Isaiah Pead training for Paralympic Games

Former NFL RB Isaiah Pead training for Paralympic Games

http://www.theredzone.org/Blog-Description/EntryId/70829/Former-NFL-RB-Isaiah-Pead-training-for-Paralympic-Games

Isaiah Pead, who spent five years as an NFL running back, lost his left leg in a 2016 automobile accident now is training for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo as a sprinter in the SB-LL1 sport class for significant impairment, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports.

“My dream is done. But I’m still young, have my whole life ahead of me. What’s next?” said Pead, 28, wearing a diamond-encrusted handicap charm on his gold necklace “What do you want to be remembered for?”

“You cannot stop that man,” said Ruby Bowman, Pead’s longtime girlfriend and mother of Deuce (Isaiah II). “He got back into grind mode.”

Inspired by a suggestion from former Rams teammate Janoris Jenkins to become a Paralympian, Pead called coach Jason Lewis a few months ago with a message: “Coach, I want to run.”

So he got a state-of-the-art running blade from a manufacturer in Oklahoma, but otherwise he and Lewis are limited to YouTube training videos and advice from coach Joaquim Cruz, a former Paralympian who guides aspiring runners.

Reps with U.S. Paralympics track and field contacted Pead in the spring, moved by his story and confident his mix of athleticism and determination would aid training.

They also knew Pead faced a tough transition.

“It’s just going to take some time to get used to what his new normal is,” U.S. Paralympic director Catherine Erickson said. “But once an athlete, always an athlete. He’s definitely shown he’s a go-getter.”

“It’s humbling. It’s inspirational to keep doing whatever I want to do,” Pead said. “I want to do this, compete at the highest level. The fact of the matter is I came from wanting to do something else that I did, but now this is who I am.”

Pead embraces being disabled, though he searches for a normal life. The constant staring in fitness centers makes him want to open his own gym for the handicapped.