting going! These kids, MY TRACK KIDS, made one day on this road to recovery feel easy and FABULOUS!!!!!

In case I don't say it enough, thank you to all the people who have driven me to the store, the doctor's or to catch the bus for the County meet! I am so grateful to know all of these self sacrificing people! And thank you to my family who I threw under the bus in my last post, thank you for loving me when I'm cranky and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember to change the toilet paper roll! :) Thank you to Charlie who drove me to practice and helped in the yard and to Jacob who mowed the lawn :)

AND WAY TO GO COACH Z AND OAKVIEW TRACK AND FIELD! THANKS FOR MAKING THIS JOURNEY HAPPEN ;) AND THANKS FOR MAKING THE JOURNEY FUN!!!