December 12, 2012

The Bee's Knees

It's been over a year and a half since I met Leon Lutz at a running conference in Utah. I was impressed by his dedication to his beard, he was impressed by my dedication to my running. We hit it off and shared a few drinks over the course of the weekend.

Leon asked if I'd mind doing an interview regarding my injury and recovery process following my initial broken foot, and I happily obliged. Neither of us could have ever guessed it would take the better part of 18 months to finally piece this together, but then again neither of us could have dreamt that I was in fact nowhere near the end of my recovery process when we first met. Au contraire, I wasn't even at the midway point since the second broken foot had yet to actually occur.

I have to admit that I get a touch emotional as I read Leon's take on my story. I believe he's done a great job in really summarizing what the last few years have truly been like for me. It's not been easy. It's not been without its constant self doubt and frustration. I think the reason Leon nailed this one, outside of his writing skillset, is in essence because he kind of lived it along with me. Leon became personally invested in my running successes and failures after we'd befriended each other and agreed to conduct an interview on the premise that I was already fully recovered from a jones fracture (I still can't even type that word without a tinge of anxiety hitting me).

As we leaned toward making that initial interview a reality everything went sideways again. I never would have believed that a full recovery could take nearly as long as it did, and Leon didn't even broach the subject again until he knew that I felt it was finally behind me. Eighteen months along and I find it was actually worth the wait, because although one's story is ever evolving, we hope and believe that this lengthy chapter has finally been put to rest.

Leon's blog is titled "This Bee's Knees" and here's the link to his interview. I hope you enjoy it.

GR

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Good to see that you are fully healed! You looked strong at the finish last weekend, that was impressive man!

Leslie said...

Aaaah, Gary. I love a story with a happy ending. You've come full circle! Good things happening. :)

Chris Thomas said...

Ultrabeard.

Anonymous said...

Leon did a great write up and I am glad you are healthy again.

-HONE

Anonymous said...

Great article Gary Your patience and courage is so inspiring! Congratulations you ve earned all your success!

Jill S

garobbins said...

Thanks Benoit and great seeing you back to running healthy and strong yourself!

GR

garobbins said...

Thanks Leslie! Maybe it's time for an overdue trip to Banff again now!

GR

garobbins said...

Chris, yeah that beard is truly, truly impressive! That's commitment!

GR

garobbins said...

Evan!!

Great hearing from ya man! I've been offline in the blogging world for a bit now, hopefully you've gotten back to health yourself bud. It'd be great to see you at a few races again next year!

GR

garobbins said...

Jill! How have we not run into each other in a grocery store in the last four or five months?

Merry Christmas!
GR

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