I'm not even sure where to begin.  Maybe I'll start with this...my sister recently told me to be careful (or maybe stop wearing) my Cubs cut-off shirt that I have.  To her credit, she has a fair point.  The last two times I have worn my favorite Cubs cut-off shirt (favorite at the time anyway...I always have to replace them as you will see...), I have had some pretty life-changing stories.  Shoot, the very first day I had the first shirt was the first day that I had my week-long saga with my nasal cavity.  Turns out I had lodged tons and tons of grass and dirt up in there.  Not good.  Another time I had the shirt on, I hit a van while riding a motorcycle...40 stitches in my face, broken nose, two torn tendons...the whole bit.  Not too good.  They cut the shirt off of me.  And yet another time I had my favorite Cubs shirt on, I nearly jack-hammered my own toe completely off.  Not good.

Well, I wore my favorite cut-off Cubs shirt today...

I went for a run yesterday at a beautiful park just two miles from my house.  A cross-country path wraps all the way around it, and I have quickly fallen in love with this place.  I just love to run surrounded by beautiful scenery.

So there I am tonight, fixin' to go run the path yet again.  I grab some water, hop in the car, and head on over.  I run the first loop in 16 minutes.  Frankly, I'm not sure if that is good or bad.  I don't know how long it is, but I'm guessin' two or two and a half miles.  I hope anyway.  Anything shorter, and I'm shamed as a runner!  Well, I felt pretty good, and I on my cool-down I was passed by some guys and girls off of a cross-country team.  I don't know what it is about me, but I just love a good challenge.  And I love passing people.  And at their pace, I knew I could have a shot.

So I drank some water, started my watch again, and I was off.  The team had already wrapped around a bend and was out of sight.  Sweet.  I would have to work for this one!  Well, I didn't end up catching them until nearly halfway around...and even then, I was spent!  I mean, I was tired.  I actually did a short walk to muster the strength to pass them.  I mean, seriously, you DO NOT pass someone only to walk afterwards and be passed by them.  Terrible cross-country form.  (Well, ok, so is walking, but hey, c'mon, I'm out of training!).

So I start to run again, and I make my move...just nabbin' one...then another...then another...tryin' not to pick up my pace as I go (it's quite easy and tempting to speed up as you pass...but that can wear you out quickly!).  Finally, I've passed the whole team...such a great feeling.  I nearly make it around two full times, but I used the last stretch as my final cool-down.  I was exhausted.  It was probably 90 degrees by now...goin' on 8:00 P.M. after another 100-degree day.  Needless to say, I was shirtless and sweating.  And tired.  But it had been a great day of running.  I haven't ran two days in a row in who knows how long!  But the scenery, the people, the excitement...and the feeling of it!  I remember oh so well why I love this!

I walked up to my car and grabbed my water again.  I noticed a group from church sitting on the picnic table just in front of me.  I had recognized him on my first lap cool-down, and we chatted for just a bit.  More or less, we said hi.  I had just been to church for the first time that Sunday, and now I'm seein' him out at the park!  I guess a group of them walk.  Well, the group has finished up their lap, and they are all sitting down there.  I debated about whether to go down there, but I figured I might as well!  It was either that or go home, and I wanted him to know that I felt comfortable talkin' to him!  I think he didn't want to be too "aggressive" as a church guy when I had talked to him back on Sunday.

So I went down to say hello.  We talked for several minutes, and he introduced me to the ladies of the group (all older, so don't be gettin' excited now!).  haha...someone made a comment, and I made a joke, and...

VRRRRRROOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!

What in the world?

I look up.  A car is being floored through the woods.  Oh no.  Someone is committing suicide.  A huge tree.  This is going to be ugly.  The car speeds up.  Not letting off the gas.  Right in the middle of these huge trees!  Misses the first one.  Oh wow....how close was that?!  One more dead ahead.  I really didn't know what to think...nothin' to do but watch...someone is goin' to die just 200 feet in front of me.  Misses the next one!  How in the world?  Now what?!  My depth perception was obviously difficult and untrustworthy at my angle and with all of the various trees...but my mind was quick to determine a motive and a result within the 2.4 seconds that this all took place in.

The sticks, mud, and stones were all a'flyin' the entire time...and makin' noise off of hittin' the car the entire way down.  It was quite a sight.  And then it happened.  Once the car was past the last tree, it had nothing but wide-open lake ahead of it.  SPLASH!!!

I didn't think twice.  I don't even know if I thought once to be honest.  I just ran.  As fast as I could.  It's funny how our minds work, because I distinctly remember throwing my glass of water behind me with my left hand...as clear as day.  And I remember taking my shirt off of me as I ran down to the lake...just 100 feet away.  I knew that this was goin' to be a rescue, and I knew I was goin' to have to swim.  I needed to get the baggage off of me.

And then I hit the water full-force.  I couldn't tell you what form I hit it in, but I just remember swimming.  And swimming.  And swimming.  In my mind, I was thinking of the people back on shore wondering why I was swimming so slow.  I really don't know how slow I was, but I just felt like it was taking an eternity.  I was even waiting for someone to pass me.  That never happened.

I got to the car...and grabbed the bumper.  I pulled myself around to the driver's side.  No one in the back seat.  A lady in the front seat.  "Oh my God!  Oh my God!  Help me!  I can't swim!  Help me!!!"

"I'm here, I'm here!  Ok, we have to get you out!"  I knew time was NOT on my side.  The driver's door window was thankfully down...and she was thankfully unbuckled.  But she was not able to get out.  The door would not open...I don't know if it was locked or if it was the water, but it was staying put.  She's comin' through the window then.  That's my only option.

But she couldn't get out.  The water is close to the window.  The car is still floating (and I can remember thinking that it has been floating awhile), but I knew that wouldn't last long.  I have no idea about time, but I am sure we are still at less than a minute.

She's havin' a hard time gettin' out!  "Help me!  Help me!"

"Ok, ok, we have to get you out!  I need your legs.  She sure wasn't bein' cooperative.  I pushed her over towards the passenger seat...and grabbed one of her legs.  The other wasn't comin'.  She was being anything but cooperative.  Not because she didn't want to, obviously.  She was just so scared and full of panic.

I was able to get both legs.  I'm tryin' to pull her out.

Crap, there it goes!  I can see and feel the car going forward now.  We do not have much time.  At all.  Yet the entire time I am thinking that it is going to hit bottom...it is going to hit bottom.

I'm finally able to pull her out.  We are both out of the car.  But she is clinging to me.  Very hard.  And I am losing everything I had clung onto.  I was holding myself on the car window sill, but it has tipped full forward now.  The car is now straight up and down and sinking fast.  And I can hear the water rushing in.

And I knew exactly what was going to happen, and for a second, I was scared.  She was hanging so tightly onto me, making it incredibly difficult for me to swim.  And I have now lost my hold on the car.  I have to tread water.  And I have to hold her, and she is definitely taking me down with her.  All I can think about is lifeguards and how victims can drown you with them.  I know it in my mind, and I am trying to fight just that.

And then it happened.  I lost her.  I completely and totally lost her to the suction.  The water just poured in that window, and she went.  And I went, too.  I was sucked towards it.  But I was still above water...at the back window driver's side now.  The car is sticking straight up.  But she is gone.  I was totally and completely devastated.  And utterly helpless.

I try to step on the side of the car, on the back of the car.  And I was actually able to for just a second or two maybe as the car sank.  But it kept going.  And it didn't stop.  I now have nothing.  I am treading water.  But she is gone.  I see a man swimming out to help, but she is gone.

What have I done?!  Oh, no, oh no, oh no!  This can't be happening!  I want so bad to swim underwater, but I can't.  I am so tired.  My lungs are burning.  My legs are on fire.  I just don't have it in me.  I have to go get her.  I have to...she is drowning!  She is not going to make it!  Where is she?  Oh no, oh no...

To be honest, I really don't know how to put all of the above into words.  I just felt so helpless.  I literally had lost her.  And I had lost my strength, too.  Adrenaline kicks in, yes.  I didn't even think about most of what I did.  But to be frank, I was just downright exhausted.  My body was just on the verge of being done.  I knew that to go underwater may mean trouble for me...I don't even know if I could've held my breath...I was so tired.

I looked with utter helplessness into the eyes of the man swimming out.  We just treaded there, neither one of us really having the strength to go under.  Just helpless.  I think he went under once, but came right back up.  Of course, I couldn't have it.  I was mustering the strength...a woman is drowning right beneath me!  I was just about to try (and I'm thinking where she went under, etc...all of this is running through my mind).  But then I saw her!  She had been under probably 5...6...7...8 seconds?  I really don't know.  But she surfaced!  I grabbed her.  He grabbed her, and we both started treading together.  She was spitting some water out of her mouth, but she was still there.  How she surfaced I will never know, but I was not going to lose her this time.

Somewhere in there, I remember kicking my shoes off.  I had swam all the way out with them on...not really thinking about it, of course.  But now they are lead weights on my body.  I can remember thinking I am going to have to get rid of these to hold that woman up.  I didn't notice them until that car sank, and I had to start treading water.  They were so hard to move underwater.  I just remember kicking them off underwater way out there.

But I was dying.  Not literally dying, but I was just completely and totally exhausted.  My body was spent.  And I am struggling.  My quads are literal infernos...pain in every kick.  I am zapped of oxygen.  And I have a woman still clinging desperately to me.  And him.  And we are both struggling to get back to shore...probably 40 feet out.

"We need more swimmers!  More swimmers!"  I beg and plead with the people on shore...15 people.  But as I look, I notice mostly middle-aged women...probably not the strongest of swimmers.  Nothin' against them, but I can remember just thinking oh no.  oh no.  No more help.  A younger girl jumps in and starts comin' out.

I don't have it in me.  Yet we must!  "C'mon, let's go.  Keep her up!  Just kick, kick, kick!  C'mon, we got her!"  I'm firin' myself up as much as them.  Are we moving?!  Kick, kick, kick.  Stay above.  Keep her above.  She is above water.  The other man is a God-send.  A third man helps us.  He has met us out in the water.  And we just start treading together...so slow, though.  "C'mon, guys!  Just kick.  Kick!!!  C'mon!"  C'mon, myself.

Once closer to shore, I finally break away so that I can stand.  I am almost done.  My body is finished.  But I feel for that mud, and once I have it, I stand, and I reach out my hand to the guy.  He grabs me, holds on to her, and I pull them in.  We all stand in mud.  Then walk up towards the shore.  The woman doesn't even get out.  She just sits in the muddy water, crying and saying all sorts of things.  "We have to call my husband, my son.  Oh, God help me.  God help me.  Oh thank you..."

I walk around on shore...totally exhausted.  Breathing probably the hardest I have ever breathed.  Totally spent.  I am just exhausted.  I have nothing left.  I notice a police car has just pulled up...but it has turned the wrong way.  People are yelling...

"Someone go drive a car out to the front to meet them!"  I yell at the crowd.  And then one-by-one, the rescue cars start coming.  Police cars, fire trucks, whatever...ambulance...tow-truck, I'm not sure who all came in.

I just walk back and sit in the mud with the woman.  She is still very much shaken up.  People are trying to piece things together, but I just tell her she's safe.  She's back on solid ground.  Let's walk up to shore.  We hold hands and walk out of the water together.

Over the next hour or so, I am interviewed by several policemen.  I have to fill out a paper statement as a witness, and I am interviewed by the local newspaper.  Several women come over and hug me and give me various names...all very appreciative.  The police chief (I think) comes on over and tells me thanks.  He said he had to go to another call, but he wanted to personally say thanks.  That was neat.

And during the interview with the newspaper, the man said that I was being called a hero...an angel.  It's not surprising, I guess.  That's what happens in stories like these.  I thought this is exactly what ends up in Reader's Digest.  But he asked me what I thought about those comments...

And I'm not sure exactly what I said...but I remember some of the words being this...

"Life is about putting other people first.  I am glad to have helped out, and I just hope that others would do the same for me."

It's nothin' special, it's nothin' fancy.  But that's it.  I didn't know this woman, but I saw a need.  I didn't question anything, I just ran.  I didn't need to know anything.  A person's life was at stake.

And I guess to me, that is worth fighting for.

**********************************

What a night.  We'll see how sleep goes tonight.  I actually stayed around and waited for my shoes.  It's kind of sad, really.  I always felt bad askin' about 'em to the police officers, but you could see 'em floating out in the water.  And just moving here, I don't really have any other pairs besides dress shoes.

So I stuck around for over an hour.  I was kind of boxed in by several police cars, too.  The Diving Team came out for the police, and they spent 20 minutes looking for the car.  After finally finding it, they pulled it out...upside down...that's how the car ended up after sinking, I guess.  There was all sorts of mud just sittin' there on the ceiling (see pic) when they pulled it out...and of course, water draining from everywhere.

But I did get my shoes back.  And I had the opportunity to meet the park owner, and we talked about running...and he even offered me a pair of shoes that he had...brand new ones in his car...seeing as how I was shirt-less...and shoe-less.  But they were two sizes too small.  Oh well.

What a night.

(Oh, and as for my favorite Cubs cut-off shirt?  The woman left wearing it.  After pulling her out of the water, she was wearing a white shirt...kind of exposed.  Someone asked for a shirt.  Imagine my surprise when I help to put it on her...and notice that it is in fact MY shirt!  Someone must've found it on the ground and called it a good choice!).

What a night.