‘Own the Pain’

I have chosen to ‘Own the Pain’ rather than letting the pain own me!

This mental attitude began when I was boy.  Probably because I have always dealt with physical pain.  I tell that story in detail in “The Accident: God is with me.”  This attitude is also reflected in my post “My Good Addictions” …

Part of this exercise story involved running short course triathlons.  I was a distance swimmer at Emory.  After leaving the United States Air Force I became a daily bicyclist because it was good for my bad knee.  Running was not good for my damaged left leg.  So after a short period all three, Swimming, Running and Biking, it became clear that running was not a wise thing for me to be doing.  So my time as a triathlete was short lived. However, I still to this day bike daily!  I swim when it is convenient…

Here is a story about Triathlons… 

I participated in short course triathlons in the early 80s.  Dr. James Gills of the ‘St. Lukes Cataract & Laser Institute’ won the true ‘Ironman’ so often that he purchased the name.  He had the same femur lengthening surgery that I had in 1997.  He had fractured his femur either training or participating in a race. His femur was improperly set resulting in that leg being shorter than the other.  Dr. J. Dean Cole performed Dr. Gills’ surgery one month before my leg lengthening surgery.   When Dr. Cole inserted the healing nail (more like a rod) in my femur, I asked him, “What could I do and how strong was the titanium rod?”  He replied that I could jump off the roof and I might break my right leg but not the left one with the healing nail.  He said that Dr. Gills who was just one month ahead of me in recovery from his similar surgery was already training again.  A few years later Jan had Dr. Gills perform her cataract surgery right before he retired…Dr. Gills is/was a devout CHRISTIAN! He, Jan and I shared that with each other!

Here is the link to Drs. Gills website:  https://www.stlukeseye.com 

Also see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironman_Triathlon

“In 1990, with the help of Lew Friedland, Dr. James P. Gills acquired and purchased the Hawaii Triathlon Corporation, owner of the Ironman brand, for $3 million from Silk. With the Ironman brand, Gills established the World Triathlon Corporation with the intention of furthering the sport of triathlon and increasing prize money for triathletes…”From Wikipedia