Dec. 18, 2019 – Washington Co., WI – Today, Tuesday, Dec. 18, I completed 24 years, 352 days of not missing a day of running. That’s 9,117 days in a row and run No. 13 of the 25 Runs of Gratitude.
Since today is lucky day number 13, I thought I would talk about how lucky I have been the last twenty five years. The first major obstacle for the streak occurred in 2004. I was setting up mats with other members of the Wildcat Wrestling Club preparing for the Annual Wildcat Youth Wrestling Tournament that would be held the next day. I suddenly had excruciating pain in my back. I thought the pain would go away, but it kept getting worse. I went to the bathroom and started throwing up and sweating profusely.
Club members said I needed to go to the hospital and loaded me in the back seat of our Ford Excursion. Every bump on the way to the hospital caused me to shout in pain. I got to the emergency room at St. Joes and the nurse quickly said it appears like you have a kidney stone. They put me in a room and immediately put me on morphine and started some tests.
Sometime later, the Doctor came into the room and said, “Well Mr. Rettler you don’t have a kidney stone, you have two.” The morphine had kicked in and I was feeling great. I asked the Doctor, “Can I run today?” The Doctor responded, “Why would you want to run?” My wife answered the Doctor and said, “Because he has this streak.” The Doctor then told me and my wife that this “streak” seemed very important to me and he suggested to me that if I want to run that day, I better do it as soon as I get home while the morphine was still doing its job. I ran as soon as I got home and it was probably the most pain-free run I have experienced in 25 years. I eventually passed both stones and never missed a day of running.
The next obstacle to the streak occurred in 2014 shortly after I turned 50. I have no idea how I tweaked my knee, but it suddenly had severe pain. It didn’t happen when I was running. For about two weeks, I had everything I could do to make it my minimum run of 1.2 miles. I heated it before and iced it when I was done. My neighbor asked me to stop running because she said it made her knee hurt just watching me. I walked with a noticeable limp for at least three weeks. I didn’t go to the doctor because I knew what he would tell me. I ran on the soft grassy Laufer trail because it hurt less than running on blacktop. I have to say, however, it felt a little better after each run. A few weeks later after the pain was gone, the same knee filled with water. It didn’t hurt anymore, but it would slosh around when I ran. I eventually had to have it drained. I don’t know how much fluid the Doctor pulled out but it was much more than he was expecting. He told me he would only drain it twice, then I would have to have something done and probably end the streak. He never had to drain it again and the streak continued.
Today we definitely had the largest number of runners. We ran for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). The United Way program is titled Family and Teen Mental Health Support. The program provides a continuum of support and education programs for young people ages 13-24. Participants receive free mental health support and education through presentations given at all Washington County Schools and in ongoing peer support groups in and out of school.
These activities increase awareness and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health issues that often lead to early detection, early treatment, and development of coping skills. I ran most of the run with Laura who works for NAMI and just so happens to have three boys and a girl just like me. Laura talked about the work they do with teens and how prevalent mental health issues are in our society at all ages.
Joining us on the run today along with Laura, was Gabriela from NAMI. Shane, Melissa and Sara Oppermann joined us for the run and also co-sponsored the run with Dunn Brothers Coffee where the run started and ended. Matthew and Reagan joined us from Dunn Brothers and it was great to see Chris from Alexssa again. Thanks much to Shane’s family and Al from Dunn Brothers for sponsoring the run.
Wednesday, Dec. 19 we run at 12 p.m. from the doorstep of Affiliated Clinical Services. See you then!
“Reducing the stigma of mental illness” seems to indicate that you are taking the side of those who say there is one—and want to keep some.
No thank you.