Meeting The Man That Inspired Me To Excellence

Today I got to meet a man that, in a way, you can say I owe my life to.

In 2006 I blew out my knee. The doctors said they could get me walking again but that was it, an active lifestyle was over at the age of 39. I finally found a surgeon who said he could clean it up but the rest was up to me. From 2006-2011 the pain would frequently keep me up at night so I stayed up and watched tv. I found the Ironman World Championships one night and couldn’t get enough. I became a big Crowie fan.

One night watching him win another championship inspired me. I promised myself that if my knees ever improved I’d train until I either blew them out completely or finished an Ironman. In 2014 I crossed the finish line at Ironman Canada.

In 2015 my doctors told me I had a severe birth defect in my heart. Some of them told me I should already be dead. Over the next 6 years I had 7 heart surgeries (2 open heart), 2 strokes, pulmonary embolisms, cardiac arrest and a whole lot of other life threatening issues. My odds of survival were about 1 in 27,000. My doctors said if I wasn’t in the shape I was in there is no way I could have survived. I’d argue the mental fortitude I developed training for and completing that Ironman played an even bigger role.

Thank you, Craig (CROWIE) Alexander. Thank you for inspiring me to get to the start line. Thank you for being a role model for triathletes and others (young and old). Thank you for taking time out of your busy day today to talk to me. You are a good man.