Living with Adversity with Matt Long

Matt Long has been a competitive athlete his entire life. As a member of his high school basketball team, he was required to run in the Brooklyn/Queens X-country Championships. With no prior running experience, he finished fifth for his school, completing the race in uncomfortable high top sneakers. At Iona College, he competed in their Division I basketball program for which a high level of fitness was mandatory.

Strength and endurance became especially paramount in his life after college when he became a New York City Firefighter. It was around this time he took up distance running and began competing in Ironman triathlons, finishing his first Ironman race in 2005. He then set his sights on qualifying for the Boston marathon by running the ING NYC marathon later that year. With hard work, dedication and persistence, he trimmed 30 minutes off his personal best to run a 3:13, qualifying for the 2006 Boston event.

On the morning of December 22, 2005, Matt Long’s life changed in an instant. He was cycling to work in the early morning when he was struck and run over by a 20-ton bus making an illegal turn. The injuries he sustained pushed him to the brink of death. He received 68 units of blood in the first 40 hours after the accident and spent 5 months in the hospital. More than 40 operations later, he finally began a grueling rehabilitation regime. Matt found the psychological consequences of the accident nearly as hard to process as the physical severities. His doctor had told him he’d be lucky to ever walk again without a cane.

Matt fought through months of fear, despair, loneliness, and intense physical and psychological pain to regain the life he once had. His recovery was a miraculous one which included everything from learning to walk again and, a mere three years later, running in the 2008 New York City Marathon. “Running saved my life,” Matt says, and his determination and perseverance has turned him into a symbol of hope and recovery for countless others.

Matt’s story was covered in a wildly popular article in the March 2009 edition of Runner’s World magazine. Matt has since chronicled his life and journey both before and after the accident in his book The Long Run, released in October 2010. Matt has also started the I WILL Foundation which provides coaching, training and financial support to help people overcome adversity and challenges caused by illness or traumatic injury.  

In this episode, we discuss what his life was like as a kid (7:22), how he thinks having 8 other siblings has impacted him throughout his life (10:15), what values were passed on to him from his parents (11:05), what his mom was like when he was growing up (12:20), how going to Catholic school shaped him (13:05), why he gravitated towards basketball as a kid (14:30), what it was like getting cut from his college team three straight years before making the team his senior year (16:00), why he thinks he got an opportunity to be on the team his senior year (18:41), what if felt like when he heard he’d made the team (20:15), what he gained from playing basketball in comparison to playing rugby (21:49), what his vision for his career was in college (24:30), whether or not he felt a draw to go into the military (26:05), why he decided to become a firefighter (26:50), why he was originally drawn to Wall Street (28:59), what it was like being a bar owner at 25 (30:00), if he had any fear in being a firefighter (33:10), how his preparation and performance mindsets differed as a firefighter (34:45), if there was a debrief process after fighting a fire (36:40), what it was like for him on 9/11 (39:15) and how it’s shaped his life (41:00), what his dreams were prior to 9/11 (42:22), if there was a watershed moment that led him to seeking help (45:20), what training and competing in triathlons is like (47:15),  what he was doing when he got hit (49:20), what it was like living with adversity in his recovery (51:15), what’s different about his mindset today than 20 years ago (53:15), if his mindset changed on his relationship with life and death after his accident (55:30), and what he does to make sure he’s at his best on a daily basis (1:00:20).

You can learn more about Matt at www.mattlongspeaker.com, and give him a follow on Twitter and Instagram @443Long_Matt.

I wrote a book called “Shift Your Mind” that will be coming out in October 2020, and you can pre-order on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Additionally, I have launched a company called Strong Skills, and I encourage you to check out our new website https://www.strongskills.co/. If you liked this episode and/or any others, please follow me on Twitter: @brianlevenson or Instagram: @Intentional_Performers.

Thanks for listening.

-Brian