Iowa Specialty Hospital

Notes from Steve

February 7, 2022

I beaned it totally on my bike on Saturday on the trails in Des Moines.  The thought that was going through my head as I was falling is “I’m going to break my hip … and then probably die”.  I didn’t break anything (except my fragile ego) and I didn’t die.  I should have anticipated this because when I came to this section of the trail - an older guy was watching an older woman walk her bike around the ice.  The old gal and I made eye contact, and down I went.  With that look, the seed of doubt was planted in my brain and that’s all she wrote.  I have a massive side bruise to mark my near tragic fall. 

Sometimes all you need is the seed of doubt to germinate and ruin a good thing.  The whole concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy is totally right on.  If I think I’ll fail, I probably will.  AND the reverse is true as well (except for the lottery - that never works).  Years ago I used to be runner - not a great runner, but a runner.  I’d run the same route every day.  I loved running.  One of my friends told me - your body is used to doing the same thing and you won’t improve so you should do a marathon*.  And I thought “he’s right and I should” so I did and it ruined running for me. 

“Ruined? Steve, really?”  I’ll tell you a secret - my body isn’t made for running.  (I think my body responds best, exercise-wise, to a good brisk sit.)  So when I ran 26.2 miles in 1999, I put a lot of strain on my joints and I hurt a lot after.  So I lost interest, and my seed of doubt germinated and grew. For about 15-20 years I didn’t run, but recently - I got back on the treadmill and am pseudo running again.  I’m not feeling it like I used to, but hopefully that will come back.

Look at the negative seeds you have growing inside and replace them with seeds of potential.  I’m not going to stop riding because I took a major beaner on some ice … I’ll just walk my bike around it next time.  Or maybe I’ll like running again and run around it.  

*Quint talks about hitting the wall in the marathon.  Usually a runner will hit a wall around mile 18 of the marathon and say - “I can’t run anymore, I physically can’t” - he said this is the time you need to tell yourself to just do it and blast through the wall and finish the race.  I hit my first wall at about mile 3.  

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