I was injured in 1999. It took around 6-7 years before I would make an attempt at any sort of adaptive wheelchair sports… Don’t follow in my footsteps (or Primo Racer tire tracks). Don’t wait multiple years before trying an adaptive sport. You may be amazed at what you actually enjoy.
Read more ...I find myself searching for different conditioning exercises as the “MS 150 Miami” approaches on April 21-22. The “MS 150″ is a 150 mile bike ride put on by the National MS Society to raise awareness and funding for a cure to Multiple Sklerosis. It’s a 150 mile bike ride split between 2 days. The 1st day is 75 miles from Miami to Key Largo, and the 2nd day is a 75 mile ride back to Miami from Key Largo.
Santa brought me a punching bag for Christmas this past December. Throughout the past couple months I’ve realized it’s a great therapeutic exercise tool for anyone confined to a manual wheelchair. There are multiple reasons I’d suggest a punching bag to anyone disabled in a wheelchair.
Read more ...Last year I decided to ride in the 2011 “MS 150″. It’s a 150 mile ride over 2 days. 75 miles from Miami to Keyt Largo, and 75 miles back the next day. Although I expected to complete the entire 150 miles, I was unable to do so. I was only physically able to complete day 1, which was 75 miles. I’d pushed my body beyond a comfortable limit, and reluctantly decided to end my journey. Feeling defeated, the drive home was long and quiet. Here’s a link to last year’s 2011 MS 150 Miami ride on a hand-cycle.
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Each year ING hosts a marathon in Downtown Miami called the ING MIAMI. It’s a 26.2 mile marathon specifically for runners. Although, the nice people who organize the ING Miami marathon allow disabled athletes to hand-cycle 5 minutes prior to the official start.
I live in West Palm Beach, which is 1-2 hours away from Miami depending on traffic. For this reason, my wife and I stayed at a hotel down in Miami the night before the race. The marathon started promptly at 6:00am the next morning, and I needed to be there at 5:00am to get ready. Just the thought of waking up at 4:15am in the morning made me want to vomit.
Read more ...A couple weeks ago a friend invited me to a quad-rugby practice with his West Palm Beach team. I apologize in advance for not explaining the rules in detail. I would, but I’m a noob who knows very little. All I know is, it’s a quadriplegic sport where teams of 4 slam into each other as hard and fast as possible across a basketball court. In between the slamming, a ball is passed between the team. The object is to roll past the goal line with the ball. The only thing is, the 4 guys on the other team are there to make sure you don’t go forward.
Given the fact that I’m a paraplegic, I could never officially compete with the team. But when my buddy told me they were short a few guys, I jumped, yes jumped, at the chance to practice with them.
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