A little bit of inspiration
2007 was a tough year, after losing my mother to a horrific bout with cancer; I hurt my back and wound up in rehab for several months. Medications I was given resulted in abdominal surgery and permanent digestive complications.
I soon thereafter had the pleasure of a double inguinal, emergency hernia surgery in which the surgeon gave me a bonus and accidentally cut a nerve in my pelvis adding a few extra weeks to recovery.
My luck continued because just a few days after being cleared by the docs to return to normal activity I was in California on business when I was struck by a car while standing on the on the side of a road.
After the hit-and-run left me for dead, I ended up in the ICU with a fractured skull, blood and bruising of my brain, fractured vertebrae in my neck and herniated discs in my neck and back with an nice dose of road-rash + mash across half of my face.
Couldn’t walk, talk or remember my name and still don’t have a single memory of the next two months. My life then became an endless routine of daily visits to doctors, neurologists, orthopedists, physical / occupational /speech therapists to try to get me to a functional level.
I did a pretty good job faking it to the outside world, but that had a lot to do with the cocktail of drugs (13 at the high point) that I was on to get me through the day. My family needed something positive and got it by starting 2008 with the birth of my 3rd daughter, Chaela, born happy and healthy!
We thought things were going well until in early February ’08 when I had a TIA, a transient ischemic attack or ‘mini-stroke’ and wound up back in the hospital again. I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor known also as a venous angioma that causes blood to abnormally drain from the brain.
Needless to say, I was not a typical 35 year old stroke-ward patient and after a few more weeks of intense medical supervision, I was told that I would spend the rest of my life on some heavy-duty meds to prevent strokes, aneurisms, epileptic attacks; they threw the whole kitchen sink of bad at me. A few weeks later my father passed away after an incredibly brave and prolonged battle with cancer and at that point, the Cleary family had pretty much been dealt what could have been a death blow. Never one to throw in the towel, it was time to make a decision…and that’s the end of the bad stuff, I promise.
It was an easy decision because I knew I that I had to get out of the black hole of medications and get back into shape or I’d be dead. Throughout my entire life there was a common denominator of when things were going well and that was being in shape. I saw a direct correlation between physical and mental well being that would spill over into everything else in my life. I am a big proponent of setting written goals, so on Sunday 5/4/08 I set three goals of which one was completing a SPRINT Triathlon [NJ State] on July 27th. And so began my life as a triathlete…well sort of, I didn’t own a bike, had barely walked never mind ran in a year and a half and hadn’t swam in nearly 10.
That week I told all of my doctors that I had intentions of getting back in shape and doing my first tri and that I was stopping all medications. Those conversations consistently gave me my favorite four words - ‘you can’t do that’!! Also heard lots of experts tell me things like, if you run you’ll be paralyzed, if you swim you will have an aneurysm, if you push it your brain will hemorrhage.
Well, knew I couldn’t get any worse than I already was so I weighed risk vs. reward and went back to the gym the next day. I walked for 2 minutes, ran for a minute and repeated…that was all I could handle and it took two days to recover from that. I was very fortunate to have found a friend in Alex Obe, the owner of a local health club (PTS in Skillman) who went beyond the call of duty and worked with me on his own time to create a core rehab & strength program to get me back on my feet, to build the strength to so that I could hold my baby girl or walk my 5yr old Gabriella to the school bus.
It was a tough couple of months but I reached a baseline level of fitness and I finished my first sprint less than three months later. I had a picture of me crossing the finish line showing my favorite finger sent to all of those ‘experts’ that told me that I couldn’t do that!!! The real reward there was that I was off medications and because I had my health back, I was getting back to being the kind of father, husband and friend that I wanted to be. That felt better than the strongest narcotic I had been on ever.
One thing about goals is that you’ve got to continually amend and update them to keep them effective. So I let the competitive kick in and set out to not just complete the same NJ State in 2009, but compete!! I kept building up my training in the gym, joined a pool and started the addictive process of modifying my bike while reading and learning as much about triathlon as possible.
I am fortunate that my career affords me the opportunity to travel the world and I soon found myself discussing triathlons with people in pubs in London, on safari in South Africa or coffee shops in Amsterdam and soon after determined that was a constant in each and every one of these discussions – everyone had had a very good reason why they did or were doing a triathlon!
I found the Jersey Shore Tri Club in March of 2009 and it was a no-brainer to join. I attended my first club meeting at the expo in April. I met Joe D. and Dave from BPC, Chris Wilcox and Kathy Penna along with the whole crew from the club.
Little did I know then how much these people would become part of my life. The first words Joe D said to me were ‘what is your distance’… and I had no clue to what this guy was asking me? I said, about an hour and a half, because that’s how long it took me to get from my house to Belmar!!! He smiled and immediately put me at ease and explained the question, asked about my tri goals and what BPC brings to the table.
Chris W talked to me about the club and Kathy sat me down and listened to me ramble about my accident and why I was doing triathlon. Needless to say, they all made an impression on me and I knew the JSTC was going to be a key to my triathlon success.
After doing the all the JSTC clinics, time-trial, tri-a-tri and LavaMan early summer, I was ready for more. I signed up with Dave Slavinski and BPC and pulled the trigger on a P4 from Brielle Cyclery. Everyone went out of their way to help I would be ready for my new ‘A’ race for 2009, the Augusta 70.3. Dave committed to having me ready for Augusta and he wasn’t kidding, although sometimes I wished he was kidding with the workouts he designed.
Again, the great thing about this sport is that everyone wants to see you do well and is willing to lend a hand to make it happen. From Derek DeGutis traveling 2 hours to ride the hills with me, Patrick & Clarence at Brielle Cyclery tuning up my girlfriend (aka P4), Brian Norling slowing down on the Bay Head runs for me and to my 3 year old Giada who became my teams chief mechanic…everyone has been supportive and that has meant the world to me.
The big lesson I’ve learned from this adventure is that when life hits you with some bad, no matter how much it hurts or how seemingly endless the consequences if you can survive the initial hit and then understand the end-game your options become very clear. When you understand options, you choose your own path. My case was simple, while I couldn’t control what happened to me; I understood that without change, I’d be in a box. I made that change.
And here I am now writing a race report from my first IM70.3!!!
Oats & whey at 4:30 am, 1 Gu and h20 45 minutes prior to swim start 7:54am
Swim was fast 25:08, felt strong and enjoyed my first 3way fight in the water, came in under plan of 30min.
2:56 on a 2:50 plan for the bike: nutrition (500 cal p. hr), thermolyte & 90oz h2o, didn’t smoke myself on the uphill’s and attacked the downhill’s, maintain aero as much as possible which is still tough with my neck. Met some cool guys on the ride and had some fun cruising across two states.
The run (plan 1:50 actual 2:29!!) I felt good out of the gate, but my HR went through the roof and by mile 4 I realized I was in trouble. My legs got very heavy and I started having real issues breathing. Probably didn’t help that I’d been on antibiotics for an upper respiratory infection for a week. I collapsed just shy of mile 5 but knew that if I didn’t get up right away I wouldn’t be able to at all. Lots of people, in the crowds and in on the run pushed me to keep going and that really helped. Mile 7 I got hit in the chest again and couldn’t breathe and wound up kissing blacktop…again. A volunteer called for an ambulance but I told them unless I was unconscious, they had no chance of getting me to stop, and I didn’t. I must be honest and say that I really wanted to stop, I thought I might really hurt myself if I kept going but quitting with 6 miles to go would hurt more than anything the road could do to me…so without being too dramatic, I pushed with everything I had and when I came around to the finish chute I was completely spent.
I smiled, crossed the finish line and dropped 10 feet later!!! 4 huge guys carried me to the medical tent where I spent the next 90 minutes. I had oxygen and albuterol for my lungs and about 100lbs of ice on me to help get me comfortable. The volunteers were unbelievable, very attentive and really knew what they were doing. Once they got me functional, I realized that I didn’t get my finishers medal and got a massive burst of adrenaline and hobbled over to the team for my prize!!
The real prize was finishing, and everyone I met along the way. A lot of work went into getting prepared for this challenge and I was ready for so dragging my butt across that finish line was incredible to say the least and it’s something I will remember forever. While I will enjoy a little downtime, you’ll see me at the my next 70.3 – Eagleman! After that…140.6!!!
Thanks again for all the support.
Sincerely,
Chris Cleary