Walking with Bob

I fell on January 22, 2016 and busted a bunch of ribs and punctured a lung.

I went by ambulance to the number one trauma center in Texas. I was feeling no pain and informed my great doc that I need to hurry home because I was training to run the Fresh 5K on March 5. He said NO, NO, NO with a smile on his face and said he would see how I was doing after the cat scans of my head and chest, plus a bunch of X-rays. I got out of trauma intensive care after three days and hugs and handshakes from the fantabulous bunch of care givers.

I had a follow up with another of those trauma docs on Feb. 4. He gave me a 100% green light to get back to training. I left that final exam with the most important message for all who read my column about walking. The way I breathe deeply shortened my recovery time. I got better as fast as a 35-year-old athlete, not as an 83-year-old. My passion is not just to get you all to walk briskly, but to breathe deeply.

Since my fall, I have been cautious, nervous, sore and scared at times. I have walked every day. The ribs were less painful and I took no pain pills. The left knee was still very sore, and my two minute brisk walk never got here until two days before my next 5K.  

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