Consider this a miracle. M55 multi-eventer Carter Holmes yesterday ran the 100-meter dash in 2:07.82 and the 400 in 9:10.24.  But then consider this: He spent four days in a coma after a massive heart attack in February 2008, and could barely stand for a long time. Jim Schoffman reports: “Carter . . .  returned to the track today at the Star of the North Games. He competed in the 100, 200, 400, javelin and shotput. He used a walker and was delighted that he was a participant. The article in the St. Cloud Times has all the details and his remarkable recovery.” Results are posted here.  Disabled in body but not willpower, Carter is our hero today.

Carter, heading for water, ran the steeple at  Eugene several years ago.

Here’s a great update on Carter:

Star of the North Games: Minneapolis man not one to give up

By Jacob Laxen
jlaxen@stcloudtimes.com

It was early this summer and Carter Holmes had just fallen off his three-wheel bicycle.

The sidewalk he was on was under construction and his balance was lost as he turned his bike around to head back to his Minneapolis home.

“I’ve never seen this much construction like this summer,” said the 59-year-old Minneapolis native who has lived in the same house for 57 years. “The sidewalk is all torn up. And I was trying to be real careful.”

Just over a year removed from a massive heart attack that stopped his heart for 11 minutes and left him in a coma for four and-a-half days, it would have been easy for him to slow or stop exercising after falling down.

But that’s not Carter Holmes. When he gets knocked down, he gets up again.

“I knew it would be hard, and it was very hard, but I had to get up,” Holmes said. “You have to have the right attitude and just keep trying until you succeed.”

And it’s the same attitude that has brought him back out to exercise every day since despite agonizing pain as he prepares to compete in the Star of the North Games today at Sauk Rapids High School.

“His personality is so positive it’s uplifting and can serve as inspiration to us all,” said Angie Palattao, his rehabilitation therapist at the Sister Kenny Institute at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. “He truly put in the work for perseverance. I think his background as an athlete really taught him to go after his goals and never give up and that really helped him in recovery.”

Previous success

Holmes competed in the Star of the North Games from 2000-07 and has won several medals for his age group.

This year he’s competing in the disabled division in the 100- and 200-yard dashes. He’s also signed up for and is considering competing in the 400-yard dash, shot put and javelin.

“It’s not going to be very easy,” Holmes said. “But it is something I feel I should try. And I’m as excited as ever to be out in a race. This is really for me to show I can still do the sport I love.”

Track and field has been a huge part of Holmes’ life. His bedroom is full of medals and ribbons from his 42 years of competing in the sport, and his backyard contains a steeplechase that he used while at the University of Minnesota.

“Competing is a big part of him,” said masters track and field competitor and Inver Grove Heights resident Patrick O’Regan, who will drive Holmes up to the race. “This is his passion. I remember many races chasing him and trying to learn from him.”
Holmes became a prep star at Washburn High School and was also on the University of Minnesota cross country team, where he lettered in the sport and helped the Gophers earn the 1969 Big 10 Championship.

He then competed on a Minnesota team at the National AAU 30-kilometer road race in 1973 in Kansas City. He finished ninth individually on the team that featured all St. John’s University runners and him.

“I really enjoyed running with all those Johnnies,” Holmes said. “But the biggest thing I remember is that it was summer in Kansas City. Man was it hot that day.”

Away from home

Later Holmes went to work at UCLA, where he spent the two years away from the Minneapolis home he’s lived in for the rest of his life, because he admired their track and field program.

With it came the hatred of the Bruins’ rivals, the USC Trojans.

“If I see (the USC) football team on TV I still bring out my credit card and wave it,” Holmes said. “That’s what we used to do because USC is where all the rich kids went.”

And it was in Los Angeles where he ran the marathon of his life. The race went through the L.A. Coliseum, Sunset Boulevard and ended near the ocean front.

“It was a great race to run because it took you through the heart of L.A.,” Holmes said. “But with about seven miles to go I was so hungry and my house was nearby so I went off the course, made a sandwich, and went back out to finish the race in (three hours, five minutes).”

Later, when he returned to Minnesota, Holmes earned master competing status. He won five USAT National Championships for his age group.

Facing a fight

But while he was training on February 12, 2008, to compete for the World Masters Indoor Track Championships in France, that were about a month away, he collapsed at the University of Minnesota training facilities. Medical officials found a faint pulse and had to shock Holmes three times.

“I’m thankful for the good job my doctors and nurses did for me,” Holmes said. “They never gave up and saved my life.”

He was sent home on March 25 of last year and has been itching to compete again ever since.

“For someone of his age he’s already recovered further than most with his condition ever will,” Palattao said. “I mean he had to learn to walk all over again. He had to learn to coordinate his body again and how to relay the messages from his brain.

“When he first came to therapy he couldn’t even stand. A year later he’s walking with a cane. That’s really unheard of with his condition and I think down the road he can really be an inspiration to other people.”

Since, Holmes had to restart his life and his competing career. He plans to commemorate that career with a T-shirt. He’ll be wearing a shirt with a Kenny Elementary School logo on it.

That’s the place he went to for kindergarten when the school was brand new.

“I think that is the best way to show I’m starting over agin,” Holmes said. “I’m back at zero. And this year is to set a standard that I can improve upon next year.”