A decade after injuries ended his Army career, a man known as “SGT Big Country” is succeeding in adaptive sports – with parts of his legs missing – and placing 3rd at track and field nationals recently in seated disc throw, while a documentary about his inspiring journey will be streaming soon.

(2:38) Disabled veteran and Pro Para athlete Brian Conwell took a break from training and hopped on our podcast to talk about the major crash, dark days/years of depression that followed and teaching himself to walk again…

(9:13) what the military taught him about resilience and fitness, as he overcame news from doctors and misconceptions of disability…

(13:51) his adaptive sports journey that could land him on Team USA in the Paralympics, including competing against the best this summer in Oregon, what his average training days look like in the gym and with throwing coach…

(22:40) being determined and pushing past limitations, inspiring others in the process and how he hopes to get a lot of other disabled veterans involved in sports through his nonprofit “Veterans Battlegrounds” with a sanctioned competition featuring a dozen+ sports planned for 2028: https://vbgg.org/.

SGT “Big Country” Conwell also talked about making that comeback with prosthetics after the wreck, plus (35:00) what he learned from the Army about resilience, values, hard work, leadership that’s helped him to get where he is today. See more of him in action: https://www.instagram.com/sgtbigcountry/?hl=en.

It's been almost 24 years since the attacks on America that tragic day of September 11, 2001. Columbus GA is hosting its inaugural Memorial Stair Climb at the Columbus Civic Center on Saturday morning, September 6 and the organizer of that event is my "Run the Race" guest. Dr. Ken Calain also talks about the cause that event with 2,200 steps benefits...how he helps people as a chiropractor...having that medical role for 3 local semi or pro teams in town...being a father of 8 kids and more.

(3:20) If you want to or can climb the equivalent of 110 flights of stairs - like each of the World Trade Center towers - then register for this event for only $45 with the proceeds going to the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation: http://colga911stairclimb.org/.

You have until Wednesday/tomorrow August 20 to be guaranteed a shirt after signing up. You can also donate to this great cause. Dr. Calain talks about how the organization spends money raised to help honor, assist (families, first responders) and prevent future tragedies/accidents involving heroes like our firefighters, some of which will do this stair climb in their full gear. 

(13:08) Dr. Calain is also involved with F3, a national mens group focused on fitness, fellowship and faith. How and when can you get involved locally?

(18:21) We dig deeper into what people can expect when they go see a chiropractor like him. And he deals less with pain...more with pressure on your nerves, degeneration, inflexibility from lack of physical activity. His job: help your body function at 100% or closer to that. You'll hear his story about a grandmother dropping her cane and inspiring him to help others the same way. And doing adjustments, alignments in not like what you see in some of those viral videos.

(25:40) It's also interesting how he takes care of athletes in different ways as team chiropractor: hockey players for the Columbus Riverdragons, members of the Columbus Lions arena football team, and baseball players on the new Braves AA affiliate Columbus Clingstones. (31:44) He also stays busy as a father of 8 kids, combined with his wife - as they pass on a legacy of fitness and faith. And finally, he has some advice when it comes to serving in your community! I close our episode out in prayer.

Thanks for listening to the #RunTheRace podcast! Also, write a quick review about it, on Apple podcasts. For more info and all past episodes, go to www.wtvm.com/podcast/.