From there to triathlon

Recovery and rehab was draining physically and emotionally.  It took two weeks to find a doctor locally who accepted my insurance, then he just wanted to do surgery.  The hospital discharged me saying I did not need to wear a neck brace, but my neck fracture was my worst.  From November 2006 until February 5, 2007, I was getting checkups and hoping things would heal.  My last checkup in February was with a new doctor who was great.  He reviewed my case and got me in PT right away.

The next three months I was building up my core strength and regaining my flexibility.  I was rock climbing again and making progress.  Everything was going great, until July 3, 2007.  I bent over to pick up a computer and pulled something in my back, but the pull was a pinched nerve.  I could not move much until November, stuck sitting in a lazy boy with back pain.  It was over a year since my accident and I lost all strength and flexibility gains, setting me back to square one.

December 23, 2007 I got an early Christmas gift.  My doctor had discharged me, saying my neck was good to go.  I just needed a follow up in six months.  At this time, my dad had started talking about trying a sprint triathlon.  His brother (my Uncle Greg), had been doing them for years, missing Kona by minutes in the 90's.  We agreed on a sprint locally and training started.  With my trusty 12 speed Schwinn from the 1980's, I was ready.  Biking was new to me, but I had grown up a swimmer and had done a 33:50 5 mile race in college.  But I was starting from scratch, I had lost anything after the accident.