Pain
I was in a shit mood this morning. I was in pain. I’m not entirely sure of its root causes — perhaps a hard mountain bike crash in 2010 in which I was knocked out, concussed, and left with whiplash; perhaps it’s the two arthritic cervical vertebrae that show up on a CT scan; perhaps…who the hell knows, it’s a mystery — but from time to time I get this fuck-off nasty neck pain. It doesn’t seem to require any particular movement — I don’t have to “tweak” it — but seems to stem instead from simply flexing my neck under some kind of load. Last year it was in the middle of a 4 day sea kayaking trip, following having to hammer into shore to avoid getting tossed on a reef; today it’s from doing strict press in the gym. Whatever the cause, the effect is to make me shitty.
I know that shittiness came across as we opened the morning. On my run over I was doing a lot of self-talk, working to get myself in a better mindset, better ready to rally the tribe. I made some headway, but I know I was flat relative to other mornings. As the group followed Baller off towards warm-up, the feeling that I hadn’t shown up for the tribe further darkened my mood.
Then out of the dark I saw a woman that had been left behind as the group ran towards their workout. She was strapping an on an illumination vest while her pair of forearm crutches rested across her body. I did a double-take. She smiled.
She — Debbie — explained that back in November last year, when we were still the Victoria Sweat Project — she’d been jacked to join us and the visiting Bs for our November Project coming out party pop-up. Then, on November 16th, two weeks before that pop-up party, while riding her bike, a pedestrian stepped in front of her. She went down hard. She broke three lumbar vertebrae. In the hospital, doctors told Debbie it was highly unlikely she’d walk out of the place. But Debbie, as I’ve come to learn, is a baller. And she’s been kicking ass and surpassing expectations since well before her November accident. This was just another, rather more highly acute, challenge for her to face. With characteristic grit, she faced it head-on. She got her rehab on in the hospital and started making gains. She watched the photos from pop-up and followed the stories of our Victorious growth from her bed. She said the stories inspired her to work hard, to get out with us as soon as possible, to prove wrong what others were saying was her definition of possible. She sat up. She moved. She walked with a walker. She graduated to crutches. She kept going.
And today she arrived. Out of the dark, strapped on that lit-up vest, and then crutched over to our workout zone. The loops we were sprinting — she crutched through. Sit-ups? Not on. But squats? Fuckyeah. She paired up with fellow newbie, Rivers, and together they got after it. No complaints. Just grit. Victory.
Towards the end of the workout, I told Debbie we typically run up to the flagpole at the top of Beacon Hill to wrap things off with a last hit of lactic acid, greet the sunrise and take our group photo. So I sent her off early, at her diminished pace, and told her we’d meet her there. But I hadn’t checked with Baller first, and that wasn’t his plan. Shit. Injured woman on her way solo, at a hobble, to a summit with no one to join her. Miscalculation. But wait. If anyone displayed positivity on this day, it was Ms. Love-D. So with the group gathered with backs toward the first bright sky of the winter, we told Debbie’s story and our figuring that the #positivityaward should be hers. Cheers and agreement. Only wrinkle: Now we gotta go sprint up the hill, beyond our 7:30 witching hour, to give it to her. Who’s in? Without hesitation, the bulk of the tribe headed out and up, finding our D., sure enough, standing alone looking out at the sea. The tribe rolled up with a cheer, dropped on one knee, and let our new recruit natural leader know that we didn’t feel worthy.
Later, our resident Olympic Gold Medalist would tell me he teared up in that moment. Katie waited a few ticks, but then shared with me, leaking at the eyes, that “that’s why I love working with folks like Debbie [Katie’s work in mobility and rehab] — they’re so damn inspiring.” And Debbie kept the inspiration going as we made our way down the hill, telling us about how movement has changed her and, through that change, driven her incredible recovery. How she aches to progress that recovery further, ditch the crutches, and hit it with us full-on. How she knows for sure she’s now found her new family.
Fuckyeah you have, Debbie. More important, we’re so glad and grateful you and your fierceness have found us.
Read more about Debbie’s inspiring story on her blog, Love-D, here: http://love-d.ca/.
Oh yeah, right, my pain. Funny thing, that morning, spending time with Debbie, I forgot about it.
