Doctor Curmudgeon ® Ouch!

By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D. FAAP Doctor Eisman, is in Family Practice in Aventura, Florida with her partner, Dr. Eugene Eisman, an internist/cardiologist

Being a curmudgeon allows me a certain degree of weirdness. I appreciate the strange, the weird, and the “will probably never happen.”

I remember a very special date, a bizarre event that many of us who are aware of running competitions may recall.

Let us return to November 4rth, 1978.

That was the date of the Grand Rapids Michigan run.

Many participants entered this grueling competition in Michigan in order to qualify for the annual Boston Marathon. Merely to compete in the venerable Boston event is a proud accomplishment.

The Boston Marathon began in 1897…a newcomer in the history of competitive running. The inspiration for this race was the very first marathon competition held in the Summer Olympics of 1896
Boston is the world’s oldest annual marathon.

A runner cannot suddenly get the urge to run Boston. He or she must qualify and that means being at least eighteen years old at the time of the race. There are certain minimal finish times that a competitor must achieve ranked by age and other qualifiers; and it can’t just be running 26.5 miles down some highway; it has to be registered in one of the certified marathons.

I, personally, am not among the individuals who could qualify. Although, Galahad (the brilliant Siberian Husky who is the Major Domo for the Curmudgeon family) has considered this. His natural abilities do not require much training time. He loves running and stays in superlative physical condition.

In that Grand Rapids official qualifying marathon of November 4rth, 1978, a young runner by the name of Dennis Rainear joined other hopefuls.

He was in the middle of the race when he felt something hit his head. “I literally got knocked off my feet,” said Rainear. “It pitched me forward. Almost hit the ground.”

He thought that a spectator had thrown something.

In the great tradition of marathon running, he persevered. Rainear had said that he didn’t have much pain, just some throbbing and his ears were ringing.

The race ended and he realized that he just couldn’t run as fast as he had in training. Having difficulty focusing, feeling “wobbly, and being aware of a lump on his head, he went to the medical tent.

Dennis found it almost impossible to believe what the race doctor was telling him: that there was some kind of metallic object in his skull and he had to go immediately to the emergency room.

It was a bullet.

Investigations turned up nothing more than that the bullet came from a damaged gun and, as the race went through an area where hunters roamed, it was likely to be a stray bullet.

In order to qualify for Boston, Dennis had to complete the Grand Rapids marathon in three hours or less.

Rainear, bullet in head, summoned the energy to complete the race in three hours and nine minutes: not good enough to qualify for the prestigious Boston Marathon.

Like really good stories, this one does have a happy ending. Officials of the Boston competition offered Dennis a place in the 1979 marathon because they felt that, if he hadn’t been shot in the head, he could have easily finished the run in three hours. (Even with Galahad’s help, I couldn’t find a list of participants in that race)

Dennis became an attorney in Virginia and a comment is attributed to him that he believed that he was a better marathoner and trained harder because of getting shot in his head.

All I can say is:

OUCH!

Dr. Curmudgeon suggests “Bitter Medicine”, Dr. Eugene Eisman’s story of his experiences–from the humorous to the intense—as a young army doctor serving in the Vietnam War.

Bitter Medicine by Eugene H. Eisman, M.D. –on Amazon

Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.

SERMO www.sermo.com “talk real world medicine”

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