The Man Scout: There is no time for first aid when there’s a mountain to climb and mud to wallow in

By Chris Cole
Special to NKyTribune


A good scout must always be prepared to render aid in any type of emergency situation. Of all the chapters in my trust Boy Scout Handbook, Chapter 20: First Aid may be the one I wish I’d read when I was a boy.

Of course, emergencies come in all shapes and sizes, and some require more skill than others. The Handbook notes a few types of emergencies that must receive instant attention to prevent death. One such situation is when blood is gushing from a cut artery or vein.

I’ve had a few brushes with potentially serious situations, and while I wish I could tell you I instinctively followed the steps outlined in the Handbook, I weren’t no Boy Scout, so I’m probably lucky to be alive.

It cost Chris seven stitches and a chipped bone, but it was worth it for this sweet Mud-Stash finishing medal.

One of the more memorable examples came on a beautiful Saturday morning in Lawrenceburg, Ind., in May of 2012. Me and a dozen or so of my old workout buddies were at Perfect North Slopes for the annual Mud-Stash run.

For those unfamiliar, the Mud-Stash was a 4-mile race over obstacles that included hills, mud crawls, wall rappels, a swinging bridge, etc. It was last run in 2019 and I believe has been discontinued.

I was pumped. I’d run several races that year, including the Flying Pig Half Marathon the weekend before, but I’d never done a mud run.

One of the very first obstacles on the course was a lake you had to cross by jumping from innertube to innertube (aka “lily pads”). Balance was never my strong suit, so like many other competitors, I decided to crawl across. That was going well until I slid off the side of one of the innertubes and landed, knee-first, on one of the metal spikes that was holding the innertubes in place.

I mumbled an un-Boy-Scoutly word or two and pulled myself up out the water to see blood literally gushing out of my right leg. A medic was called, who told me that my day was done and that I likely needed stitches.

I didn’t want to hear that, so I asked them to wrap it and let me continue. They strongly suggested I not proceed with the race, and of course I ignored their warnings. Once wrapped up, off I ran.

I know it wasn’t my smartest moment, but in the heat of a race with adrenaline pumping, it’s hard to downshift. And to this day, I am proud that I finished. Over logs, through muddy tunnels, up and down cargo nets, through icy water – for four tough miles I persevered. To tell you the truth, I even forgot that I had injured myself.

A week after the Mud-Stash, the Man Scout was back at it for a 5K in Newport. They heard he was running, so they had an ambulance there just in case.

Until the race was over, that is. My crew and I were gathered at the finish line completely caked in mud. I don’t even think I’d told them what happened yet, so imagine their surprise when someone squirted me with water and I suddenly yelped in pain and fell to the ground as blood again begin pouring out of me.

I hobbled down to the medic station and was told I needed to go to the hospital. But first things first – I’d run a hard race and was famished. I had lunch with my crew and stopped at an urgent care on the way home to get stitches and make sure there wasn’t any serious damage.

Turns out it was just a gnarly cut and a small chip off my bone. The next weekend, I was in Newport running a 5K.

Things sure do change as you get older. In September, I stood up at my desk and felt something pull in my right knee. It quickly tightened up and has been hurting ever since. I finally went to an orthopedic surgeon a few weeks back, and as we reviewed my MRI, he asked me to tell him about my previous knee surgery.

“Oh, that wasn’t surgery,” I said. “I fell off an innertube in a mud race and split my leg open pretty good. But I finished the race.”

Next Monday, I’ll have surgery to remove some of my torn meniscus. My wife and adventure partner, Megan, has graciously volunteered to fill in next week and provide the perspective of the Woman Scout. I can’t wait to read her column.

In the meantime, watch out for those hidden stakes, and Do a Good Turn Daily!

Chris Cole is Director of Enterprise Communications at Sanitation District No. 1 and a deacon at Plum Creek Christian Church in Butler. He lives in Highland Heights with his wife, Megan. The Man Scout chronicles Cole’s journey to acquiring some of the skills of the head, the heart and the hand he failed to learn as a child of the Eighties growing up in Newport. His field guide: a 1952 Boy Scouts Handbook he found on eBay.