Athletes and self-compassion How many times in the past 48 hours have you beat yourself up over something? “I’m not motivated. I should be doing more.” “I haven’t done anything with this time in quarantine.” “I’m worthless.” “I’m letting people down.” (Read below for the full story of my own epic self-flagellation.) Athletes–injured or not–are […]

We’ll start this blog with serious stuff then talk about practical solutions for overcoming the stress of injury. When we can’t move, work out, or train how we wish, we come unglued…simple as that. Consider this blog your glue. Maybe your boss exasperates you. Or maybe you’ve hit a rough patch in a relationship. Maybe […]

Ultrarunning injuries I’m excited to share a podcast I recorded with ultrarunner and physician, Jason Friedman, on his podcast, The Pain Cave. In this episode we talk about overcoming the mental and emotional fallout of ultrarunning injuries. The Pain Cave is a free-flowing conversation with a wide variety of guests from the worlds of running […]

NOTE: If you haven’t read part 1, please check it out before you read part 2. Otherwise, you won’t have the necessary background for part 2, where I talk about how to suffer less. Dr. Art Markman and Dr. Bob Duke, co-hosts of one of my favorite podcasts, 2 Guys on Your Head, inspired Part […]

“If you want to make someone unhappy, tell them they’ve never suffered,” said Dr. Bob Duke at the beginning of his weekly podcast, 2 Guys on Your Head. He and Dr. Art Markman conjure up the Car Talk guys, Click and Clack, only they discourse about psychology and human behavior. From Bob’s opening line, I […]

Introduction I’m sharing a personal vignette in this blog because so many of you share similar struggles. I want you to feel unashamed and know you’re not alone. I want you to know there’s an infinitely effective tool to help. It’s called EMDR, and we’ll talk all about it. This blog is your guide to […]

Being injured means experiencing frustration, impatience, disconnection, and anger for most athletes. Consequently, overcoming injuries means learning to deal with each of these challenges. On a recent visit, Nicolas Pujol and I had a conversation about recipes for success for handling these challenges and moving forward. Nicolas Pujol is a thinker, philosopher, lover of movement, […]

About how I got involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation In 2000 my favorite Uncle (UC is what I call him; everyone else knows him as Kevin) nearly lost his foot to diabetes. Months of not knowing how the wound heal (or not) ended in relief when Dr. Irwin Lewin said, “Kevin, I saved your […]

Might you be an obsessive athlete? It’s the first Saturday in September, on a mercifully cool Texas summer morning. I’m sitting under a gnarled old pecan tree, plump with nuts, watching a remarkable event unfold before my eyes. A man I know through swimming is celebrating his 10,000th swim in a row with a 10,000 […]

This is the third in a 4-part series where I’ll share why, after injury, working with a Movement Therapist is a must. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. I’ll share what prompted me to see Jesse, what happens to your nervous system after an injury, and how Movement Therapy helps. I’ll […]

Introduction Heads up…I wanted to entitle this blog “The $hit Nobody Tells You About Surgery and Chronic Injury That you Really Need to Know.” Nobody talks about this stuff because, frankly, it’s grim. You certainly aren’t going to openly talk about it with friends or family. Likewise, you aren’t compelled to turn to Facebook and […]

Let’s talk about the oft-forgotten and ignored mental side of injury recovery. “How are you feeling after yesterday?” my friend Todd asked me as we walked down the steps toward the pool. “I feel good,” I replied. “Aren’t your shoulders sore?” he asked. “Not at all,” I replied. “Hmmm. I think my shoulders are sore […]

This is the second in a 4-part series where I’ll share why, after injury, working with a Movement Therapist is a must. You can read part 1 here. I’ll share what prompted me to see Jesse, what happens to your nervous system after an injury, and how Movement Therapy helps. I’ll also share how Jesse […]

Benjamin Franklin said, “…nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Clearly, Ben forgot “needing help.” Without exception, nobody escapes needing help in their life. Yet, also without exception, nobody wants to ask for help. We’d rather pluck our nose hairs than ask for help. What is that? Some kind of cruel […]

When she was in the boot, I asked her is she’d write a guest blog post for me on her injury lessons. When I read her words, I though, “I wish someone had told me this stuff when I was spectacularly flailing through my first injury recovery.” Dr. Lara Latimer and I met after a […]