Parallax
9.19.2011
4.27.2011
The Kids Aren't Alright
By Cole Epley
Regina Moschitta of Atoka teaches middle school math at Central Day School in Collierville and knows too well the challenges associated with arthritis.
It’s not because she herself has the rheumatic condition that affects the joints. Nor is it because she has a colleague with arthritis — it’s because her seven-year-old daughter, Alison, has been battling the painful affliction, named juvenile arthritis, for over two years.
“We were sad for her, we were very sad. We struggled with getting her diagnosed, and we struggled with the guilt of her pain,” Moschitta said.
The mother of three said before getting Alison diagnosed, the then-five-year-old would cringe and be reduced to sobs because of the pain in her joints that resulted from simple hugs and affection. More than six months would pass before the family knew what was causing their daughter such enormous pain.
*****
With an insufficient amount of rheumatologists currently in training, the burgeoning population of Americans over the age of 65 is finding it increasingly difficult to get expedient, comprehensive specialty care for rheumatic conditions. The decreasing number of practicing rheumatologists reflects the reality of a field that shrinks every year, despite an increasing pool of patients.
Often overlooked and in even more critical need of rheumatologists is the population of more than 300,000 children diagnosed with juvenile arthritis — a disease that gives no indication of when or why it sets in.
Measures have been implemented to decelerate the dwindling population of pediatric rheumatologists, but to little avail. Competing with the often higher salaries of more lucrative in-patient specialties such as cardiology, where physicians make up to twice as much annually than those in rheumatology, the field has struggled for years to populate its ranks with fresh faces.
Nationally, professional groups like the American College of Rheumatology have lobbied Congress to improve reimbursements and compensation to rheumatologists as well as to propose loan repayment programs for prospective pediatric rheumatologists. The Arthritis Foundation has adopted similar initiatives, funding fellowships for physicians willing to enter the pediatric rheumatology subspecialty.
Monica Brown, one of two practicing pediatric rheumatologists in Memphis, is a fellow of the national Arthritis Foundation.
“Dr. Brown, as one of only two pediatric rheumatologists in Memphis, is only able to see patients on Thursday afternoons,” Meghan Beasy, development and services coordinator for the West Tennessee Arthritis Foundation, said. “With a new patient waiting list extending into September or October, many families are forced to take their children to Nashville for care.”
*****
The Moschittas know all about traveling to Nashville. It took the family six months of bouncing Alison from physician to physician before the arthritis diagnosis was officially applied, and they still had to travel 200 miles to Vanderbilt Medical Group, where one of the state’s fewer than five pediatric rheumatologists practices.
Moschitta says that one of the most shocking revelations after her daughter received the diagnosis was hearing doctors tell her that they couldn’t fathom the amount of pain the girl was experiencing. The arthritis had invaded every joint in the five-year-old’s delicate frame, and she got to the point where she had to use her thumbs and teeth to get dressed in the mornings.
The results of Alison’s treatment, which lasted for a week and included a chemotherapy drug called methotrexate, were immediate. She also received cortisone injections in her wrists, ankles and knees.
“The first thing she said that day that she had the injections was, ‘I want to bungee jump,’” Alison’s mother says.
*****
“This is a big problem, and it will get worse rather than better as the population ages and develops arthritic diseases,” says Andrew Kang, professor of rheumatology in the College of Medicine at University of Tennessee Health Science Center.
Kang, who has spent his life teaching rheumatology, is especially cognizant of the problems facing juvenile arthritis patients.
“To the best of my knowledge, there are fewer pediatric rheumatologists in the state than you could count on one hand,” Kang said.
In Tennessee, where more than 26 percent of the adult population is diagnosed with arthritis or other rheumatic conditions, the average wait time for a new patient to see a rheumatologist can last up to one year. Without treatment, rheumatic conditions often lead to irreversible joint or organ damage. The problem is compounded when growing children face the same repercussions.
Kang said the deficient “pipeline” of rheumatologists in training is equally discouraging for juvenile as well as adult patients.
He notes rheumatology’s relatively low pay when compared with inpatient medical specialties: cardiologists earned an average of $402,000 in 2010 and gastroenterology specialists earned $405,000.
“Not that money is everything,” he says, “but it does drive the behavior of many students.”
The dynamic between physicians in the subspecialty and compensation has exacerbated problems in treating new patients. On average, physicians specializing in rheumatology earned $224,000 in 2010, up from $219,400 in 2009.
Rising tuition costs have long been at the forefront of higher education discussion, and 85 percent of graduating medical students carry a loan burden of some sort after graduation. The American Medical Association reports the average debt load for a graduating medical student in 2010 was nearly $157,944.
Further complicating matters is the discordance between physicians and insurers. Kang says there are very few practicing rheumatologists in the state that will accept as new patients those on TennCare or Medicare programs. This provides another face to the conflict that, to Kang, reflects both the shortage of specialists as well as the deeper-rooted problem of compensation issues that all rheumatologists face.
Despite awareness and activity within the local and national spheres, Kang forecasts a grim outlook for both adult and pediatric rheumatology subspecialties.
“I am afraid that I don¹t see anything on the immediate, visible horizon that would significantly address or rectify the problems facing [rheumatology],” he said.
*****
Fortunately for the Moschitta family, the outlook for Alison is much better than for the field as a whole.
Moschitta and her husband, Keith, a radiological technician at Methodist University Hospitals, now take their daughter to see a Vanderbilt Medical Group physician every two months. Her course of treatment includes oral medication as well as injections twice a week.
She performs various calisthenics every morning to stay limber in her muscles and joints, and is also the catcher for her softball team, The Firecrackers. Her mother says that she is able to sit through a movie, though she typically will get up and move around a couple times to alleviate some discomfort.
“The longer she’s been on the medication, especially the injections, the more fluid her movements have become,” Moschitta said.
Having a resource such as the West Tennessee chapter of the Arthritis Foundation has provided the family with support and networking opportunities, which Moschitta said has helped put things into perspective for her as a mother.
Recently, Alison found out she will be the 2011Honoree at this year’s local Arthritis Walk. Her team has recruited 22 members and is on pace to eclipse its fundraising goal of $1000.
When asked if she is excited about being at the center of attention for the June 4 event, the seven-year-old with her mother’s eyes lights up and nods her head in affirmation. Through a mouthful of Chick-fil-A chicken nuggets, Alison manages a shy but confident yes.
Her mother, sitting where she can keep an eye on her, sends her to play in the restaurant’s jungle gym — something the child would have been unable to tolerate just two years ago.
4.25.2011
Pediatric Rheumatology Project Podcast
Selected interview clips from Dr. Andrew Kang, who has spent his life teaching rheumatology at UT Medical Group in Memphis, Tenn., and Regina Moschitta of Atoka, Tenn. Moschitta's daughter, Alison, 7, was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis two years ago.
3.23.2011
Aftershocks
Although Japan quake seems a world away, U of M researchers stress prudence of preparedness
By Cole Epley
Although recent news has been inundated with images and reports of ongoing earthquake devastation in Japan, the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis stays busy studying the potential effects of earthquakes in the central and eastern United States. The New Madrid Seismic Zone, located in northeastern Tennessee, northeastern Arkansas, southeastern Missouri and southwestern Kentucky, has overwhelming potential to adversely affect seven states and major cities with devastating force. Center for Earthquake Research and Information doctoral candidate Gary Patterson answers some key questions concerning the work performed at the center and discusses the unique threats facing the Central and mid-Southern United States.
*****
First, what is the mission of the Center for Earthquake Research and Information?
The mission of the Center for Earthquake Research and Information is to study the causes and consequences of earthquakes. Mainly, that entails monitoring earthquakes in the southern United States, which the Department of the Interior and the United States Geological Survey fund us to do. So, if you get information on earthquakes in the eastern United States, a lot of it comes from the Center for Earthquake Research and Information. Outside of that monitoring role, our researchers come from all over the world and they have projects all over the world, so you’ll find us in all corners of the globe doing different things to understand the puzzles of how the earth works as a system.
Are there any other major seismic study centers in the region?
There are a lot of earthquake research centers, actually: St. Louis University has one, University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Ole Miss, also. In terms of numbers, the Center for Earthquake Research and Information is large, with 50 to 55 people both working on the seismic monitoring issues as staff members and our research scientists like Dr. Steve Horton looking at specific regional and global issues, we’re well distributed across the region.
So, how real is the threat to Memphis posed by its proximity to the New Madrid Seismic Zone?
First of all, we don’t know everything about how the New Madrid Seismic Zone works. There are a lot of good research theories based on very good data that reasonable people can come to different conclusions on. What we know is that three very large earthquake sequences have occurred here in the last 1,500 years. In terms of building codes, we look at those sequences as one event, so that’s three earthquakes in 1,500 years, which is a 1 in 500 annual probability. That’s within the life of a building, and about a 10 percent chance that you could have a big earthquake within the life of that building.
What makes the New Madrid Seismic Zone unique?
Along the New Madrid Seismic Zone, earthquakes don’t happen as often; they seem to occur in sequences; there’s a lot of social vulnerability in the region—the Katrina experience shows us that if you have that kind of vulnerability, such as a lot of poor people living in poorly built structures, it’s important to know that it is prudent to prepare. If you take the same magnitude event in southern California and put it here in the region, the one here would be felt over a ridiculously large area in comparison. So, the deep, underlying geology in the central U.S. is generally composed of hard, cold rocks that allow earthquake energy to spread out with little impedance. As opposed to southern California, where the deep rocks about 10-20 miles deep are relatively hot and shattered, so energy dissipates quickly… Probability of occurrence is low in the central United States [when compared with the thousands of annual earthquakes in California] but the consequences are high, because here, they’re a different kind of quake.
What is known about the last major earthquake within the New Madrid Seismic Zone?
In 1895, a mid-magnitude six earthquake occurred on Halloween night in Charleston, Missouri. It was about the same size as the North Ridge earthquake of 1994 in southern California, where dozens of lives were lost and $40 billion in insured losses were recorded. Those kinds of quakes in the central U.S. are much more likely to occur than ‘the big one.’ Having said that, these ‘big ones’ are also very important because they affect such large areas. Compared to California, the planning is different when we look at large earthquakes because there would be many major cities that could be in competition for resources. That’s why it’s important to plan for these events now.
About how many earthquakes occur within the region during a year?
There are several seismic sources within the eastern United States. The largest in priority is the New Madrid Seismic Zone, the East Tennessee Seismic Zone, the Waubash Seismic Zone in southern Illinois and eastern Indiana, and the South Carolina Seismic Zone. We’ve also got a new one in the Central Arkansas Seismic Zone. We record 200 earthquakes a year in the NMSZ, about 80 per year in the ETSZ. Those are the two most active zones in our area, but since October of 2010, the Central Arkansas Seismic Zone has been the most active zone in the eastern U.S.
*****
Patterson’s emphasis on the prudence of preparation is not without an ominous tone. Rumors abound about the mighty Mississippi River literally flowing backwards because of the seismic stresses to the terrain to the north of Memphis. A 2008 FEMA report warned that a major earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone would have “catastrophic” consequences, resulting in “the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States.” Indeed, the question seems to be not “if,” but “when.”
2.28.2011
Germantown Community Theatre's Project: Purge
Project: Purge is a two-phase renovation project currently underway at Germantown Community Theatre at 3037 S Forest Hill Irene Blvd. Between Feb. 19-21, over 100 volunteers from the GCT community came together to sift through more than two decades' worth of stage set pieces, props, costumes and other accumulated odds and ends. Check out the video below. (Article soon to follow.)
2.16.2011
For Redbirds, baseball isn’t all fun and games
By Cole Epley
Yogi Berra once said, “In baseball, you don’t know nothing.”
Nowadays, the adage reads more like this: “In baseball, if you don’t know business, you don’t know nothing.”
Just ask Ben Weiss, general manager of the Memphis Redbirds. Instead of concerning himself with the pitching rotation or a cleanup hitter in a slump, he’s more focused on filling empty seats and ensuring that fans continue to come back night after night.
“The fan experience is the majority of what we deal with from the front office,” the Allentown, Penn. native says.
While this may seem unusual to baseball fans, it’s a day-to-day reality in the front office of any minor league baseball club, where the foremost priority is player development for Major League parent organizations.
The Redbirds are in a doubly challenging position, however. They face a ten-year trend of declining attendance as well as a cloud of enduring financial problems stemming from the organization’s inception. AutoZone Park, known in some circles as the “Taj Mahal” of Minor League baseball, was constructed in 2000 at Third Street and Union Avenue—with an $80 million price tag.
Managing the team’s finances is the Memphis Redbirds Organization, which has very little to do with what happens on the field. The organization provides entertainment and, more importantly, a venue within which to play games, but everything else that happens on the field, including the umpires, is provided by Major League Baseball.
“The players and coaches put on the game and we as an organization have very little to do with that,” says John Pontius, treasurer of the Memphis Redbirds Foundation, which owns the team and its distinguished venue, AutoZone Park.
“The Redbirds Foundation incurred a tremendous amount of debt to build the ballpark in 2000,” Pontius points out, “and ever since, the Foundation has struggled to meet the debt service obligations.”
He says that this problem was compounded in part by the numerous bondholders of the principal debt of $72 million, which was sold to private equity firm Fundamental Advisors at 38 cents on the dollar in October. Complicating things even further, attendance figures have dropped significantly since the team was established—declining by as many as 97,000 to no fewer than 4,000 seats between any two of the last ten seasons.
“Dean Jernigan [a principal investor in AutoZone Park’s construction] was gracious enough to obligate himself to fill the gaps, and he did so for a number of years,” Pontius says.
Jernigan’s obligation included guaranteeing coverage of losses from his personal finances, but “at a certain point,” Pontius says, “he had to stop funding the organization’s shortfalls.”
Shortly after came a default on payments on behalf of the organization and the inevitable restructuring of debt.
With the debt of the organization now resting in the hands of a single bondholder, however, the price of the debt is now closer to what the team can support—a reality in stark contrast to the situation prior to the bond purchase.
It’s a reality that, in Pontius’ words, “changes the whole mindset” of the organization.
Putting aside the drama of the behind-the-scenes ownership debt is anticipated to have positive impact on the organization and its ability to better serve its patrons. For example, Weiss cites an increase in marketing dollars in 2011 that enables the front office to offer more in-game entertainment for the target family market.
Coming attractions at AutoZone Park in 2011 include the world-famous San Diego Chicken and the Zooperstars, who have performed at scores of NBA halftime shows, as well as a dozen fireworks nights.
“Fireworks nights are a cornerstone of what we do in the Memphis market,” Weiss says.
Aside from in-game theatrics, the Redbirds pride themselves on their luxurious Downtown accommodations. In fact, Baseball America voters in 2009 selected AutoZone Park as the best minor league ballpark in the nation. And although downtown-area stadiums have been trending at the Major League level, the Redbirds remain ahead of the curve with their unique location in the heart of Downtown.
That advantage also poses a unique challenge to the organization, however.
“Getting families to drive 15-20 minutes from out east to Downtown, on top of finding a place to park is a marketing focus for us,” Weiss says.
Another part of the focus involves communicating the ease of not only getting Downtown, but also maneuvering, parking and addressing safety issues.
Commenting on the advantages of having a single bondholder, Weiss anticipates more effective communication and a more productive work environment. Being in such a position, he says, puts the organization in the driver’s seat to have one of the best years in recent memory.
Pontius, too, remains optimistic about the organization.
“I believe that 2011 will be a breakout year in terms of our operations—sales, attendance, customer satisfaction,” he says. The Foundation is offered an opportunity to better manage the organization, he notes.
The Redbirds open the 2011 season on April 7 with a home series against Oklahoma City, a team the Redbirds defeated in the Pacific Coast League Championship in 2009. Memphis returned to the Championship series again in 2010, but was swept by the Tacoma Rainiers.
“The bottom line for me is that I believe baseball in Memphis, as a triple A affiliate of St. Louis, will continue to be played in AutoZone Park for a long time,” he says, “which is what the citizens of Memphis want and deserve.”
For Redbirds schedule information, tickets and real-time updates, visit www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t235
For history and in-depth information about AutoZone Park, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AutoZone_Park
2.14.2011
Cordova Olympian has eyes on London 2012
By Cole Epley
Every four years, athletes of all ages are inspired by the Olympic games.
Sports fans reflect on years past, conjuring up deep-seated emotions of magical performances and enduring hope.
Dating back nearly 30 centuries, the Olympics is one of the most widely-recognized and revered global events in the world. Joshua McAdams, a 30-year-old Cordova resident, plans to be in London for the 2012 Summer Games—his second consecutive Olympics appearance.
But he won’t be a spectator.
The third-year Southern College of Optometry student is currently training to qualify for the steeplechase, a 3,000-meter race featuring four hurdles per lap and a water jump, at the 2012 summer games.
“Every four years, kids dream about the Olympics,” McAdams says. “I did, too.”
With a 2-year-old of his own, he reflects on discovering running during his childhood.
The fifth child in a family of eight, McAdams grew up in Cleveland, instilled with the values, discipline and work ethic that accompanies an upbringing in a Mormon family.
“Every year in elementary school, we had to do the timed mile run. Every year, I’d set a school record for the grade level,” he says. That talent shone throughout his high school years and into his college career, which he began at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
After a year at Belmont, McAdams took a two-year hiatus to go on an international mission to Thailand as a part of an LDS Church mission before resuming his college career at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
“While some say that the mission may not be the best two years of your life,” McAdams says, “it’s definitely the best two years for your life. I got to see how a Christian experience can change a person’s life firsthand.”
He reflects on how the mission changed priorities in his life while noting that his running actually improved after the Thailand trip.
McAdams’ coach at BYU, four-time NCAA champion and two-time Olympian Ed Eyestone, says McAdams came to his office in early 2003, just after he returned from his mission.
“Apparently the families feed the missionaries very well there, because he was probably about 35 pounds over the ideal weight for a runner,” Eyestone says.
The coach says that although he was skeptical at first, it took just two weeks and a grueling 80-mile-per-week ‘diet’ that “usually will get a runner to where they need to be.”
Eyestone realized McAdams’ potential as a steeplechaser in between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
“The first time he went over a hurdle, he looked like he’d been doing it all of his life,” says Eyestone. Noting his flexibility and natural inclination to hurdling, Eyestone says, “From that moment, I told him, ‘You know what? You’re going to be NCAA champion in the steeplechase.’”
Eyestone’s prediction was realized at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor National Championships, just three weeks after ‘the runner with the Cheshire cat grin’ won his first-ever Mountain West Conference steeplechase championship. McAdams, a four-time All-American, shaved nearly 33 seconds off of his MWC-championship performance en route to fulfilling his coach’s prophecy.
After graduating from BYU, McAdams applied and was accepted to Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, one of the top clinical optometry schools in the nation. However, he postponed his scholastic goals in order to train, qualify and compete at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
He placed 27th among all steeplechasers, blogging about his Olympic experience as they occurred.
Dr. James Newman, director of academic support services at Southern College of Optometry, says that McAdams came straight from Beijing to Memphis, eager to continue his education.
“He was still feeling the euphoria of participating, but you could tell that he was a very disciplined person and he really had direction for what he wanted to do,” Newman says.
Newman relates McAdams’ Olympic quest to his professional quest to become an optometrist. Just like an Olympian has to endure the pain and challenges to reach the goal, he says, an optometry student has to endure the exhaustive efforts and challenges to become a doctor.
“He’s having to discipline himself even further to keep after his studies and to learn for the long haul,” Newman says. “But you keep your eyes on the prize and you keep on keeping on.”
McAdams’ path has been far from perfect. Two weeks before winning the 2008 Outdoor steeplechase, doctors confirmed that he had suffered a stress fracture in his right hip. The runner persevered for a few months, even competing in races in Europe, before eventually deciding to give his body a well-deserved rest.
He was out of commission for four months solid — “I couldn’t even get on an elliptical machine,” he says.
In February of this 2010, McAdams began getting back into shape and, in just four months, managed a fifth place finish at the USA Championships. Although he missed his goal of finishing top three, he remained confident in his recovery and progress.
Eyestone likes his chances of coaching McAdams at both the Outdoor World Championships as well as at the London games. “I think he will be a force to be reckoned with at the World Championship trials this year, as well as the Olympic trials next year,” he says.
Since reading a book late last year which has influenced a change in his form and stride, McAdams says he is running better than he ever has.
Lately, he’s been focused on tackling the four-minute mile, which, as any runner knows, is among the holiest of holies as far as track accomplishments go. McAdams says that it’s “75 percent fitness and 25 percent being in the right race.” Two weeks ago in Fayetteville, he missed the mark by just 1.4 seconds. He returns this week to attempt the feat again.
Of course, his family will be in tow:
“The inspiration I receive from having my wife and daughter there, watching me,” he says, “there’s really no sweeter feeling than that.”
Every four years, athletes of all ages are inspired by the Olympic games.
Sports fans reflect on years past, conjuring up deep-seated emotions of magical performances and enduring hope.
Dating back nearly 30 centuries, the Olympics is one of the most widely-recognized and revered global events in the world. Joshua McAdams, a 30-year-old Cordova resident, plans to be in London for the 2012 Summer Games—his second consecutive Olympics appearance.
But he won’t be a spectator.
The third-year Southern College of Optometry student is currently training to qualify for the steeplechase, a 3,000-meter race featuring four hurdles per lap and a water jump, at the 2012 summer games.
“Every four years, kids dream about the Olympics,” McAdams says. “I did, too.”
With a 2-year-old of his own, he reflects on discovering running during his childhood.
The fifth child in a family of eight, McAdams grew up in Cleveland, instilled with the values, discipline and work ethic that accompanies an upbringing in a Mormon family.
“Every year in elementary school, we had to do the timed mile run. Every year, I’d set a school record for the grade level,” he says. That talent shone throughout his high school years and into his college career, which he began at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.
After a year at Belmont, McAdams took a two-year hiatus to go on an international mission to Thailand as a part of an LDS Church mission before resuming his college career at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.
“While some say that the mission may not be the best two years of your life,” McAdams says, “it’s definitely the best two years for your life. I got to see how a Christian experience can change a person’s life firsthand.”
He reflects on how the mission changed priorities in his life while noting that his running actually improved after the Thailand trip.
McAdams’ coach at BYU, four-time NCAA champion and two-time Olympian Ed Eyestone, says McAdams came to his office in early 2003, just after he returned from his mission.
“Apparently the families feed the missionaries very well there, because he was probably about 35 pounds over the ideal weight for a runner,” Eyestone says.
The coach says that although he was skeptical at first, it took just two weeks and a grueling 80-mile-per-week ‘diet’ that “usually will get a runner to where they need to be.”
Eyestone realized McAdams’ potential as a steeplechaser in between the indoor and outdoor seasons.
“The first time he went over a hurdle, he looked like he’d been doing it all of his life,” says Eyestone. Noting his flexibility and natural inclination to hurdling, Eyestone says, “From that moment, I told him, ‘You know what? You’re going to be NCAA champion in the steeplechase.’”
Eyestone’s prediction was realized at the 2006 NCAA Outdoor National Championships, just three weeks after ‘the runner with the Cheshire cat grin’ won his first-ever Mountain West Conference steeplechase championship. McAdams, a four-time All-American, shaved nearly 33 seconds off of his MWC-championship performance en route to fulfilling his coach’s prophecy.
After graduating from BYU, McAdams applied and was accepted to Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, one of the top clinical optometry schools in the nation. However, he postponed his scholastic goals in order to train, qualify and compete at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
He placed 27th among all steeplechasers, blogging about his Olympic experience as they occurred.
Dr. James Newman, director of academic support services at Southern College of Optometry, says that McAdams came straight from Beijing to Memphis, eager to continue his education.
“He was still feeling the euphoria of participating, but you could tell that he was a very disciplined person and he really had direction for what he wanted to do,” Newman says.
Newman relates McAdams’ Olympic quest to his professional quest to become an optometrist. Just like an Olympian has to endure the pain and challenges to reach the goal, he says, an optometry student has to endure the exhaustive efforts and challenges to become a doctor.
“He’s having to discipline himself even further to keep after his studies and to learn for the long haul,” Newman says. “But you keep your eyes on the prize and you keep on keeping on.”
McAdams’ path has been far from perfect. Two weeks before winning the 2008 Outdoor steeplechase, doctors confirmed that he had suffered a stress fracture in his right hip. The runner persevered for a few months, even competing in races in Europe, before eventually deciding to give his body a well-deserved rest.
He was out of commission for four months solid — “I couldn’t even get on an elliptical machine,” he says.
In February of this 2010, McAdams began getting back into shape and, in just four months, managed a fifth place finish at the USA Championships. Although he missed his goal of finishing top three, he remained confident in his recovery and progress.
Eyestone likes his chances of coaching McAdams at both the Outdoor World Championships as well as at the London games. “I think he will be a force to be reckoned with at the World Championship trials this year, as well as the Olympic trials next year,” he says.
Since reading a book late last year which has influenced a change in his form and stride, McAdams says he is running better than he ever has.
Lately, he’s been focused on tackling the four-minute mile, which, as any runner knows, is among the holiest of holies as far as track accomplishments go. McAdams says that it’s “75 percent fitness and 25 percent being in the right race.” Two weeks ago in Fayetteville, he missed the mark by just 1.4 seconds. He returns this week to attempt the feat again.
Of course, his family will be in tow:
“The inspiration I receive from having my wife and daughter there, watching me,” he says, “there’s really no sweeter feeling than that.”
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