I checked my carotid pulse. It was there.
February 25, 2024. 0300 hours. Radial pulse next. Blood was flowing through my wrist. “What in the hell is happening?”
My back popped, but not much. I drank water, feeling dehydrated. I shifted my position in bed. Nothing seemed to really fix the problem.
After last year’s Miami Ultraskate relay team win in February, I woke up, slightly sitting up in bed, having fallen asleep to some cinematic tale. There was a squeezing sensation, sub-sternum, slightly to the right of vertical axis center. My arms and hands were numb and tingling below the elbows. After trying remedies and quickly failing, I woke up Michelle, who – only four months earlier – had a full hysterectomy and 19 rounds of radiation therapy. She was finally able to walk around again and drive a car. “I need you to get me to the ER. I may be having a heart attack.” Heavy words, but 10-15 minutes had already gone by; it was time to move. I didn’t yet know it, but I was having a STEMI heart attack.
Dr. Jon Baugh was on shift at IHC’s St. George Regional Hospital’s emergency room. I requested him by name. He obliged and interpreted the EKG results for me. “We’re sending you to the cath’ lab. Dr. Owan will be taking care of you, and he’s phenomenal.” The nurses knocked me out, after lying to me (responding to me that I might be able to stay awake and watch the show from the monitors). Losers. Whatever they dripped into me would have collapsed a horse. A stent and a groggy bad joke later, I heard Michelle’s voice reassuring the RN that I have an atrocious sense of humor, and I went back to sleep. I would see our sons again. I would see our daughter and her beautiful little family. Sleep.
Longboarding. Long-distance longboarding. Cruising. Land paddling. SUP Skating. It’s time to recover.
The cardiac unit was incredible. I found out what a STEMI is. The Cleveland Institute has a great explanation here. I also discovered that I have a strong heart, but the artery was clogged. Adjust the diet and continue the exercise. Before a week is through, come to the medical fitness center here at the hospital. We’ll hook you up to a monitor and run you through a series of aerobic and anaerobic exercises, with gradually increasing intensity and duration, as time goes on. We’ll do that for maybe two months and see how you are doing. Oh, and you’re on pills for at least one year, for one. Maybe 3-5 for the others.
Balls.
I never missed an appointment, and because I had signed up for the Adventure Sports Virtual Challenge, I almost always rolled in on a longboard, using the SUP skate technique I had refined on the Homestead Speedway in Florida. Before getting on that board to roll up to the hospital doors, I’d set my Garmin watch to track the distance. It was now March, and the Challenge was ON, for the entire month. You choose your sport, track your miles, and upload the data. Everybody does it from wherever they happen to be, and you can see the accruals in almost real-time. You may go to bed ahead of three people that are ten miles beyond you by morning. It’s incredibly motivating, and I was beyond motivated, already. 2024 results are here. Recovering from a heart attack was never so fun. I’d roll into the grocery store, park at a distance from any venue that I would normally have walked to, and tracked EVERY. SINGLE. INCH. And then I’d upload it. Positive comments would come through from guys like Ultraskater Bob Foster, who had his own path to wellness in his midlife years. It became almost a daily compulsion to put down miles. Some nights, I’d drive to a local shopping center after hours and simply go hard into the urethane.
Then what?
I dropped 15 pounds. My blood pressure was good. My LDL cholesterol levels dropped by about 33%. All markers improved that month, to everyone’s surprise. I cut out ice cream, pasta, and most breads (I still eat organic bread). The fast food had to go, as well.
For the fix to be long-term, the lifestyle has to change. Sure, I own a kayak and paddleboard business, but was I paddling every day? Going to the gym? Longboarding? Absolutely not. I was cranking on 14-hour days, taking care of my suffering wife (a privilege – I’m not complaining) and not prioritizing a thoughtful diet and working out as I should have. The virtual challenge was a big part of persistent change and keeping up the healthy habits. My good friends Nick and Rebecca Guillen, who are also Dig Paddle Club Members, joined the challenge first. They both finished far ahead of me in the SUP division, by the way. I loved the concept, and I loved seeing what they were doing. I loved going out with them on the multi-use trail and cranking away on our SUP Skate gear. They found some spectacular asphalt to play on that has a 5-mile lap along the local river. The local camaraderie, coupled with the carrot of national leaderboard competition, did me just right.
Nick and I have continued to ride throughout the year. It’s great during colder months that might curtail on-water experience, and we’re doing the challenge again this March 2025. As I get ready for another Ultraskate, in about a week, which will be Nick’s first (Go, Nick!), I’m grateful for the friendships and associations that the sport has provided, but in a viscerally vivid sense, I’m grateful for my LIFE, and
Ultraskate lands on February 25, this year. It will be the one-year anniversary of that potentially lethal STEMI. I’ll be celebrating by cranking with extraordinary people from all over the globe, longboarding for 24 hours. There might be a nap in the itinerary, somewhere, but it will be a welcome grind and a milestone for a year swathed in clarity.
To Andy Andras and Joner Strauss, thank you for crafting and maintaining the epic endeavor known as Miami Ultraskate. To Areta and the crew at Adventure Sports, you helped me to heal and live better. To Michelle, I’m so glad we’re both here and get to carry on together, and thank you for supporting my odd path to fitness. To Nick and Rebecca, you both inspire me and I thank you for your powerfully good souls. Don Sandusky of Hamboards and SUP Skate, thank you for your friendship and for all you do for the sport. This game is growing. Matt Smedley, Rob Murdock, and Chuck, that relay win gave me the juice to battle on and envision some wacky lights at the end of the health scare tunnel. Pat Guillermo, your mad scientist tinkering and repurposing of gear, experimenting all the way, your pono stoke and willingness to impart that love has created ripples that will never end. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of others that I love, but the constraints of the format suddenly loom.
For another mention of our friend “Boat Chuck” Smith, who was on our 2024 “Paddle Posse” relay team, and is now battling cancer, you carry on, my man. YOU. CARRY. ON. We love you, we are praying for you. You aren’t done yet, brother!
Neither am I. Let’s ride.
Bill Ennis
Dig Paddlesports
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