Verona's Weller returns to ultramarathons after brain surgery
Robert Weller has done several 24-hour races in North Carolina and Virginia. He finished as high as fifth overall at the 2016 Crooked Road 24-Hour Ultra in Rocky Mount, Virginia, after accumulating nearly 95 miles in brutally cold conditions.
But the Verona man’s racing career took an unexpected turn last year. He was traveling to a construction site in Culpeper on Route 29 with a co-worker on the morning of May 18.
That's when a car pulled in front of him that he hit while doing 60 miles-per-hour.
He thought he was OK. About three weeks later, he was getting bad headaches, had a stiff neck and was experiencing nausea. It wasn't until June 20 that he went to a doctor's office and then went to the emergency room at Rockingham Memorial a day later.
“The ER doctor said your brain cavity is full of blood,” said Weller. “He said your brain is so big it's pushing down on your spinal cord. That's what's making you nauseous.”
After the diagnosis, he was transported by rescue squad to the University of Virginia hospital. Within an hour of his arrival, he was in surgery.
Two finger-sized holes were drilled on each side of his head to relieve pressure. The surgery was a success.
“I couldn't have asked for things to go any better,” Weller said of the surgery and recovery. “I thank God every day that I don't have any lasting effects from it.”
After the operation, Weller wasn't allowed to do anything for three months. He was restricted from lifting anything over 10 pounds or doing something that would get his heart rate up.
It was in early October that he got the go-ahead to start training again. So Weller and his dog Zena started walking together. In mid-November, he was racing again in Rocky Mount, just six months after the accident.
“I enjoy being out there, even though I know I'm not near 100 percent,” said Weller. “I enjoy the people that do the races. Ultrarunners are a special breed.”
Weller was one of at least three participants in the 2018 Crooked Road Ultramarathon that had come back from injuries that had nothing to do with training or races.
More:The sport of ultramarathons is growing by leaps and bounds
It was a June auto accident that sidelined Lisa Georgis of Pennsylvania. Georgis, who was the top female finisher at the 2016 Crooked Road Ultra, had been running every day for 15 years before her collision on June 29.
For Georgis, the diagnosis was a broken knee and broken pelvis. After surgery, she could not put weight on her right side for three months.
“I was going to go crazy if I couldn't do something to release this energy,” said Georgis of her mindset during the recovery.
She started her recovery with pool running. Then she began walking with a walker and crutches. At the first of October, she was finally able to lose the walker and crutches.
Even though she had not gotten approval from her doctor to run, she signed up for Crooked Road. She walked throughout the event and accumulated more than 50 miles.
“It's not even an option to not do it,” said Georgis. “I was happy to even be there. I had no idea what I was going to do at that race.”
On December 29, Georgis got permission to start running again. She started training for the Boston Marathon. A few weeks before the race, she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her heel. She ran Boston anyway and finished in four hours and 37 minutes.
The best known comeback story is that of Tom Green of Columbia, Maryland. The man who made ultraracing history in 1986 nearly lost his life in 2015.
On April 20, Green and fellow ultramarathoner Alan Doss were cutting tree limbs at Green's home in Maryland.
“It seemed like a simple job that went terribly wrong,” recalled Green of that day.
A branch bounced off the ground and hit Green in the head, cutting his carotid artery. He had numerous other brain injuries and suffered a stroke.
Even though his life was changed forever, he never quit. He uses a modified baby jogger to be able to race again, but has not been able to return to some of his other loves like biking, music and his job.
“That injury took away almost everything I was passionate about,” said Green of his desire to return to racing. “I wanted to try to regain some aspect of my life.”
And Green shared an unlikely source of inspiration that inspired him to race again.
Charlie Gilmore was an intellectually challenged student who ran cross country with Green in high school. At the time, Tom never understood why Gilmore wanted to race when he had zero chance of being competitive.
Then Green realized his old teammate just wanted to be a part of the group. And Green decided he needed to get back on the course with his friends, even though he could not compete as effectively after the accident.
“I had my days in the sun,” said Green. “The one thing that hasn't changed is I still do the best I can do.”