Alex Holbrook is back on track
Through hard work and determination, Exeter’s Alex Holbrook has come back to resume his running career after being hit by a car in June.
Alex Holbrook regained consciousness in the back of an ambulance, thinking it was a dream.
He had no memory of the event — being struck by a car while out on a run with his high school cross country teammates — that had him speeding to the hospital.
The ensuing three days and two nights in the hospital were like a nightmare for the Exeter sophomore, then 15.
“I would have panic attacks at night because I couldn’t move my arm when the cast was too tight and my leg would hurt,” Holbrook recalled. “I would be in a bad mood all the time, but the visitors always helped a lot.”
What hurt more than the fractured leg, broken wrist, lacerated chin and broken teeth was the uncertainty of whether Holbrook would be able to run again.
Holbrook and his father, Jason, were relieved when doctors said Alex likely would be able to run about a year after the June 17 accident.
“He destroyed that timetable,” said Russ Keith, an Exeter distance coach and family friend. “He’s still got some barriers to get through, especially mentally. But he’s come so far.”
Holbrook is back on the track now, running indoors. In his first competition since the accident, Holbrook ran the mile in 4 minutes, 58.11 seconds at Lehigh University in December. It was more than six seconds better than his best time from his freshman indoor season.
“It’s amazing,” Jason Holbrook said. “His work ethic, his determination to get back is just something that I’ve never seen.”
Holbrook had a titanium rod placed in his left leg and a cast on his left wrist for eight weeks. As soon as he was able to get on his feet, Holbrook worked with physical therapist Nate Taylor to begin the rehabilitation process.
“It feels really good to be back,” Holbrook said. “It’s thanks to my physical therapist who did a great job and kept me working hard.”
Before he could run, Holbrook rode a stationary bike, swam a mile twice a week and did exercises to strengthen his hip and quads.
Although he was back running on Sept. 10, Holbrook was unable to compete in cross country. But that couldn’t keep him away.
“It was really hard, especially seeing all my friends running the meets,” Holbrook said. “But it was nice to be there with them.”
When he returned last month, Holbrook looked like anything but a competitor when he stood on the starting line.
“He looked like he was going to pass out,” Keith said. “He looked deathly afraid to be on that track. He just was not in a good place. But I think getting through that first race was everything.”
Holbrook still faces a few more obstacles before he is fully over the accident. His father said Alex will have the titanium rod down the center of his femur for the rest of his life and still needs to have four more teeth repaired after having three removed.
“He’s having root canals done and just constant dental work to repair his teeth,” Jason Holbrook said.
But now when Alex Holbrook dreams, he’s racing on a track instead of to the hospital in the back of an ambulance. After placing eighth in the 1600 at the BCIAA championship Firing meet last May, Holbrook is using the indoor season as a springboard to an even better sophomore season.
“I don’t really have any goals that much for indoor,” Holbrook said. “I’m more focused on my times for the spring.”
Holbrook said his goals for the spring are to break 4:30 in the 1600 and 2 minutes in the 800.
Whether or not he achieves those goals, it’s hard to deny that Holbrook already is a winner.
“It’s an absolutely amazing feeling thinking that when he was hit that day if he’d ever run again,” Jason Holbrook said. “It was the hardest thing.”