My Workout Playlist

Just for fun I thought I would give some people a look into what I listen to while warming up or working out. 225 songs worth...Enjoy!

Today in James Carter history...

The 20th year Anniversary of this story...

Myasthenia Gravis - an autoimmune neuromuscular disease leading to fluctuating muscle weakness and fatiguability. It is an autoimmune disorder, in which weakness is caused by circulating antibodies that block acetylcholine receptors at the post-synaptic neuromuscular junction, inhibiting the stimulative effect of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine.

May 1989

At age 11 I started participating in the sport of track and field for a rec center in Baltimore called Walter P. Carter which was also my elementary school for 2 years. At my first meet I had no idea as to what I was getting into. I showed up with a neon green tank top, some Jam shorts (who remember those) and a pair of Le Coq Sportif tennis shoes on. My first race was the the 100m and got 6th in my heat. I have never liked losing and my coach told me to try the 200m & 400m later in the day. Well I ended up winning both those races and I feeling better about my first meet. My coach looked at my mom and was speechless. All he could do was shake his head and smile. He had always told me and my mom that I was talented but at age 11 I wasn't really paying attention to all that...I was just having fun. I ended up making the city wide traveling team that summer and for the first time got a chance to compete with kids from different parts of the country. I made new friends, got to see other parts of the country, had my first girlfriend and first date (going to the movies to watch Batman and holding hands) but ended the summer at the last meet (The Youth Games) with a pulled hamstring. I was unable to do anything fun for about a month and I was miserable. Once I healed up, I was happy and ready to go play as much as possible!!!

Apr 1990

I noticed that something was wrong when trying to be active. I was getting tired more often and had to rest more. There were times that I would feel my legs get weak and had to sit down for a few minutes just to make it down the block. Things would get really bad as time went on though. I had an eye lid that at times would only be halfway open, I would drop to one knee when walking, sit down when going down steps...I had no clue what was going on. A lot of stuff I never shared with my mom until my aunt noticed. She spoke to my mom about it and my mom then started paying attention. I remember one night she made dinner and I was at the table so weak that I couldnt chew my food. I literally had to push my jaw up with my arm to attempt to eat my food. Once she saw that she helped me get dressed and took me to the hospital and told them to find out what was wrong. Test after test and thought after thought, I had doctors baffled. They had no idea what was going on. Felt like forever before they figured it out and when they did figured it out it was January of 1991.

The doctor sat down with me and my mom and told us that I had a tumor which was causing all of my problems. Surgery was an option but not 100%. Most people that had the surgery were fine after but a small number of people would still have issues. I may have been 12 & about to turn 13 years old at the time but it was simple for me.

Surgery = Back to normal

I asked the doctor how fast could we get it done. They set a date and I said OK.

February 26, 1991

I went to the hospital to prepare for surgery the next day. They told me that at 12:00am the next day (February 27th) I couldn't eat anything else until after the surgery but even after I would probably be throwing up anything I ate after. My mom and dad asked if I had any request and I swear I ate so much junk and unnecessary food that day LOL! I had some twister donuts in a bag on the side of my bed but I fell asleep watching TV and woke up at 2am and was mad but I went back to sleep. The next day I remember them putting me on the table and rolling me to the surgery room. Once inside the doctor was laughing and joking with me as to make me feel a little more comfortable. He told me, "OK we are going to put this mask over your face and the gas will put you to sleep. I want you to count to 5." I laughed at him and in my own 12 year old ignorant mind said, "Its going to take more then that to put me to sleep but OK...1.......2......ZZZZzzz

I wake up and feel like a damn zombie. I had blurry vision, a spinning head and slowly getting more and more pissed at how sore my damn chest was. I had an IV in my arm, machines hook up all over me...and I stayed this way for about a week in the hospital. I was trying to eat but I would throw everything up. I couldn't even eat ice chips without throwing up. My mom had to wash me up in the bed everyday cause I refused to let the nurses in there see me naked LOL! I had my walkman in the hospital with me and one tape that I listened to and memorized from start to finish and I still know the words to date...EPMD - Business as Usual

After a week I was able to go home but not to school. I had to stay home for almost a month. Once I got over all the being sore stuff I noticed that I was feeling pretty normal. Wasn't weak, could move and do as I pleased, just my chest was sore from being cut on. I went back to school and finished up the rest of the year and they passed me to the 8th grade but my mom told them that I missed so much time that she thought I should stay back in the 7th grade again. I looked at her like she was crazy as hell...Stay back in the same grade? Oh no, I looked for any other option then that. So the people at my middle school (Winston Middle School) told her that they would keep me in the 7th grade class but give me 8th grade work and if after the first 1/4 of the year if I kept up I would be officially an 8th grader. Please believe I worked my ass off to not be in the 7th grade again and was an 8th grader when the time came.

I had check ups almost every month after my surgery and my question to my doctor was always the same..."When can I do whatever I want to do physically again?" He told me not yet almost every time until that one day in 1992 when he said, "You are in remission now." I looked at him like, "Huh, what that mean?" I was almost 14 I had no clue as to what that meant but when he broke it down into laymen terms I was think, "Why didn't you just say that?!" I went back to my rec center and my coach was happy to see me. I started running and training again but I noticed something again...I was faster! Now it may have been that I got older and you get better as you get older sometimes but I went from fast to held back to struggling to holy shit Im faster then everybody at my rec center now! Then I showed up at my summer track teams meet and ran and they all were like, "Well damn where you been?!" I was back to traveling and competing again never looking back. I stayed at it from that point on and here I am today with all my athletic achievements from age group nation champ to one of the best ever 400 hurdlers ever in the world. Take that Gail Devers ha ha ha, OK Im just kidding LOL!