stories of my life,part four...

sometimes,it is very hard for me to really talk about myself,because simply some things that i have been through are even painful to reveal now... through my senior year of high school,and into my 20's,i was very,very depressed,almost to the point of being schizophrenic,and psychotic,and it honestly got to the point that,if i could have climbed to the top of the school gym,i would have jumped off it... you want to know why i started running??? simply,because i felt like i was depressed one day,so badly that i told my physical education teacher that i was going to run the track... i ran three miles,and then after school,ran from the high school,to the Big House... a couple of weeks later,they had a fundraiser,at the high school,and a foot race of a five mile loop around the streets of Orangevale... well,i did four loops that day,or twenty miles,and was one of only five people who did twenty miles,or more,that day... my first race was the 1978 Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco,where i finished within the first thousand runners,only minutes behind the winner... in fact,i actually led the race for about 100 yards... i later did the 1980 race,where i finished within the first five thousand,only because of a severe stitch (cramp) in my side,that basically stopped me cold for minutes,but it eased up,and i did the last three miles,in just over fifteen minutes... when training for a race,i did about ten miles a day,and sometimes i doubled that on some days... unfortunately,injuries curtailed my running,as time went by... three major injuries that i will talk about... 1)breaking my ankle/foot,on a night that i would have done about 25 miles(i ran about 15-18 miles and did a face plant,when a pair of NikesTM literally came apart,and i tripped,not once,but twice... the second time i literally broke my foot,and had to walk home about five miles baby stepping heel to toe... (funny thing is that i got tired of limping around that after four days,i started to run on the foot)... one tough person i was... the most serious injury that i had was tearing every muscle from my right ribcage,to my knee,including destroying my hip socket,when i ran in a practice run of 6.12 miles/10k,in just over 30 minutes(very fast,i may add),stopped at a friend's house,and stupidly,without stretching too much,started out at the same pace,and got about 1,000 yards,and everything just popped and tore... OMG,i was in so much pain,that it took me about three hours to walk home... i sat home in a chair the entire weekend... i could not lift my foot more than three inches off the floor without pain,and that is being kind... i rehabbed it by lifting a twenty five pound book bag at ARC,during classes,and lightly running,after a few weeks... the third injury is a combination of two events that softened my left kneecap(patella) to the point that if i fall on it,i need help getting up... getting hit by a Buick,at midnight,on August 9th-10th,1986,and one nasty face plant onto a concrete sidewalk,hitting my patella first,then my chin,as i was trying to save my forearm from being broken for a second time in three days,so i put it beside my body,and i took the brunt of the fall with my patella,and it broke into two pieces... (i fell in the shower,and smashed my forearm on the steel railing,of the sliding shower door)... odd thing is that i walked about five miles that Easter Sunday,after falling... i only blame myself,because i was a klutz,back then... my pain threshold is near the top of the scale,and i am very proud of that...