Book Review: The Impossible Mile by Johnny Agar

Perspective can be a hard thing to maintain. We encounter a hurdle, a challenge, a struggle, and we let loose our discouragement, putting more negativity into the world, without thinking how lucky we are to have the tools to tackle those challenges, and how those challenges are really just dips in the road, not craters. We're all guilty of it, and if you're reading (or writing) this you can probably think of numerous times this happened to you.

The above picture was taken during packet pickup for Atlanta's Race Weekend. I was there to pick up my bib so I could run the marathon. Johnny Agar was there to run a mile. Despite his cerebral palsy, despite needing special equipment to even stay upright, despite the fact that it would take him almost two hours to complete and leave him absolutely drained.

The Impossible Mile is very inspiring, and definitely recommended - eight out of ten hot dogs - but it can definitely be hard to read, especially in the first few chapters focusing on Johnny's birth and early childhood. Reading about the early warning signs that Johnny would be born "different", his parents' worries that his palsy would extend to mental and cognitive challenges, his distance from and occasional bullying from other children - these brought back nightmares from when my son was born, when in the back of my mind I was always waiting for the other shoe to drop.

But then you read the rest of the book and feel guilty for even thinking of the above as a "nightmare" scenario. Yes, Johnny has cerebral palsy. But his parents never let that define him, and always encouraged him to do anything any other children/teenagers/adults his age could do. And Johnny never let that stop him, either. He dreamed his whole life of being an athlete (like his father, who pitched in minor league baseball). He encouraged his father and sister to enter races, and they pushed him along with them (or, in the case of triathlons, would be pulled in a raft during the swim portion). Then one day Johnny decided that if he wanted to be an athlete, he would have to compete himself, so he trained to run the last mile of a local 5K. Despite the many challenges ahead of him, especially compared to everyone else competing in that race, he pushed through and succeeded.

Johnny Agar has cerebral palsy. But he's also an athlete, an author, a commercial star, and a motivational speaker. Seeing all that he's overcome really highlights how much we're capable of, and how few of the "problems" we deal with are really as back-breaking as we make them out to be. Great read, and so glad I got to meet him!