I pushed approximately 24 miles total from Columbia, IL to just past Waterloo, IL. The sun pounded on me from above and the pavement baked me from below.
A police escort from the Columbia, IL police department escorted me to their jurisdiction line where the Waterloo Police took over and escorted me to the Waterloo city hall to meet the city leaders.
I met with Mayor Terry Kipping of Waterloo at city hall. Shawn Kennedy the city collector was also at the meeting. The Chief of Police, Joseph “Joe” Brauer was also present. The media present included Danny Kelley reporter from the Republic-Times the Herald and the Shopper from Waterloo, IL. Monroe County Independent Newspaper editor and reporter Ed Wienhoff was also there.
It was a hot and humid day of pushing. I was very hot and soaking with sweat when I showed up to city hall in Waterloo. It was in the 90’s and one of the most humid days this year. I’ll be facing incredible heat, pounding rain, dangerous traffic, and all sorts of unforeseen obstacles on this trip. Even small differences in the terrain, like a five mile uphill haul – makes an enormous difference in effort to a guy in a wheelchair. Whatever happens I’m ready to overcome any adversity I might face. I’ll experience blisters, sunburn, sore muscles and more and it’s all worth it if I can inspire more Americans to get healthy and fit. The fatigue and stress I feel from my effort is comparable in a way to the stresses and fatigue too many Americans get from living unhealthy lifestyles. My trip will take a toll on me physically. The unhealthy choices many Americans make take a huge toll on their lives and when combined it takes a toll on American fitness and health as a whole. It leads to higher healthcare costs, lower productivity at work and general unhappiness and stress at a personal level. I encourage and hope to inspire all Americans to find healthy alternatives to greasy, expensive, fast food and learn to enjoy the benefits in life exercise has to offer. The people I meet on this Revolutions tour give me hope. They are interested in what I am doing and while maybe unsure of how to get started are ready to live healthier lives. I’m going to do all I can to help them every step of the way and with every revolution of my wheels.
Never Give Up!
Kevin
Kevin Saunders appears as an educational speaker, motivational coach, church speaker, safety speaker, business speaker, wheelchair speaker, health and fitness speaker, school speaker, Paralympian, and noted author.
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In addition to being a Paralympic wheelchair athlete and author I work as a motivational coach and inspirational speaker. In that role I’ve been invited to speak to the University of Southern Florida Bulls today. Bulls head coach Jim Leavitt and I worked together at Kansas State where he was the co-defensive coordinator while I was the team’s motivational coach. At that time under Coach Bill Snyder’s leadership Kansas State Football experienced what was later referred to as the greatest turnaround in college sports history. Here in Florida Coach Leavitt has created his own amazing story taking this team from non-existence to Division 1-A status in just five short years. Coach Leavitt is truly a man that lives the philosophy of never give up and there’s always a way.
As I was pushing through the pain on the USA Health & Fitness Tour sometimes I ripped the skin right off my fingers right down to the bone. Some days I climbed hills that seem to go on for ever, other days the heat index off the black pavement exceeded 120 degrees farhenheit, other days it was pouring rain and I felt as if I might have to be a man of steel like the Terminator to survive and stay on schedule. That took me back to the time I met Lewis Tardy at the Bayou City Arts festival in Houston. Lewis sculpts in welded steel and found objects in a biomechanical style. He uses bicycle parts, wrenches, surgical tools and other metal objects. When I first saw his work it made me think of the “Terminator” movies and reminded me of my friend Arnold Schwarzenegger. I worked with Arnold for years on The President’s Council for Physical Fitness. I thought the biomechanical style Lewis Tardy used would be good to make a likeness of a wheelchair athlete. Lewis was impressed with my work as a world champion wheelchair athlete and Paralympian. He was inspired to create a one of a kind sculpture entitled “Wheelchair Racer.” I think it exhibits the speed and power I feel when I’m racing in my chair. I never give up and won’t let anything stop me from overcoming adversity. That’s another reason for the tour and my new book “Revolutions.” I want people to never give up on their path to fitness and realize there’s always a way. Those thoughts help me keep pushing on through the adversity, they inspired me and gave me inspirational faith and brought out the inspirational athlete inside me to keep pushing on through whatever adversity from flat tires to heat to ripped skin off your fingers down to the bone to make it to my next destination.
If it is to be it is up to me. Those words echoed in my head as I started my recovery from the terrible explosion that changed my life so drastically. I was in a wheelchair, my wife had left me and I was broke. Things were looking pretty dark but with the help of good friends and God’s grace I started to rebuild my life. I started working out with my Rugby buddies. They had me lifting weights and throwing a medicine ball around. At first I wasn’t sure it was something I wanted to do but before long it was something I needed. I learned to love the gym all over again.
I started with pushing my wheelchair from South Rockford, Mi to Monroe, MI 22.5 miles.I had an interview with WNIC Radio, where we discussed the tour and my fitness initiatives for the nation, then we immediately left for a newspaper interview. Not since my paralympic and wheelchair racing days had I done so much media. I was glad to get the media attention. I was able to use the skills I learned as a motivational speaker to clearly get my point across. America has an illness, obesity and poor living. We have too many channels on the television and not enough feet hitting the floor getting active. We are couch potatoes and computer zombies.