Today I had the ultimate pleasure of choppin’ it up with Retired FDNY Firefighter MATT LONG L43. FF LONG has had a very unique journey in the FDNY and Life in general. Born and raised in Brooklyn NY he is the 2nd oldest of 9 brothers and sisters. Before he got on the FDNY he attended IONA University and upon graduation became and accountant. But accounting wouldn’t last long when he and his brother decided to open a bar in The City called “3rd and Long”. The bar business was so successful they opened 4 other bars. In 1993 Matt got the call for the FDNY and upon completion of probie school he was assigned to LADDER 43 in Spanish Harlem. There, Matt would begin to train for Marathons and Iron Man Triathlons. Because Matt was a D1 athlete, he quickly excelled in this field and it ultimately became his obsession. Until one day, in December of 2005, during an illegal transit strike in NYC. Matt was forced to ride his bicycle to work at Randall’s island. But just 2 blocks from his house, he was hit by a charter bus, rented out by a company to transport their employees to and from work. His injuries were so severe he was given a 1 percent chance of living. But when doctors found out he was a marathon runner they upped that to 5 percent. Defying the odds 5 months later Matt would leave the hospital determined to run a marathon, and compete in a triathlon again. His recovery, rehab and training would be grueling. But in 2009/2010 he would compete and finish both the nyc marathon and lake placid iron man triathlon. Matt was medically retired from the FDNY and now travels doing public speaking about his journey. He has also co-authored his memoir THE LONG RUN which can be purchased on Amazon. All links to the book and how to book Matt for a speaking engagement will be below. Thank You Matt for sitting with me on The Kitchen Table and showing us what the FDNY and the brothers meant to you and your family. Good luck the rest of the way brother!
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Chapters:
00:00 intro
03:00 early life
04:33 Longs ice cream
09:20 college & accounting
12:15 FDNY test
13:40 3rd & Long
21:15 FDNY
25:00 L43 funny story
28:00 first fire
32:30 pride & roof story
34:26 Drager
35:15 pride cont.
40:05 pranks from The Brat Pack
45:32 NY times “senior guy”
49:50 Colorado fire
51:10 Lionel Hampton fire
53:30 9/11
1:03:00 fear
1:04:30 fire story in the engine
1:09:16 Drager
1:11:36 Iron Man/Marathon
1:15:30 the accident
1:27:30 marathon/iron man
1:36:10 starting to feel like yourself
1:40:50 visualization
1:44:40 The Long Run
1:52:00 Kirk Lester
1:54:00 winding down
1:57:00 outro
Links to Matt Long:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/mattlongspeaker?igsh=aXZwZDNiNDlvaW1x&igsi=aXZwZDNiNDlvaW1x
The Long Run Amazon:
https://a.co/d/0dFEXlBm
Mattlongspeaker.com:
http://mattlongspeaker.com/
Drager links:
https://scba.me/nyc
https://youtube.com/@AirBossSCBA?si=zNgFA8ZGXz9NnWv5
https://www.draeger.com/en-us_us/Home
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