“In 2008, I came to Eau Claire for college. I was a big partier in high school and that carried over into college. I ended up dropping out after my sophomore year, but I stayed in the area for work. When I was 21, I woke up after a long night of partying, in a house I was unfamiliar with. When I got home, I realized I was late for a baseball game I had in Tomahawk, where I was supposed to be pitching. I was driving there, and I ended up rolling my car on the highway. I was in a hurry, I was hungover, I wasn’t thinking straight, and I just wasn’t in a good state of mind. I looked down at my GPS for 3 seconds, and when I looked up there was a car right in front of me, so I swerved in the median and rolled it. I ended up with 4 fractured ribs, a punctured lung, and knocked 4 of my teeth out, which lead to stitches on my face. I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. One of the nurses who was helping me walk to my door and back, jokingly told me that soon I would be running marathons. I brushed it off as a joke, because I had never run 2 miles in my life. After I got out of the hospital, I stayed at my parents for a few weeks. It was hard to even sit up and get out of a chair. I was really hunched over. It was hard to walk. After my recovery, I moved back to Eau Claire. My friend Logan was telling me about this half marathon he was going to do, which interested me. I felt like I needed to do something to change my life. I started to do as much running as I could to get ready for it. I ended up running the half marathon, 3 and a half months after my accident. I fell in love with the sport, and I haven’t stopped running since. Now, I’ve done 4 half marathons, a full marathon, and 6 triathlons. Next year, I want to either qualify for the Boston Marathon or USA Triathlon Age Group Nationals. Having a big goal like that just keeps me on track in all aspects of my life. Now that I have been focusing on my physical health, everything has been going so much better. In December, I’ll be graduating. Running has changed my life. it scares me to think about what my life would have been like, if I hadn’t started running. I’m very thankful that my friend brought that up at the time that he did. When the accident happened, I noticed how much my family was hurting because of my actions, and now I just want to stay away from anything that might hurt somebody. I know that staying focused and having goals, will help me stay away from negative things.”