Have you ever been hit by a car?

well one of my closest friends in New York has! Yesterday as a matter of fact, he's ok thank the Lord. And here's his story.
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I was about 12 miles into my planned 17 mile run -building up for my end of may marathon this afternoon-part of which includes a run to the base of the Verrazano bridge and then along the ocean to Coney Island. A flock of geese had just flown over, the breeze was crisp, I was thinking, OK, I can do this...

I went to cross a street to finish the last leg of my run - one of the few intersections I have to run through. There was a left turn arrow. I stood and waited at the intersection until the arrow changed, leaving just the green light and allowing drivers to take a left at their own risk. When the walk signal changed, I trotted through the intersection. About halfway across the intersection, in my peripheral vision and part spider-man sense, I know a car is coming. And turning. I turn and face it square on. Its a woman in a white Camry. She hits my left leg, just above the thigh. My hands are on her hood, trying to get leverage to hoist my body from going under her car. She drives 5-7 more feet before stopping, and dumping me on the street. It was piercing agony. Like a 2,000 lb Charlie horse. I didn't think anything was broken, but the pain was so severe, i lay on my back in the street yelling more concerned about the fact i was laying exposed in an intersection. Two guys nearby came and helped out, one calling 911. I pleaded with them to drag me out of the road, but rightly probably- they refused.

As I'm laying there yelling and writhing, I looked up at a 10 or 12 story apartment building to see just about everyone peering out curiously. One woman, in a pink bathrobe wearing a hair net - she stood out to me -and then oddly enough she was a foot away from me, slippers and all. She was, from her accent, i would say Iranian- and said to me in that loud American tourist voice "I am an M-D! Just lay still! You be O-K!" For some reason, i remembered that she was goose bumped from the chilly breeze. The woman who hit me came running over and made some statement of thinly-veiled accusation, incredulous that I'd walked in front of her bumper. At which point, i start to laugh-yell. I said, "seriously? you hit a pedestrian now you're saying it's my fault!?"
Of the dozens of times I've gone over it in my memory- I'm certain it was my right of way- because i was standing still, waiting for the signal. One of the guys with me yelled, "Get the F-back in your car and don't agitate him!"

I'd say within 10 minutes - police, fire department, and EMT were on the scene, my leg was in a splint, and i was in the ambulance. I never carry anything but keys and on longer runs, cash to get water or - if necessary, a subway ride home. So, I had no way to get in touch with anyone. Thankfully, I borrowed one of the EMT's cell phones to call my sister in NH just to inform someone where i was.

I didn't have much thought of where I'd go to the hospital, figuring I'd end up with the routine battery of X-rays and depending, splinted or casted and sent home.
If you've never been to coney island- its heavily Russian. And when i was wheeled into the hospital, the signs are featured in Russian, Spanish, and English. So, i laid on the gurney for an hour. The ER was not particularly busy. Then a man named "Alan" who all the staff knew by first name gets wheeled in. Even the policeman guarding the entrance laughed and commented to the EMT, "hey, i know that guy!"
No apparent pain. When asked why he was there this time, he replies, "I'm just... I'm just not well."
Where's the pain? they ask. "I've got a little discomfort in my stomach. And some diarrhea!"
He's telling everyone, "I don't have full-blown AIDS, just HIV. My T-cell count is 69. That's NOT full blown AIDS"
To which the EMT replied, "Actually, Alan, you DO have full blown AIDS"
He coughs, and is met with a chorus of "cover your mouth Alan!" from the staff.
The thought occurs to me that the chances of catching a communicable disease here could be higher than actually getting treatment.
Another voice yells out, "Can a N-- get some food!?"
Alan disappears down a hall somewhere.

3 overhead pages, each increasingly more urgent, pleading for a Russian translator to come to "O-R 2."

Another hour ticks by. No one makes eye contact with me, save for one guy, leaning on a counter talking to his co-worker. I ask, "Could i get some Advil?" He turns around to tell me i have to ask the nurse for that, then goes back to the conversation. I don't know who the -- or any -- nurse is.
I watch a pizza get delivered and one of the people walking around shuffles him away.

Mind you, I've been hit by a car, run 12 miles, on a stretcher for 2 hours, and given or offered nothing, save for a love poem from the 80 year old widower/hospital volunteer who let me know she published a whole book of them for another hospital.

The sweat of my run has long cooled from my wicking shirt, and now I'm shivering.
I'm getting increasingly agitated.
I untie the makeshift splint from the EMT. I flex my toes, rotate my knee, and bend it slightly, then almost full. I dismount the bed and tentatively start to put weight on it. And then I hobbled towards the door. The one protesting question from an admin/nurse/receptionist - asking where i was going- I just replied with, "I'll take my chances." and hobbled out.
Its off to the doctor's on Monday to see if i can continue on this marathon path

This is kind of awesome!

http://www.breitbart.tv/html/74853.html
Many folks around the world are in an uproar about the 2008 summer Olympics being held in communist China in August. As demonstrated in the video clip in the above link. Now I'm typically not into crazy rioting protests, but 3 guys climbing the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge to hang a huge banner calling for freedom of an oppressed people on the other side of the Pacific Ocean is pretty awesome!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080407/ap_on_sp_ol/olympic_torch

An excerpt: And in San Francisco, where the torch is due to arrive Wednesday, three protesters wearing harnesses and helmets climbed up the Golden Gate Bridge and tied the Tibetan flag and two banners to its cables. The banners read "One World One Dream. Free Tibet" and "Free Tibet."
However, I can't condone the behaviour towards the torch and the ones carrying the torch through the streets of the world. The olympic torch and the Olympics represent the world coming together to compete in games! But I definitely support the idea of government leaders boycotting the games. Let the athletes compete, but government entities can sit home and take a stand. And futhermore, is China really ready to host the world?
oh but wait, China is the lifeblood of our country's economy! What a dilemma.......
Have you given it any thought?