Medina's Brent Lambert keeps moving

Cycling is Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Running is Tuesday and Thursday. Everything starts at 5 a.m.

It's the hour owned by the hardcore, the dedicated, the motivated, and Brent Lambert is those things. He'll show you his medals — two gold for cycling and two silver for running — acquired earlier this month in Oklahoma at the Endeavor Games for athletes with physical disabilities.

But the Medina native and founder of Birth Choice is more interested in discussing the benefits of being active, particularly for those with physical disabilities who want to improve their quality of life.

Lambert learned when he was 14 he had a bone disease called osteomyelitis. He played basketball throughout high school and in his 20s.

"[I] was not able to do that for an extended period of time because the disease would always come back and interfere with activities," Lambert, 59, said last week.

He had 22 surgeries over the years to save his right leg, and then five years ago he decided to have it amputated.

In an interview he displayed two specialized prosthetic legs. One is for running, and it has a curved bottom so he can push off of it. Another is made for when he rides a bicycle.

Lambert admits he feared using a prosthetic leg for many years before deciding to have surgery.

"I got on my bike probably two weeks after surgery, but it was a long type of process to develop any type of distance and any type of speed because I had never biked and really had never run before," Lambert said.

"Interestingly enough I'm able now to be much more active after surgery than I was before because of limitations that I had," he said.

Insurance does not usually cover prosthetic legs specifically meant for sports. Amputee Blade Runners, a Nashville-based group with which Lambert traveled to Oklahoma, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) both provide free athletic equipment to those with physical disabilities. A special leg like Lambert uses for running or biking would otherwise cost several thousand dollars.

Lambert's first athletic competition after his surgery was the 2013 Wounded Warrior Run in Dyersburg. His son, Blake, attended and has been a big encourager up to that point and beyond. Lambert's three goals that day were the same he has now for each event, and so far he has always met them: Finish, finish upright and don't finish last.

"Any time that you can progress and surpass especially able-bodied people in all types of endeavors, that in and of itself is an encouragement," Lambert said.

He stayed busy at the Endeavor Games in Oklahoma, running the 100-meter dash in 18.17 seconds and the 200-meter dash in 38.42. But he prefers cycling, and he competed in the 5K and 20K races.

He enjoyed traveling with the Blade Amputee Runners, most of whom are are several years younger than him, noting several have a good humor about their disabilities. One teammate who was born without hands held his arm straight out to Lambert and joked "I'm giving you a thumbs up. Can't you tell?"

Though kids can learn how to use a prosthetic device faster than adults do, Lambert recognizes they are at risk for bullying or other negative feedback from peers.

"The way that I encourage those young folks: If they can be better involved athletically and physically, then when they surpass what an able-bodied child can do, then they'll start getting respect from their friends, from students at school," Lambert said.

The cycling and running partners Lambert works with responded enthusiastically to his participation in their groups. His cycling group meets at Pope Elementary and his running group at West Jackson Baptist Church.

"From day one that I started working with them, they were very encouraging and encourage on a daily basis," Lambert said. "They respect the fact that I didn't sit down in a wheelchair. I didn't just give up."

Lambert has been in the Jackson area for about 35 years. He and his wife, Beverly, live in Medina, where she grew up. In addition to their son Blake they have three grown daughters, Beth, Bre and Brooke.

Beverly works with Brent at Birth Choice but isn't too interested in sports.

"The important thing is she loves me and so she supports me," he said.

Lambert has a couple bits of advice for everyone.

"To folks with limited physical abilities of any kind, them becoming more active physically – walking or doing anything, swimming – is going to improve their overall health, which is ultimately going to give them a better quality of life and help them actually to reverse some physical limitations that they have," Lambert said.

Lambert encourages what he calls "able-bodied" people to also join a group for physical activities.

"People with physical limitations would give anything to be able-bodied, so at that point able-bodied folks really do have a blessing of health and a blessing of physical ability that they really don't appreciate as much as they should," Lambert said.

Lambert insisted this story wasn't about him but about encouraging readers to be more active.

He'll stay a 5 a.m. guy for now, but whenever you start your training will be the right time, too.

Craig Thomas, 425-9634