Effort 17 – Specialty Athletic Training

For 30 days, I will share the joys, pains, and dirty little secrets of my life with multiple sclerosis. My goal is to find a reason to convince you to support/share my fight against MS. Please donate today: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/eleanor.

This is Effort Number 17…

When I started this blog series, I committed to not talking about next steps and the future. This is about who I am as well as the events of the past which brought me here. This is about the man who is standing before you today to ask for your support and donations in my fight.

Yesterday, I took the first step towards a future that I hope will one day describe me as the man I became. I had my initial consult with a special-needs personal trainer. In doing so, I recognized terms I have never been comfortable with. I am a disabled athlete.

Even as I write the words, they sound implausible.

I don’t consider myself an athlete. I have never been an athlete. My physical prowess is definitely not what got me into West Point (I’d like to think it was my charming personality and dashing blue eyes…). Organized sports were never my thing. Just a few years ago, I was a 255-pound definitely-not-an-athlete guy with a poor diet and exercise lifestyle.

MS did not create my shape. I was a middle-aged man who preferred beer and burgers over working out and eating right; MS was more the excuse of why I could not do things. In absolute terms, MS was part of the reason why I began to change. My mind was soothed by workouts; my comfort was extended with delicious, healthy meals. I grew to like the routine and, noticing results, and I wanted more. MS helped me a little more when my worsening condition put me out on disability — my job, my responsibility, was now to focus on my health and conditioning.

Accepting the challenge, dismissing other distractions, I pushed myself as hard as I could. I’m very happy with the results yet I want more. The problem still is that I am not an athlete — I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing — I need help. There lies the other challenge: finding a program that works for me and my unique situation.

Sometimes the challenge is admitting I have a unique situation.

I still have a lot of trouble referring to myself as disabled. I don’t know if it’s necessarily a bad term, but my mind finds it hard to acknowledge being in a group of “special needs” people. I was young. I went to West Point. I flew attack helicopters in the Army. I traveled all over the US, Europe, and Asia, managing international supply chains. That’s not what someone with a disability could do. I hate myself because I still feel that prejudice against “those people” who need help. I don’t know why my mind won’t accept that, but I struggle to come to grips with the fact that you will not look down at me or think any less of me because I am a disabled man. Because I am.

I am an athlete. I am disabled. I’ve come pretty far, but need to acknowledge I have no idea how to be any one of those, let alone how to train as a disabled athlete.

Enter Specialty Athletic Training. With five locations local (I plan to go to the SW Portland Center on the campus of Lewis and Clark College) their mantra is “Personal Training for Individuals with Special Needs.” I’m going to start here. I’m presenting them with a 180-pound kind of-sort of-athlete with incredible strengths, significant weaknesses, and unique special needs.

I’ve talked with my trainer about the future. He thinks it’s very realistic, but knows it will require a significant amount of hard work and dedication. To be continued…

I hope my stories and excitement for the future will inspire you to donate to my fight.

Because it is a fight.

The fight is not over and it won’t be over until a cure is found.

It will never stop…nor will we

It will never quit…nor will we

This is why we ride!

Please donate today: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/eleanor

100% of the royalties earned from my books go to the National MS Society, to support our fight: http://neverstopneverquit.com/books

Never Stop… Never Quit…®

Kevin Byrne

Portland, OR

www.neverstopneverquit.com

www.neverstopneverquit.blogspot.com

Never Stop… Never Quit… Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.