The Badass
I turned my head last night and my neck sort of seized up.Sometimes I wake up with a sore neck from some odd sleeping position, but this was new. I felt like my neck was in a vise.
Sleeping was difficult, and it felt worse in the morning, so I called the YMCA. They have a massage therapist who comes in twice a week, and I was able to get in this morning to get worked on.
The therapist was in his 60s and looked absolutely fit.
Boy, I had no idea.
Over the course of him making me almost scream in pain (my neck is much better now, thanks), I found out all kinds of things. A short list:
--he's been running for 40+ years
--he's done 100+ triathlons
--he completed the Ironman in Hawaii in 1984
--he cross-country skies and used to be able to do 30 miles in 3 hours under ideal conditions.
He's worked as a tool and die maker for most of his adult life, but in the mid 1990s, most of the people at his location were let go (they kept 100 out of 1,500, and he stayed on). The company fully paid for him to go to masseuse school, and he picked up a second career.
Somehow, though, that plant never closed, and he's still there, working swing shift. He does massage therapy in his spare time.
I told him I might come in to see him for a follow-up next week, and he said he was going to be out for a while. He was leaving on Friday with five of his long-term running buddies.
To go climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
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