Somehow, some way, I’ve managed to remain rather unscathed in terms of broken bones. The only time I broke a bone was in high school, I broke my toe. How you say? Racing a car…on foot.
I was in auto shop and thanks to an incompetent teacher, work rarely got done and most of the time was spent playing cards in the back of someone’s car or attempting burnouts. Eventually this became tiresome and so we started racing behind the shop. There wasn’t much room to do so as there was a big dip at the end of a straight that’s only a few hundred feet long. Eventually it got down to people betting on who could beat who. There was one individual who thought his Camry was particularly fast. It had a non-functional dual exhaust, 17″ wheels, unpainted body kit, and a couple subwoofers. I decided to take him on, but my car was faster without a doubt. Time to challenge him on foot!
The stage was set, my 5’10″ 180-lb. out-of-shape body was going to race a mid-90′s Toyota midsize sedan. I was talking the talk and I was ready to walk the walk(without stretching!). He was revving his motor, I was revving mine(I make awesome engine noises). Ready…set…go! I take off with a burst of speed, and my Sketchers claw at the asphalt for traction. The delay for the power to go through his automatic transmission and to the wheels is playing in my favor. I take the lead and I know I can’t outrun him forever, but this few hundred feet were mine! Three mph was quickly surpassed in my in-head speedometer, here comes 4, and then 5! As I get close to the finish, a car pulls out of a garage and I come to a screeching halt! More worried about slamming into the side of the car than anything, I didn’t think about how to stop, I used my pinky toe to take the force. There was too much noise from his furiously revving car as it flew past me so I didn’t hear a crack, but I felt something. I was so close, I was going to win! Instead, I limped away with a broken toe. In retrospect, had that car not seen me and stopped, my opponent would’ve probably gotten in a low-speed collision. I’d like to think my broken toe saved his life.
-Trent
