20 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JANUARY 23-29, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com 9.8 liters; the entire body holds 6 liters. “I never expected to see something like this,” Rottler says. At first, he says the medical team was not sure that Bruemmer would survive. Once he stabilized after the immediate trauma, it was not clear that he would regain mobility. Asked twoand-a-half years later if he thought this patient would be walking, bike riding and swimming again—and now training for another triathlon—Rottler says, “At the time, I don’t think I was thinking about that too much, I was a little bit more worried about him surviving the day. It’s incredibly impressive.” Bruemmer is now training for a triathlon, just like the old days. He swims regularly at MPC, back with the group that made swimming fun for him in the first place. (He says he’ll never get back into the ocean; it is just too traumatic.) He’s going on three 30-mile bike rides a week, plus some around-town bike commuting; he adds a few miles to avoid big hills, but otherwise is happy to have that wind-inhis-hair feeling again. “I realized: I can do the swim leg, I can do the bike leg. The thing I can’t do is the run or walk, so I will focus on walking, and getting stronger at that,” Bruemmer says. “I thought what a neat thing it would be to get back to the thing I used to do, just to be able to finish one.” He and a friend are looking for a suitable course with a lake swim (no ocean) and a course that is not too hilly. (That means the Wildflower Triathlon, returning this May to Lake San Antonio in South Monterey County, is out—too steep.) An Olympicdistance triathlon includes a 1.5-kilometer swim (nearly a mile), a 25-mile bike ride and a 10K (6.2 miles) on foot—a distance that might take a typical runner 50-60 minutes. Bruemmer is worried about timing out while walking it, and realizes he might be disqualified for using his hiking poles, but that doesn’t matter to him. Instead, his training goal is motivating him to improve his walking, and to go further and faster. (His current maximum distance is about three miles, so he has a ways to go.) “If my toe catches, I will fall—I can’t recover,” he says. “I have to concentrate on lifting my right leg up so I don’t trip.” He’s nearly two years out from a surgery at Stanford, where branches of a working nerve that is used to activate the muscles of the inner thigh was moved into his quadriceps, on the front of the thigh. Progress has been slow, but there are signs that it is working; he’s able to move his right foot slightly by activating his quad. (Think about sitting in a chair and kicking your leg up, a motion that remains impossible for him.) The nerve crossover creates a little confusion; trying to kick his leg forward gets it to move in. “My brain is still figuring it out,” he says. What his brain has long since figured out is how to make movement fun. “Brita will get up at 5am and go run by herself in the dark and the rain,” he says. “I can’t do it—willpower is not enough for me. “What does work for me is outdoor group exercise. The group is critically important, the camaraderie. Oh, and by the way, they have a start time so you can’t just say, ‘I’m going to ride my bike sometime today.’ It makes all the difference in the world for motivation.” (It doesn’t hurt that group bike rides, swims or runs are usually followed by snacks or a beer, some kind of social experience.) “I always thought running was so boring. But swimming in a pool?” Bruemmer says with an edge of sarcasm. “It’s the people—that’s what made it work.” Perhaps it’s no surprise that Bruemmer also gives credit to other people when he reflects on his survival and continued recovery. There are of course the people involved in his immediate rescue, who paddled into bloody water to save a stranger. There are the paramedics, and the team at Natividad. But Bruemmer also credits the anonymous people—blood donors, taxpayers, everyone who enables the system to work. “My biggest takeaway,” he says, “is gratitude.” Health & Fitness Steve Bruemmer gets ready to swim in the MPC pool. He loves the sport and has regained his ability to keep up with fellow swimmers, but will not get back into the ocean. DANIEL DRIEFUSS Support youth prevention services! www.SunStreetCenters.org Prevention • Education • Treatment • Recovery Preventing alcohol and drug addiction by offering education, prevention, treatment and recovery to individuals and families regardless of income level. After alcohol, marijuana is the second drug of influence involved in DUI’s. Make sure to prioritize safety and make responsible choices when it comes to driving. If You Feel Different, You Drive Different Drive High, Get a DUI!
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