DEFYING GRAVITY Mohamed Lahna

[00:00:00] Now on the app up to 11 Podcast, Paralympic Athlete Ironman and Paritriethalon American Champion

[00:00:07] Muhammad Lana. Born in Casa Blanca, Morocco, Muhammad was born with a birth defect called

[00:00:13] Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency that effectively left him without a right femur and fibula.

[00:00:20] Muhammad embodies the saying it's never too late. He was fit with his first real prosthesis

[00:00:26] at the age of 20, wrote a bike for the first time at 25, crossed the Atlas Mountains at 26

[00:00:32] and ran his first marathon at 27. Muhammad has officially qualified for the Paralympics in Paris

[00:00:39] 2024, making him the first male paratriethalete to make team USA. We are thrilled to present Mr.

[00:00:46] Muhammad Lana. Muhammad, how are you? Good to see you. Good to see you. Very good. Thank you.

[00:00:55] I'm so glad to have you here my friend. Where are you in this vast world right now?

[00:01:02] Yeah, I'm in Hayworth, California. Okay. So you're in California. This is home, right?

[00:01:09] Yes, that's what I thought. Someone who has been in California for how long now?

[00:01:17] Well, I've been on and off 12 years in California where I also spent two years in Colorado Springs.

[00:01:26] Okay. Yeah, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. Yeah. Your story is fascinating to me. Your

[00:01:32] limb difference is something that I'm not had never heard of. I was not very familiar. So

[00:01:40] so many people that view the podcast listen and consume this content, you know, they're used to

[00:01:49] hearing stories about people that have had amputations. And your limb difference is quite

[00:01:56] extraordinary. And I want to make sure that I'm not that I'm not messing this up. You have a

[00:02:03] birthday fact that is called proximal femoral focal deficiency. Did I get that right?

[00:02:11] Correct. Exactly. And if I could explain it through my lens, which is very primitive,

[00:02:16] I'm sure you can explain it in more of a medical way. When when I look at photos of people like

[00:02:24] yourself, it's almost as if one of your legs is shorter than the other. Meaning you have,

[00:02:33] is it a right foot? Yeah. You still have your right foot. It's just you don't have

[00:02:42] explained it to me. Your femur? I don't have the femur, the tibia and also I don't have the

[00:02:49] no, so I don't have the femur. You know the tibia bone that is two bones, I have only one one of them.

[00:02:54] Yes. And then I don't have the the hip joint and the hip socket. I don't have that. So there is

[00:03:01] this kind of unique formation in the top where it's not a knee by the hip and it's not connected to

[00:03:08] the hip socket. And the PFFD, it's a congenital condition that has different variation and different

[00:03:16] categories. Yeah. So there is what like an it's not an exact like condition, it just like there

[00:03:22] is a variation where it's in that range where people sometimes they have three quarters of their legs,

[00:03:29] sometimes just like me like half missing the whole femur and no knee, some people they haven't

[00:03:36] knee but like in the center. Interesting. Yeah. So it's there is different variation of it. Yeah.

[00:03:42] It's interesting because obviously I mean we're organic creatures and we you know we develop in

[00:03:47] the womb. And when things don't quite you know develop in the way in which they're fully formed,

[00:03:56] you can end up with lots of different variations of a particular type of congenital issue.

[00:04:04] And something and I'm you know just being transparent. I knew nothing about. So looking at

[00:04:12] images of you when I was prepping for this particular episode, the first thing I notice is

[00:04:21] your prosthesis which in my mind I'm like wait a minute it looks like he has a foot right

[00:04:29] and then I realize after doing some some diligence on your condition, okay now I get it,

[00:04:38] you're actually loading that residual limb or the portion of the limb that is formed with your

[00:04:45] with your foot. That is loading into a prosthetic and then you have an additional

[00:04:52] prosthesis whether that's a blade or whatever you're employing that gives you the ability

[00:05:01] to touch surfaces and obviously in your case perform like a world-class athlete which is it blows me

[00:05:11] away literally to see some of the things that you're doing. And I think what's most extraordinary

[00:05:19] about all of that is you have not been necessarily in a prosthetic your whole life because what was

[00:05:29] the age that you first done to prosthesis? Yeah so I just want to go back just a little bit to the

[00:05:36] running setup and the walk-in setup because I don't have the hip joint like a hip socket,

[00:05:45] most 90% of the weight that I have on my walk-in leg or running leg is on the issue that I have.

[00:05:51] So my leg is going all the way high up to the to the to the issue where this is where we put the weight

[00:05:59] especially running. Got it and but I love my little foot and my kids play with it all the time.

[00:06:07] It helps me get a little bit of that what you said the waist bearing but most of it isn't up there

[00:06:14] by the issue. Got it. Yeah growing up I mean I grew up I was born in Casablanca and we were very

[00:06:22] modest family and back then we didn't go to the hospital to give birth just at home you have the

[00:06:30] local midwife who when she heard it's time of the woman she will come and help her deliver her baby.

[00:06:38] Did you have siblings? So I was the first one. I was the first of how many?

[00:06:44] A five. Okay so first of five. Yeah. First baby's coming there's a big deal in the family.

[00:06:51] Exactly. Right and you come from a very simple kind of life. Casablanca, Morocco.

[00:07:02] You're not necessarily employing state of technology hospitals this and that.

[00:07:08] You're like hey midwife's coming and we're gonna have our first baby.

[00:07:14] And yeah Mohammed arrives. Well it was not that easy because I was troubled since day one.

[00:07:25] The first one is because we don't know you know like here I mean with my kids too like you check

[00:07:31] the baby you need to have the head first and all that stuff. I came with my legs first

[00:07:36] and then that was all make it complicated and my left arm got stuck and this is my mom telling me

[00:07:42] the story that it was like chaotic and the lady had to put her hand inside the break my shoulder

[00:07:51] to bring me out to save my life. So I was born with with a broken shoulder and affected my arm

[00:08:00] like length and all that stuff. Yeah. But that was that was the and everybody's watching like we lived in

[00:08:04] a family where it's not just my parents and it's like my grandparents, my other uncle and his

[00:08:10] families like a big house with everybody and the same everybody's waiting and everybody's watching.

[00:08:15] So it was it was uh in the beginning it was a very sad moment for my parents because you are

[00:08:21] waiting for that pride then you know your first son and all that stuff and it was it was not what

[00:08:28] I was expected but I mean we believe in God and the faith like push them down to just move on

[00:08:36] and take care of me. They took me to the local doctors to see if there is a community this or

[00:08:44] I don't know surgery whatever and the doctor the orthopedic just said like just take him home

[00:08:49] and and and take care of him. Yeah, take him home and love him the way he is and

[00:08:55] and all that love and care look where it took you. Yes, pretty cool story right?

[00:09:02] Yeah yeah but also like waiting for the second baby was a lot of would my parents have in my sister

[00:09:10] there was a lot of um like intense moment it's just going to be the same as me or not

[00:09:17] and like it was same born at home and like yeah it's it was such a relief for them by

[00:09:23] anyway. Yeah all my other I'm the only one with with the birth defect like this and then my other

[00:09:30] four siblings are are fine by my parents I think this is where huge difference is like they treated

[00:09:38] me like my other siblings like yeah meaning like no special or exceptional treatments

[00:09:46] you get punished we need a vet thing sure you are do need it so it was like this is like how I grow

[00:09:52] up. Do you think that created some some resilience for you as far as dealing with your limitation

[00:10:01] and knowing like no one's going to help you along here Muhammad like you have to do what you have

[00:10:08] to do to get ahead in life. Yeah I mean we're gonna talk about this subject back then um when you have

[00:10:16] I think things have changed now but back then when you have a physical disability

[00:10:20] were you born with it or something like that it means like life is over for you and parents society

[00:10:29] treat you like you have a mental something like you just like we're gonna take care of you

[00:10:35] we don't have to work hard you know have to go to school are we gonna take care of you and that's

[00:10:40] I think things have changed now but back then that was the mentality but um

[00:10:45] I and I went to elementary school where we all of us were just um kids were physical disability

[00:10:52] just physical and the whole elementary school like six years of education basically we're going to

[00:11:02] like um a daycare we just spend a day our plane having fun we didn't learn anything and

[00:11:08] just came back home yeah basically and uh and that caused a lot of problem afterward because when I

[00:11:15] switched to um middle school um it was very hard for me that's the reality of education

[00:11:20] and all that stuff and I suffered that was the period where I suffered a lot but uh

[00:11:26] and suffered suffered because you had not given a foundation educationally or suffered

[00:11:34] in that kids you were no longer in a space where you shared sort of a common bond with other

[00:11:41] kids with disabilities like you were with like normal or let's call them I don't know able bodied

[00:11:48] or whatever um I hate I hate to use a lot of those words because I don't know if they're necessarily

[00:11:54] representative of situations um I try to be careful with that talk but um difficult in both

[00:12:02] regards or one or the other it's more like the educational the foundation part okay because back then

[00:12:10] um I had i had really like a very balanced life I would spend day with that day um the school day

[00:12:17] with the kids with this physical disability and it was good because I saw a lot of physical

[00:12:21] different disabilities yeah back then it was a lot of polio because we had a lot of polian Africa

[00:12:26] um but uh coming back home I'll also go like we didn't have any after school program

[00:12:32] and I think you just go home eat and go outside the street and play yeah and basically open

[00:12:36] to donnacea playing with other kids fighting with other kids yeah and uh in Morocco soccer is

[00:12:42] it's the game like this is what we played day and night sure oh I would just be playing soccer

[00:12:47] baseball in the US yeah exactly yeah yeah no I get it and what I was gonna ask you is

[00:12:55] it sounded to me from my research on you that you were like a really active kid that you were not

[00:13:04] you you weren't like you know like suffering away in like a dark closet like you were like no I'm

[00:13:10] I want to be out there and I have this energy and and obviously anyone that follows you

[00:13:18] taps into what your journey has been especially your your paralympic journey um

[00:13:25] can see that you are this you're this very very bright light that you are um someone that is sort

[00:13:32] of resonating you know this this energy that you're you seem very alive let's put it that way um

[00:13:40] and I find that to be a huge source of curiosity for me because I always want to trace it back to

[00:13:49] well you know what were you like as a child and I think I read somewhere that you know

[00:13:55] you're you're just kind of like always getting into everything um you know when could kind of like

[00:14:00] hold you back so to speak and when you say soccer um explain to me given your socioeconomic situation

[00:14:12] given where you were growing up what was resources that were available to you how did you maintain

[00:14:18] such an active life as a kid yeah this is a good question thank you uh so first of all uh when I

[00:14:26] start like when I start crawling like you can crawl like with my disability like any other kids but

[00:14:32] once you start walking it's kind of this funky and balanced uh walking yeah um and when I was

[00:14:39] younger the difference was not that high so my dad hates watching me like that so he will take

[00:14:44] him into the local um um it's a like like the guy who repairshoes uh cobbler uh what do we call him

[00:14:53] the person who repairshoes yeah so he will take me to the shoe guy and he will just like put layers of

[00:15:02] foam in there my shoe this way he balanced the heights so what was the differential as a kid like how

[00:15:08] many inches was the differential when you were a child so it was it was growing the difference was

[00:15:14] grow it was getting um bigger and bigger as I'm growing how much taller so I remember it was like

[00:15:20] this much I don't know like five six inch okay as I'm getting taller it gets bigger and I remember

[00:15:28] like every time like someone on six months or whatever made that will take me to this guy he will

[00:15:33] a nice solid leather shoes and maybe two size up yeah and the guy will just slap layers of foam all

[00:15:41] what I have pink yellow whatever yeah I had like this rainbow shoe and it got to a point where

[00:15:49] it just started breaking because I was running like crazy playing soccer with other kids in the street

[00:15:54] yeah and then it got to a point where it was not sustainable my dad got me crutches uh like

[00:16:00] within crutches from I don't know where and uh again like I break everything everything growing

[00:16:09] enough because you're a super physical kid you're just breaking stuff and you're out you're not

[00:16:14] only outgrowing what you said it's not sustainable like you know how big of a heel can we create

[00:16:20] and I'm able to run right because here's this very ram bunches active pushing the barriers kind of

[00:16:28] kid that seems to only be happiest and smiling when their body is moving um this kid does not want to

[00:16:37] sit like just in a chair and observe the world he wants to engage he wants to do these things and

[00:16:46] you know it's it's it's remarkable to me that all of that winding path of your upbringing

[00:16:53] and you know having an opportunity which I want to discuss a little bit more

[00:16:59] what was sort of the the moment that led you into competitive sports

[00:17:07] and coming you know the US being a possibility because I I think based on the research I was doing

[00:17:16] you actually uh represented um maraco initially correct as a perillembian and that somehow

[00:17:26] transcended to you representing the US as well um when when did

[00:17:34] becoming a you know a perillembian or the possibility of competing on a world stage

[00:17:42] when did that sort of get plugged into your brain like who was it a person

[00:17:47] was it just you saw something on television when was that moment where you had that little light bulb

[00:17:53] go off where you went wait a minute like I could do something with my physical body

[00:18:00] that other people can't or aren't willing to sacrifice themselves to um when did that happen for you

[00:18:07] yeah um it happened like very early like around I would say 10 11 um my dad is a taxi driver okay

[00:18:18] the um one day he has this client um he was limping he has crutch like one crutch and he was limping

[00:18:28] but he was uh you know why he got him and he was start talking to him taking him to his destination

[00:18:35] and talking I have a son blown of love with this with this and the guys start talking to him and

[00:18:41] and the guy said I want to see your son and right now say yeah right now so they drove home

[00:18:48] and I was home back then at the time I think it was a weekend or something like that

[00:18:52] and this guy my dad came home say I want to introduce to this guy and I was shy when there

[00:18:59] is a stranger I was hiding by my mom and this guy like very tall guy I remember how the entrance to

[00:19:04] the house this hallway wasn't just long coat and tried to shake my hand he has this massive hands

[00:19:13] and all this I have them like memories in grain in my brain and uh he just went out he was very

[00:19:19] friendly want to talk to me and then he was talking to me but I was not like really listening the only

[00:19:26] thing that I pick up is picked up as I will take you with me to the swimming pool and I've never been

[00:19:31] to a swimming pool before in my life and never I've never seen a swimming pool or swimming I don't know

[00:19:38] how to swim or anything um and then later on this guy he's the only uh parallel more rock

[00:19:49] and paralympic swimmer who went to the paralympics in swimming and won a bronze medal

[00:19:54] and until today he's the only paralympic or Olympic swimmer who had

[00:20:00] Olympic or paralympic medal he's the only person so far until today anyway that guy one day came home

[00:20:07] took me with him to the pool he was very well respected uh I remember he took me with the pool all

[00:20:14] the way with his with his car all the way inside the pool the gate like he's like he owned the place

[00:20:19] is like his own his own pool but this is like a public pool that allowed him to go with his car

[00:20:25] inside and uh he took me to the pool and he said okay well we just sit on the ball of the pool for now

[00:20:34] um I will do my workout and come back and I will play with you a little bit basically and for me

[00:20:42] the smell of the chlorine of that's 50 meter underground pool and the people swimming and the

[00:20:47] nose and the echoes are just like everything this is all new to me yeah and I just wow this is very

[00:20:53] dreamy I love this and the lifeguard walk by and I see him and I try to not look at him and he come

[00:21:01] to me say what do you do in here what do you what do you do here uh do you know how to swim

[00:21:05] and I say yes and he said okay show me and without hesitation I jump in the water and I drown

[00:21:12] obviously oh yeah I don't know how to swim

[00:21:17] oh yeah there you go i'm just doing young mo uh oh yeah I can swim

[00:21:24] help and uh yeah i mean i drowned and they had somebody to pour me of the water

[00:21:31] i don't like water and uh yeah that was my experience with the whole thing with swimming or with

[00:21:38] the Paralympic athletes that was your baptism right there exactly right into the water

[00:21:44] right into the water that's wonderful so yeah go ahead and I want this then i wanted to learn how to swim

[00:21:53] and the name his name is jelil i want he's like he went to the Paralympics this traveling

[00:21:59] to world he's well respected he's like solid solid i want to be like him unfortunately didn't

[00:22:06] happen because some in the reason the financial aspect it was very hard to get into the pool

[00:22:13] frequently it was very hard to get to swim with the team uh i mean two years later we found this

[00:22:19] team that uh for physical uh with athlete with disability that they do once once a week

[00:22:27] for swim and start to win them but it wasn't enough to reach the Paralympic level at all like

[00:22:34] we have all this event in Morocco like for swimming championship and all this stuff but

[00:22:38] it was a very low level um so i was i did that for i don't know five six years seven years

[00:22:47] yeah and then uh it came to this reality where okay i never i'm never gonna do this uh i start

[00:22:55] working as a graphic designer and then um uh my dad also again is a taxi driver heard about this

[00:23:03] because all these years i had this uh i got to a point where what i got this leg

[00:23:11] but proceed walking leg that is made of wood the foot is wood yeah two bars of aluminum

[00:23:17] leather around my foot feel like a primitive uh prosthesis that you can walk around in now

[00:23:23] yeah no need nothing but i was very happy with it and i had that for since i was like 14 all the way

[00:23:29] to 24 year old yeah so at that time my dad discovered this center that serves uh um

[00:23:37] moroccan veteran who served in water war two it's a french service in moroccan kessah blanca

[00:23:42] so we went there we saw the doctor there we saw the service

[00:23:47] they did an examination and all that stuff but they say we can we don't serve you but we're gonna keep

[00:23:51] your file just in case and six months later they had this uh what we call this like uh

[00:23:58] they have these prosthetics came from France to do this training for local prosthetics and the team

[00:24:03] was birth defects so came they called me say yes you may have a leg blah blah blah um and i was super

[00:24:11] excited i got my first leg with like articulation it was this hinge on the side but the twist in

[00:24:19] this is the guy who was planning this uh bike event between french and pt and moroccan and pt

[00:24:26] and he asked me if i want to join and i i never bike before i don't have a bike i say yes

[00:24:33] of course i bike all the time on the time just like i just like i can swim i bike exactly

[00:24:41] and all along this way these pieces keep coming together uh so we did the event

[00:24:48] uh i start i love cycling i fell in love with cycling and i started doing basically after that

[00:24:55] it was like 500 kilometers in the atlas mountain i fell in love with mountain biking i just

[00:25:01] do in mountain biking every weekend with my friend go camping the mountain bike can you feel um

[00:25:07] because what you're describing to me uh you know um i've heard from different athletes like yourself

[00:25:16] did you ever feel in that process like i'm kind of a natural at this like i'm good at this

[00:25:24] like and i'm not trying to diminish your training i'm not trying to diminish your focus

[00:25:30] you know your nutrition you know all the key elements that go into competing on this level right

[00:25:38] because so few of us get the privilege of you know not only you know representing a country but also

[00:25:46] being considered an elite athlete you know where your body i mean your body is literally a

[00:25:50] machine like you take care of it in such a way but was there ever a moment because i always

[00:25:55] i'm a musician better musician my whole life i always felt like there were guys

[00:26:01] that worked so hard they practiced they rehearsed they worked so hard

[00:26:05] but they never really quite get there right and i always felt like i had i had kind of this gift

[00:26:14] where it wasn't it was hard and it required a lot of effort but there were certain kind of core

[00:26:22] characteristics that i thought i i didn't really have to try that hard to do that like it just kind

[00:26:29] of came to me like my body just sort of agrees with this right when i when i first you know

[00:26:37] i'm thinking about you first getting into a pool like like i can do this well yeah i got a train

[00:26:44] but some of it it just it's in me like there's something about me as a person physically

[00:26:52] spiritually whatever you want to call it you get on a bike and you say i love this

[00:26:59] like i don't just love it because i see it as a you know sort of a vehicle to get me to competition

[00:27:06] i actually love doing this like it makes me feel something spiritually that i know my body needs

[00:27:15] and my mind needs to feel alive to feel human right and it's only it's only i'm just so much more

[00:27:24] blessed that people recognize that and they want to propel my talent into a space that i can compete

[00:27:33] represent and also inspire other people and reach my personal best as an athlete right because

[00:27:42] so much of what i see in you and just following you is this joy that you have about what you do

[00:27:52] because you know people can be hard-nosed competitors and you know they're all full of you know

[00:27:58] just sort of like you know stern and grit and they're just you know uh you know like i you know

[00:28:04] i'm you know i'm this machine that just destroys everything around me um

[00:28:10] you definitely seem very formidable don't get me wrong but you have this joy about you

[00:28:17] and you know i look at your list of accomplishments it's kind of it's kind of intimidating you know

[00:28:23] it's like uh parametriathlon world championship uh in 2011 ironman world championship in 2014

[00:28:32] Rio Paralympics in 2016 norsmond extreme triathlon um 2017 world paratriathlon series in 2018

[00:28:44] 2020 Tokyo Paralympic games i mean mo that's it's a lot to digest right like how does this guy do it

[00:28:56] all and stay that focused and that committed to reaching those plateaus um i mean where do you see

[00:29:06] that balance for yourself so when someone says shit man how do you do it all you know what's

[00:29:12] to what's your typical response uh i don't know man uh i mean parts of it may be my

[00:29:26] upbringing uh like our life was very very modest and very simple we didn't have a lot of things

[00:29:33] and also like for example in middle school and high school i wasn't able to do like PE because

[00:29:39] I have disabilities so i wasn't able to play with my classmates during basketball or huntball or

[00:29:44] for for like six years when you go to school i was not able to do that because i'm missing parts of my leg

[00:29:52] and uh i think my my parent the way they educated me i think big part of that back to them

[00:30:01] is being grateful of what you have and appreciate what you have and also um when when things come to

[00:30:09] you don't be quick at refusing i think that's like whatever opportunity like conversation with

[00:30:16] the stranger whatever like just take it and give it time respected and i think with that

[00:30:25] in my mind i think what where i am today is because of all with a lot of people that have met

[00:30:32] they helped me a long way i learned from them my best friend Patrice who is a prosthetic he's a

[00:30:38] fresh prosthetic who live in France i spent so much so much time with him i i learned a lot from him like

[00:30:47] i want to tell you this story like it's it changed my mind forever uh when we want to do triathlon

[00:30:53] and like i know how to swim i know how to cycle i want to do triathlon i want to do triathlon

[00:30:59] so i was working full time and he's also he's a prosthetic he's working full time

[00:31:03] but back then because i didn't have the hip socket the idea that i have with the doctor in

[00:31:10] Morocco say you can't run because you don't have that balance you can't run and this is when i was

[00:31:15] like 26 27 year old so the next thing that comes to my mind is and with Patrice like let's use a race

[00:31:23] in wheelchair those you know racing wheelchair let's do one of these and we couldn't find one it's too

[00:31:29] expensive we didn't have the money for it and we couldn't find a used one he was looking in France

[00:31:35] for his friend he couldn't find a used one so and one day he came to me and say and it's been like two

[00:31:40] years we are looking for a racing wheelchair and to start doing triathlon and he said why we don't make

[00:31:47] it ourselves ourselves and i looked at him and say careful of shit i didn't say it right but in my mind

[00:31:59] have you seen a run over the hardware store and get the parts real quick

[00:32:03] i'll be right back yeah have you seen a race in wheelchair look air dynamic two large wheels

[00:32:09] front wheel like all this stuff yeah and like i pass for a moment and you know when you say yeah

[00:32:17] like with hesitation but you're not convinced yeah and say because out of respect because he's

[00:32:22] trying to help me and i don't want to be a jerk to him i said yeah okay we can give it try

[00:32:28] with with low confidence that's okay and the first thing is okay do you know a friend who has a

[00:32:35] racing wheelchair say yes so can you ask him to borrow it for one night just to take a picture as

[00:32:39] a measurement i can do that i went to ask friend we brought it to his lab like to his where he

[00:32:46] worked and we took a bunch of pictures measurements like all that stuff and this is like night time

[00:32:53] every night after work my work as a graphic designer and his work as a cpo we have dinner around

[00:32:58] seven and we start to work in on this wow and we'll go like like find like pieces of scrap of

[00:33:06] metals and random wheels and like we're just like looking for junk pieces yeah and then

[00:33:14] in the in because of the junk and those weird markets and

[00:33:19] he managed to get like a well then like like like like i don't know what you call it in english

[00:33:26] called the post but anyway the well-being machine all this stuff and i start to learn

[00:33:29] how to weld and okay i don't know where this is taking us you're a welder now after a month after

[00:33:34] a month we made it we built a racing wheelchair it's incredible it was heavy it was like

[00:33:40] like basically when you push it it's like you're doing weight lifting with the racing wheelchair

[00:33:45] like you push it like always let or something in the gym

[00:33:50] but there is two there is two two things to this the first the first thing is

[00:33:56] and it's not perfect but we made one step forward it's heavier as hell but

[00:34:02] it's so a racing wheelchair i can train on it i can go to a flat surface and push yeah

[00:34:07] and i get started and the second thing is after six months his boss was watching me every time

[00:34:16] go to his work office because we started there i will go there before work to go train and come back

[00:34:23] he saw me like for two weeks and he asked batteries like what is this blah blah blah and then

[00:34:29] he went and he pressed one of his friends has a company to pay for proper racing wheelchair yeah

[00:34:36] so for me this sequence it happened within eight months and crazy like from nothing to top

[00:34:45] and the equipment that i needed yeah but if i didn't say yes and i made the first step and

[00:34:52] and trusted him and worked and nothing would happen maybe i would be still waiting for this

[00:34:57] a racing wheelchair yeah ten years later so this lesson like for example people like batteries

[00:35:02] uh everywhere in the u.s. in europe when i lived for a couple years i i tried to learn from them

[00:35:09] and appreciate uh all the stuff that i have and also strive for more and that this racing wheelchair

[00:35:17] story has just like changed my mind yeah completely no i really am a firm believer in the idea that

[00:35:25] as humans we make our luck yeah i'm not a big believer in like you know

[00:35:32] luck as a concept i i believe that when we engage opportunities conversations when we make

[00:35:39] ourselves available and present in these situations things just naturally start to come to you

[00:35:46] you become magnetic in its sense right because so much of everything you're describing was what i

[00:35:54] was i was reading this article the other day and they were talking about just highly intelligent people

[00:36:01] and i'm not trying to blow smoke here i'm just saying highly intelligent people are um open to new ideas

[00:36:11] they're very good listeners and when they see opportunities for growth no matter what it is

[00:36:20] and it doesn't necessarily have to lead to something as like a reward system

[00:36:26] yeah just purely in the space of oh yeah i want to learn that i want to know more about that

[00:36:34] or that might be an interesting experience just to have those are typically the people that

[00:36:40] advance most in life and it's it's a component of intelligence that you're willing to receive it

[00:36:47] because we all know the opposite end of that spectrum it's you know it's the narcissist that knows

[00:36:52] it all and you know this is how you get a wheelchair this is how you get a wheelchair and this is

[00:36:58] what you're supposed to do and you're supposed to you know this is how everyone else is doing it

[00:37:02] it's like no i'm willing to try and maybe just through the game of chance which life is

[00:37:12] we will make our luck in this situation something along the way will sort of fall into place

[00:37:18] and i do a lot of that type of coaching in my professional life where i try to i try to get people

[00:37:25] to understand that every day is an opportunity to learn something to learn something new maybe

[00:37:32] something that you never considered a perspective you know a different way of dealing with a problem

[00:37:40] something that you might might surprise yourself you never knew before is a lot but you have to

[00:37:47] be in that receiving position right you have to be able to say yeah let's let's have a conversation

[00:37:54] about that because shutting down and not allowing yourself that space for growth you're doing such

[00:38:01] a huge disservice to yourself and i do believe that some of your adventurous spirit as a child

[00:38:08] you know the whole the funny story about yeah i know at a swim or you know yeah i know at a ride a

[00:38:14] bike um all of those things i think lent themselves to just creating more opportunities for you

[00:38:23] just because you were willing to fake it just a little bit right the whole like cliche you know

[00:38:30] fake it till you make it um because i i in my professional life i run into so many people

[00:38:37] they want they demand so much train up right i need to know step-by-step what i'm supposed to do

[00:38:45] to be able to negotiate this situation and i'm like stop it just do it that's it that's all

[00:38:54] i'm going to tell you today right Nike came up with this great slogan at some point just do it

[00:39:01] stop talking stop thinking just do it the rest of the stuff can come as long as you're not

[00:39:08] putting yourself in danger reverse engineering a situation which is kind of what you guys did

[00:39:13] you're like well we'll just come up with something right and it'll allow you to train and it'll

[00:39:18] get us in that head space all of that led you know to you getting the equipment that you needed

[00:39:24] which we all know for athletes like yourself those types of support systems are very important

[00:39:32] people need to have those resources available the best equipment proper training you know

[00:39:38] the right kind of facilities things that are critical so that you can reach your personal best

[00:39:44] and we can enhance this human experience you know um so talking about competition

[00:39:52] what what how do you feel um you know your particular regimen depending on where you're

[00:39:58] going to be competing what you're going to be doing you know what does that look like for you

[00:40:02] and does that change depending on the circumstances surrounding you know if you said well

[00:40:09] if it's a triathlon versus you know a paralympic event or something like that you know how do

[00:40:15] you approach your training and then what support do you look for in those situations

[00:40:21] well um I mean paralympics are very special so every four years and you don't want to miss that

[00:40:30] opportunity and I mean my thinking and my how I see things have changed over time

[00:40:37] we know when I was going to Rio um I was like I was like like like a train like I just see Rio

[00:40:48] nothing else and when we had to train and also like race I don't remember all this place that I

[00:40:57] went to like visiting like I just went for the race and Rio is what I see focused so I didn't

[00:41:06] enjoy the process that much because I was just focusing on on the goal the end goal which is Rio

[00:41:13] and uh I I get intense very intense like when uh I have a big goal to achieve and uh training

[00:41:24] become like priority number one obviously this past eight years things have changed work

[00:41:31] family I have three kids uh you get older you need to sleep more and all that stuff recover more

[00:41:37] and all the stuff so you have to organize yourself much better be strategic be smart about your

[00:41:41] training and uh like going like with my coach Derek um because I'm on part of the USA triathlon

[00:41:51] resin team hybrid um program sorry um like last two years our goal is to find that balance between

[00:42:03] family work and training how we can find that balance we get to that point where we can be competitive

[00:42:10] and try to get a qualification as early as possible so we try to have that goal first consistency

[00:42:17] and then qualification as early as possible and we try to work with that like my coach is really

[00:42:24] smart man uh Derek we have said uh we just he knows I have a family I have work how we can make all

[00:42:30] this work together yeah I think that life uh work competitive balance man for someone like yourself

[00:42:38] I would think that's you know the big part of uh sort of working smart and to have a support system

[00:42:46] like a coach that understands that and says listen I I know that you know dependent on all these

[00:42:52] other factors if we are giving you what you need and and feeding all of those different priorities

[00:43:00] of your life you are going to bring your best self to this competition if we start robbing you

[00:43:07] and pulling pulling back away from these vital things that you need in your life and that could

[00:43:13] be something as basic as I need some time with my kids um just to feel spiritually mentally

[00:43:23] well and I understand what you're saying when when we're younger sometimes that goal we get like

[00:43:31] this sort of tunnel vision where it's just this is the thing that I'm doing right now

[00:43:37] and all of this other stuff is just static and I and you become so driven like

[00:43:44] I'm blocking all that out right now none of that matters that's what matters right there right

[00:43:51] and like you're saying and I appreciate your transparency as we get a little older as some of normal

[00:43:59] life starts to build around us we don't necessarily want to see that as you know kind of like a weight

[00:44:09] that's holding us back it can be cultivated in such a way that it actually becomes the fuel

[00:44:16] that propels us forward um if it's if it's respected in a way that it seems that your coach understands

[00:44:25] for you to find that balance uh when you're when you're preparing let's say on game day

[00:44:32] what's the mental process that you go through I mean when you're in the starting blocks I mean

[00:44:36] what are you thinking of? So for me for my past games I like to do a lot of uh visualization like

[00:44:51] um like for the bike course swim course run course I always like to see the course imagine myself

[00:44:57] like prior like a month before the race like when I'm swimming I always

[00:45:04] swim in and imagine myself in that pontoon swimming race day yeah when I'm cycling we know the course

[00:45:13] we know the churns you know the labs and we try to I try to like what I'm doing bike workouts

[00:45:20] in the trainer or outdoor I would try to start imagining myself in that what's the power what's

[00:45:26] the cadence and all that stuff and the same thing with the run so doing that for I don't know

[00:45:33] three weeks four weeks before race day makes it easy race day like you just go it's just it's another

[00:45:40] time with me let it go and almost like you've been there already is that and it works for it worked

[00:45:49] like almost all the big event the important event I will do that and when I go like I don't

[00:45:57] scramble or try to think or I'm like what's gonna happen like you just go for it you know you did it

[00:46:03] before you know exactly what's gonna happen and uh yeah I think this track helps me a lot

[00:46:10] uh in all the big events and uh doing it again uh doing the work like put everything in the training

[00:46:21] yeah and the outcome here's the thing like this is how also I evolved because before like

[00:46:29] I need to win or I need to do this or I need to do this but in triathlon there's a lot of things

[00:46:35] that we don't control you get a flat and that's it you're out of the race you do extra lap on the

[00:46:41] bike or crash whatever or you know things can happen and you can happen to you there is no nothing

[00:46:49] like this is life right but this is why like the training and join the journey with your family

[00:46:55] with your friends and then you know because when you do this like you don't care what people think

[00:47:02] of you but this is you do it for yourself first you know that you put all the work he did everything

[00:47:08] need to be done you follow the steps you trained very hard your body is ready you're prime

[00:47:14] and the outcome you have no control you do your best and you go for it yeah this is it changed

[00:47:20] the perspective on how you see things uh and this is this is how I'm approaching yeah the events

[00:47:28] yeah well let's let's talk about what you're approaching you know let's talk about Paris

[00:47:33] yeah tell me about dude this this this is a roller coaster so after Rio because back then I was in

[00:47:41] cities in US cities and uh I was represented in my home from Jamaroco it was great finished bronze

[00:47:46] love that and came back home the plan with my wife is that said sort of tire and take care of the

[00:47:53] kids the family and join it and then like two months later I say honey I still have it in me and

[00:48:00] I want to go I want to race for the US we are here our kids are uh American I want to

[00:48:06] race this way I have one for my home country and one for the US oh wow wow I'd say okay all right but

[00:48:12] this time I want to go training Colorado Springs in the Olympics so I'm so lucky like if anything

[00:48:22] in this life my wife she's she's the gift she's the greatest gift I ever have like she's like

[00:48:30] amazing what a beautiful sentiment how old are your kids Moe I have 12 uh 12 eight and eight uh 12

[00:48:38] eight and four two boys and one girl so so they're little I mean to see dad doing these things

[00:48:45] has got to be it's it's gotta be just extraordinary to them just wonderful and

[00:48:53] and I would think as a father because you know I raised five kids um that being that sort of

[00:49:00] Superman in that space it's a great feeling and part of your legacy you know the things I always

[00:49:09] think about like what do I want my kids to remember me for right and I I certainly want them to

[00:49:17] remember me in an intimate sense like was he funny was he silly uh you know did he tell us great

[00:49:23] stories things like that but what you know what was this constitution like what did he represent

[00:49:30] you know what what did he do where did he where did he place his energy in the world and someone

[00:49:36] like yourself who against a lot of odds um rose you know to find a personal best um not only as a

[00:49:47] person but as an athlete and to be able to celebrate that with you um you know think back

[00:49:57] you know when you got the bug as a kid and saying hey I you know I'm pretty active kid and I think I

[00:50:04] could you know channel all this energy that I have and and do something with it to know that someday

[00:50:11] your own children would be celebrating that with you and that part of your you know

[00:50:18] Paralympic experience would be sort of woven in you know to their lives as well and it's beautiful

[00:50:27] that you have the support you know of your life and um sounds like uh hopefully if your parents

[00:50:36] are around that they'd be very very proud of what you've accomplished in your life and I would imagine

[00:50:45] your siblings as well you know seeing seeing what you've done to this point um it's it's such a huge

[00:50:53] uh celebration of life and that so many amazing things can come from how you described

[00:51:04] when you were born and it was kind of uh okay we don't know how this is gonna go right

[00:51:13] I mean that was admittedly what you described as and I think most new parents would describe as a

[00:51:23] complex complex kind of sad day to say yes he's here but we're not really sure where this is all

[00:51:33] gonna go and um all we can do is you know you have your faith then you say you know maybe

[00:51:42] uh he'll have a decent life and um you know it's funny uh uh you know Zach had introduced me

[00:51:52] Zach Friedley had introduced me to you on uh I think was on Instagram and um I mean he

[00:52:04] I'm trying to I don't want to quote him because I don't remember the exact words

[00:52:08] he's like you know I need to introduce him uh Muhammad Moe is he's he's he's one of the most

[00:52:16] incredible people I've ever met in my life he's so nice and I thought wow that's quite an

[00:52:22] endorsement I'm like I think I mean need to meet this person you know um and you know discovering

[00:52:30] your your path and your history and your amazing athleticism um has been a huge inspiration

[00:52:39] to myself and you know I'm I'm an everyday uh you know average you know amputee that um

[00:52:49] you know discovered his his fitness level much later in life and uh remember that

[00:52:58] people like yourself don't just inspire you know people that are trying to

[00:53:05] compete you just inspire people to find their best self um whatever that is

[00:53:13] and you know for me as an amputee my biggest goal several years ago was just being able to walk

[00:53:21] again yeah just being able to walk across the room and that just as you know

[00:53:28] that can just build from there because you train and from what I you know all the all the conversations

[00:53:35] I have with people like yourself trainings very incremental you know you you try to figure out well

[00:53:42] what can I do right and what can I do well and then how do I keep building on that

[00:53:49] how do I how do I push myself further and the human body is amazing in that sense

[00:53:55] that you can in little kind of incremental small little ways you can keep going further keep

[00:54:03] going further right I mean four or five years ago uh the idea of getting on a bike

[00:54:12] I would have said it's no fucking way I'm getting on a bike like it's just not happening

[00:54:17] and I recall the first time getting on a bike and my hands were shaking

[00:54:24] I mean literally because you know as an amputee I don't I don't know where my foot is and

[00:54:31] you know you you have a special prosthesis that you know you don't have the the the touch either

[00:54:39] you know so you know that that feeling of I'm gonna fall I'm gonna fall and um

[00:54:47] to to be able to enjoy you know uh a 40 or 50 mile ride in the summer here in Chicago

[00:54:55] um it's wonderful for me and something I never thought I could do but it's very affirming

[00:55:03] in knowing that anything is possible if you put yourself in the right place if you

[00:55:10] draw energy from the right types of people um it's amazing what you can accomplish and I'm

[00:55:17] I'm talking to our entire audience all the amputees out there everyone that has a limb difference

[00:55:23] that's holding them back um even the smallest of victories are worth celebrating so if there's

[00:55:31] there's something you you didn't think you could do that now you're doing um congratulations because

[00:55:38] that's a victory and uh we all have to support each other in that regard and I you know

[00:55:46] I so appreciate you sharing your story today um when are the when are the games are they uh it's

[00:55:54] August correct uh so my race is September 1st okay here in September

[00:56:01] okay and in the office yes at the beginning of September um I just want to go back to um

[00:56:07] all the amputee like trying to walk or be active or do a little bit of

[00:56:13] I mean I'm talking but even like I'm I do a lot of things with other amputee who are racing high level

[00:56:21] and I was just gonna give example of running with the running leg it's not easy you get to

[00:56:26] blister all the time uh you sometimes you need to have the right socket like this like the last

[00:56:34] year I had to go I had to go to Chicago like three times to work with David there for the right

[00:56:39] socket here's my process too by the way yeah David Rathra helped me a lot to make

[00:56:45] my like because I have a foot and I have the like it was very complicated and it's like it takes

[00:56:50] for it's a pain to make my socket you will hate like my prosthesis you will hate me but you didn't

[00:56:57] but my point is it's not gonna be easy as your your your limb size will change and maybe

[00:57:04] your leg will not fit or you need to put like different socket players or so this is part of the

[00:57:09] struggle that you need to know all the people out there amputee who are racing on high level

[00:57:14] they go through every day yeah it's not something just like we we see the pictures on

[00:57:19] Instagram or whatever Facebook and everything looks good now we had sometimes to put the leg

[00:57:25] and use crutches because we have a blister that we can't use we can't run for a week yeah

[00:57:30] or so I want people to put that in mind and don't be afraid and keep working on getting the right

[00:57:36] equipment right socket for you for walking running or cycling whatever activity prefer yeah it will

[00:57:44] change your life doing three times or once a time once a week going for a hike or a walk or

[00:57:52] a jog it will change your mind forever and you will be much much much happier but now that all

[00:57:59] of us suffer from those complications is just life having blisters the socket doesn't fit

[00:58:05] I so yeah I so appreciate you saying that and I I I really do from the bottom of my heart because so

[00:58:13] often people look at you know these these very very high functioning amputees and it's almost

[00:58:24] it's almost counterproductive and what I mean by that in the sense that they almost resent

[00:58:31] someone that is high functioning in that space and what I what I try to get people to understand

[00:58:38] is exactly what you're saying do you have any idea everyone's struggle is real

[00:58:45] everyone goes through something everyone has skin breakdown everyone has all these things

[00:58:50] that occur and it's painful and they have to modify their behavior and they have to have down days

[00:58:57] you see one picture or you see one you know competition and you think

[00:59:03] you completely shut down and you say well I'm not going to do that and that's ever going to happen

[00:59:08] and wow must be nice to have the best equipment it must be nice to have all this stuff

[00:59:12] and all these sponsors and this and that it's like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa wait a minute none of

[00:59:18] that is achieved none of it without a tremendous amount of struggle it's tremendous and

[00:59:26] you have to believe that it's a process that nothing is achieved overnight that is it is it is a

[00:59:34] a daily siege it is a military exercise it is I have to go through these steps to reach my personal

[00:59:42] best no matter what it is if you're the kind of person that says I just want to be able to walk

[00:59:47] around my neighborhood I want to be able to take my dog and walk around the neighborhood that was

[00:59:53] something that gave me joy that was something that I miss most about my past life okay then I say

[01:00:01] that's your Olympic games right there exactly taking your dog around the neighborhood

[01:00:07] that is that is your goal that is your big dream you need to figure out how to make that happen

[01:00:14] so we need to go all the way back in our steps and start at step one what step one okay

[01:00:22] we need to figure out what that is and start from there and start building in small increments okay

[01:00:28] and that might start with getting the right socket it might start with getting the right fit

[01:00:34] it might start with maybe you employing some some chair aerobics start moving your body again

[01:00:42] start getting your blood pumping okay fall in love with the feeling you get from exercise again

[01:00:51] okay because so many people reach a point where they estranged themselves from activity

[01:00:58] and then they think that there's no going back ever again and that's just not true movement

[01:01:04] is life period it's just how it works yeah these bodies we have were not meant to be still

[01:01:15] as long as we're moving we keep living I mean as morbid as it sounds the moment we stop that's

[01:01:23] when everything starts to shut down okay so no matter what your limitation is no matter what situation

[01:01:30] you're in I would tell anyone just please please just keep moving and if that means from a wheelchair

[01:01:38] that's okay just keep moving that's all that matters in this situation so

[01:01:45] mahamid thank you so much for being here thank you for sharing your story um we will be watch

[01:01:53] and that's been any pressure on you we will be watching Paris in 2024 this year

[01:02:01] I can't wait to follow you and see what your outcomes are um no matter what

[01:02:07] I'm sure it's going to be glorious and fantastic um please don't be a stranger again thank you so much

[01:02:15] my name's Rick Bunkowski this is the amped up to 11 podcast I want to wish everyone

[01:02:20] health and happiness that's it for us today we'll see you next time