I ran alongside hundreds of others in Beachwood, Ohio this morning as part of the annual Race for the Place fundraising event.  All proceeds raised (including your donation!) directly support The Gathering Place and allows their organization to continue offering services free of charge to families touched by cancer in Northeast Ohio.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge each person who sponsored my run:

1. Bill Reid
   re:id design
2. Gay Wellington Geigel
   My mom!
3. Jason Kiss
   Friend, Sherwin Williams/CSU Comp. Sci. Grad Student
4. Jody Conner
   Office Manager, Great Lakes Financial Group
5. John Soper
   Professor of Economics, John Carroll University
6. Ken Bossin
   Northeast Ohio Attorney
7. Kent Davis
   Friend, DatASIA, Inc.
8. Loung Ung
   Cambodian Author & Lecturer
9. Mark Hauserman
   Director of the Muldoon Center for Entrepreneurship, John Carroll University
10. Martha West
    Ink Shop Marketing, Inc.
11. Ryan Shary
    Friend, Vibrant Mind Studios, Inc.

Jeff and I are asking for donations so we can meet our fundraising goal of $100.  Any amount would help — $5, $10, $20 — whatever you can afford.  You can make a donation online using a secure credit card form.

Thank you in advance for your donation.  You’re helping a good cause.

It was the middle of the summer and my friend Mike LaNasa and I were going to Geauga Lake with a group of other people.  Since it was hot out we all brought our swimsuits, and planned on hitting the water rides.

I can’t remember exactly why some of us split up, but we did.  A small group (including myself) decided to hit the water attractions to cool off.  I personally decided to go down a water slide I had never been on before.  But it wasn’t just a normal water slide, it was one of those racing slides where another idential one is right next to you.  You and your opponent sit on a board that is being held back by a peg underneath, and the lifeguard pulls a lever releasing the both of you at the same time.  Pretty simple right?

Well, I had never been on this type of slide before, and I didn’t know what to expect.  I didn’t know that the lifeguard was to pull the lever to release the peg; so I incorrectly started pushing my board over the peg to begin my journey down the slide.

That was a fucking mistake.

Before I knew it I felt the lifeguard grab me hard while she yelled, “NO!”  I had already begun my momentum down the slide, however, and her jerking motion so forceful and strong, that she literally held me back.  My board went down the slide without me, and to my amazement I had been pulled off from the slide etnirely.  I was literally dangling from 8 stories high, holding onto the side of the slide, and a piece of wood I had somehow managed to grasp!  Never in my life have I ever had an adrenaline rush like I did then.  Even thinking about it now brings back some of those feelings.  Can you imagine looking up from below and seeing a 13 year old kid just swinging above?

I didn’t have time to be mad, upset, or scared.  I didn’t scream, curse or say anything.  I was so focused on holding on as tight as I could that nothing else mattered right then.  Surivival instincts kicked in and through some amazing strength on my part, and the help of my would-be assasin, I was able to climb back to the platform.  The entire episode took less than 15 seconds, but it seemed like an eternity.

Only atop the platform again did I have time to reflect upon what happened, and realize how close I was to dying and/or becoming seriously injured.  I began shaking uncontrollably and didn’t know what to say.  Then the lifeguard began crying.  I looked at her, first out of anger, then out of curiosity, and finally out of sympathy.  She was really sorry and upset for what happened.  She apologized, asked me about a thousand times if I was okay, and then continued crying.  I said I was okay, that it wasn’t her fault (lie), and that she shouldn’t worry about it.  I then said I didn’t want to go down the slide anymore, and walked back down the stairs I came up on.

When I remember this story today I’m shocked nothing worse happened.  For starters, the board and slide I was holding on to was wet and slippery.  People who have been in perilous situations similar to mine talk about having a “death grip,” and I certainly believe that’s what I had that day.  Second, once I knew something was wrong, I had a split second to physically turn my body 180 degrees to be able to grasp anything.  This happened instinctively, and perhaps accidentally as well.  In both cases I could have just as easily fallen straight down.  

At no other point in my life have I ever been that close to death.  Maybe once in a car when I didn’t see a stop sign, but even that didn’t compare to this experience.

If that lifeguard is out there and reading this, be sure to drop a line.  It’d be interesting to hear your side of the story.