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Adam Campbell

Back from the Brink

By InnerVoice

June 16^th, 2017

The Power of the human Spirit

My first sporting inspiration came from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. I grew up in West Africa on the coast of Lagos, Nigeria and we didn’t have cable or satellite television and there was no local programming, so all we could watch was imported VHS tapes. One of my father’s work colleagues brought us the entire BBC coverage of the 1988 Summer Olympics and I watched the games obsessively on repeat. I now have a rather strange trivia of the games.

These tapes showed me the power of the human spirit and the incredible ability of humans to push themselves to new heights. I really wanted to become an Olympian and visualised myself walking in the opening ceremony and representing Canada. I really didn’t care what sport it happened in, I found everything interesting.

At the same time, living in a third world country, surrounded by other expatriates from around the world, sport and play were a huge connecting and bonding force for us despite our varied backgrounds. It showed me that sport, play and movement are a sort of universal language and can be a real unifier. Sport doesn’t care who you are, or what your background is.

Because of this, I was incredibly active as a child. I played every sport I could and would do whatever I could to get outside. My main sports at the time were sailing, surfing, skateboarding, swimming, tennis, soccer, track and field and table tennis.

“I seem to have very durable feet. I think growing up largely barefoot really helped me develop quite tough feet and it strengthened my arches. I think this helped me avoid a lot of overuse injuries.”

The Primal Feeling

As I grew older and sports became more structured I started to trend towards more endurance-based sports. It seemed like I had some natural ability towards putting my head down and working hard. When I first moved to Canada at the age of 17, I found that cross-country skiing and cross-country running were great ways to explore the incredible landscapes of Canada. I loved the primal feeling of moving over and across the land under my own power. It also didn’t hurt that I had some initial success at racing these events.

In university, I joined the local triathlon team and qualified for the Canadian Junior National Team competing at the world championships. This was a very special moment for me because I got to wear the maple leaf and walk in an opening ceremony like I had pictured myself doing a decade before.

I ended up moving out to the National Training Centre in Victoria, BC and competing internationally on the Canadian team for a number of years, hoping to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. I was fortunate to be surrounded by and got to train with some of the best triathletes of the era, people like Simon Whitfield, Peter Reid, Lori Bowden, Greg Bennett, Hamish Carter and Brent McMahon.

However, in about 2006 I realised that I wasn’t good enough to make the Olympic team. I had done everything I could and I loved the sport, but I simply didn’t quite have what it took to be truly world-class in triathlon. Instead, I became the national team manager and got to go to Beijing as a team supporter. I also applied to law school and was accepted during that time. I figured that law was a useful degree, even if I never actually practised law. At the same time, I took up trail and mountain running, which seemed quite time efficient and simple in terms of gear relative to my triathlon days.

take chances

I train alone a fair bit, mostly due to time constraints. Also, it’s not always easy to find people who want to run long and hard in the mountains. I tend to be drawn to runs and mountain outings that are quite adventurous, something in between running and climbing. Often these runs are a bit too technical for a lot of runners or involve too much running for many climbers.

I like to race athletes at the top of their game, so I try and choose races with competitive fields as I find it helps me bring the best out of me. Another aspect of racing that I love is that races are a celebration of our sport and the hard work we all put into it. We all spend a lot of time training, it is the bulk of what we do as endurance athletes, racing is a tiny fraction of our interaction with the sport, so it is nice to all come together a few times a year and share that passion. Everyone who races has their own story from the day, the way their preparation and race unfolded, and it is really special to get to hear those individual stories, from the race winners to the first time runner/racer.

I tend to surround myself with curious, ambitious and adventurous people. I like people who aren’t afraid to take chances and who often follow unconventional paths. I find that they often live very rich lives. I would also say that I am most comfortable around people who would describe themselves as introverted because that’s how I see myself.

“Although I thought it might be possible because others were doing it, running for 100 miles just seemed so improbable and difficult. Even now that I have finished a few of them, I was right, they are rather difficult.”

i was going to die

I haven’t had a lot of tragedy in my life. Tragedy is a very powerful word. Growing up in Nigeria, a country where people experience real hardship and poverty, where corruption is rampant and life is often cheap, I got to see what tragedy could look like. Despite these abject hardships, people were happy. They found joy in the simplest of pleasures and accepted that life can be hard at times, but they pushed forward. I think that gave me some real perspective.

Aside from losing some family members and suffering through an emotionally challenging divorce, my most recent difficulty happened last summer. I was attempting a big mountaineering traverse in Rogers Pass, BC with two friends, Nick Elson and Dakota Jones when I suffered a bad fall while climbing unroped up a peak. A big rock I was pulling on to climb up, came out on me, sending me tumbling backwards over 200-feet down a series of rocky cliffs.

When I first felt the rock pull out and sensed myself falling backwards, I had a strange sense of calm come over me and I had almost instant acceptance that I was going to die. With hindsight, I now get chills thinking about the incident and I have clear flashbacks to seeing the peaks on the horizon flipped upside down and thinking about how strange that sight was as I tumbled down the mountain.

When I finally came to rest in a field of scree at the base of the peak, surrounded by a pool of blood, I knew that I had hurt myself very badly, but I was alive.

Nick and Dakota were able to climb down to me very quickly. They were able to call for help and they sat beside me helping me to stay calm. I was airlifted out of the area and was in surgery by that night. When I came to after my surgery I learned that I had broken my back, the iliac crest in my hip, had severe lacerations - down to the bone around my hip - I had scars across my body, and I had broken my ankle. The doctors assured me that I would make a full recovery, but they couldn’t answer what that actually meant. I didn’t know if I could ever run, ski, or climb again, or even if I would want to.

Truly special time

Luckily, I have an incredibly supportive family and although they live around the world, my accident brought them all together. My mother flew in from Victoria, my dad and stepmom came from Lagos, my brother from Bangkok and my girlfriend flew in from Calgary. Throughout my hospital stay and during my recovery, I had friends come out to see me and I got incredibly supportive messages from around the world.

My mum ended up living with me for one month and my girlfriend, Laura, now my fiancée, who is a medical resident, took time out of her residency to help care for me. That love and support was incredibly powerful to me and it went a long way to help me process what had just happened and I am certain helped speed up my recovery. It was a truly special time with them. The time I cherish a great deal and it brought us all together in a very special way.

My recovery also allowed me to experience new things. I got back into writing and I began sketching. Laura would take me for long “pushes” in the wheelchair. We would then sit down somewhere with a view and sketch. It allowed me to look at the mountains in a completely new way.

“Always be curious. You can learn something new every day, from every experience you have and from every person you meet – so ask questions of everything and everyone, always.”

I find myself covering ground

In order for a big challenge to not be overwhelming, it’s much easier to break it into small, manageable chunks. When I’m standing on the start line of a 100-mile mountain race and know that it will take me close to 24-hours to complete, it can feel incredibly daunting. I know that it is going to hurt and I know that I will experience highs and lows, so I break the run down, focusing on what I am doing here and now. I go mile-by-mile, or sometimes even shorter breaks than that. I focus on getting to the next bend, up a hill, to a viewpoint, to a rock up the trail and little by little, as I make it to that next point, the distance starts to tick by and I find myself covering ground.

One lesson I have learned is that if you have a problem in a long race it is better to address there and then than wait to deal with it. For instance, if you have a small pebble in your shoe, take the minute or so to untie your shoe and get rid of the pebble. If you wait and push through it, the pebble can rub your foot, leading you to limp and eventually it could get so bad that it ends your race. So taking 1 minute to fix a seemingly small problem could save you hours, or the whole race later on. The same applies to problems in life. It is far better to address an issue early on, no matter how insignificant it may feel at the time because that seemingly minor irritant can grow into a serious problem if not properly addressed.

I'm not easy to be around

I know that I am not always easy to be around, especially if I haven’t been able to get some exercise in on a day and I know that my accident last year really scared my family. I know that they continue to worry about me as I venture back into the mountains and I do keep that in mind when I venture out, trying my best to alleviate their fears and worries.

Despite their trepidations and worries, my family have also been my biggest supporters throughout my career. They have always encouraged me to pursue my passions. My dad helped me out financially at various stages throughout my career and has always offered incredible advice, my mum has come to whatever race she can and has a spot on her wall with various magazine covers I’ve been on and she diligently keeps media that I’ve appeared in. My broader family are equally supportive and I know that they are proud and happy for me and the successes that I have had and they have always been there for me through my various struggles.

I have met some amazing people through sport. I have experienced places and things that I probably wouldn’t have been able to experience if it weren’t for sport. There is something incredibly primal and rewarding about moving through natural spaces under your own power and I think it that has deeply impacted my worldview and hence, how I interact with people.

Celebrating my recovery

My main race for 2017 is the Hardrock 100-mile endurance run. It will be a real celebration of my recovery so far.

Aside from that, I would like to keep pushing the adventure side of running. I really enjoy combining running and skiing with climbing, so I see myself continuing to do big traverses and, as my technical skills continue to improve, I see myself playing in bigger mountains.

Footnotes

Words by Adam Campbell, Photos by Chris Thorn, Adam Campbell, Laura Kosakoski, Thomas Hong, Dakota Jones, Dave Holland, Editor Cody Royle, Published by NTSQ Sports

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FootNotes

Words by Adam Campbell, Photos by Chris Thorn, Adam Campbell, Laura Kosakoski, Thomas Hong, Dakota Jones, Dave Holland, Editor Cody Royle, Published by NTSQ Sports

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Adam Campbell

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