Derek Holdsworth outkicked the field to win the 800 meters while wearing a borrowed singlet from his alma mater, Western Oregon. Photo by Kevin Neri
What Derek Holdsworth thought started out as a little cramp over the summer turned into a life- and career-threatening health issue. He developed a pulmonary embolism in his lung.
“I didn’t think I was going to be running anymore. I seriously almost died in the hospital,” said Holdsworth.
What he thought might be a slight strain from lifting the groceries too hard, turned into a visit to the ER where doctors initially sent him home.
“Day two I was borderline dying,” he said. “I was sitting there and couldn’t breathe. I drove myself at 3 a.m. and I seriously thought that was it.”
Nine months later at Hayward Field, Holdsworth won the men’s 800-meter invitational Saturday at the Hayward Premiere, outkicking Luis Peralta and Lorenz Herrmann and finishing with a time of 1:47.20.
“To come out and finally run faster than I did in high school here, I was pretty happy,” said Holdsworth.
An alumnus of the track and field team at Western Oregon, Holdsworth is now running post collegiately with Bell Lap Elite. “They resell some old track and field gear to kind of get you some money to be able to travel and do what you need to do,” he said. “Because a lot of people don’t have contracts.”
As a result of the pulmonary embolism, Holdsworth was put on blood thinners, and he was unsure of how it would affect his running.
“I’d take the medication once a day and I could go for a five-minute jog at a 10-minute pace and I would wake up sore, crawling out of bed,” said Holdsworth.
For about three months he was limited in what he was able to do physically. “It was a long, slow build up and it wasn’t fun,” said Holdsworth. “I’d go out and jog for 30 seconds and then walk for five minutes and just do that. I had to do stuff like that from August until October. I didn’t do a workout until October.”
Once he was able, Holdsworth got right back into things. Explaining that it was, of course, scary coming back from this, but knew he had to start somewhere.
“I’m just gonna race and race and race and do what I can,” he said.
