A near death experience can force you to confront everything you have been avoiding. Hear how one surfing accident changed everything.

For years, Pat spent his time constantly traveling and seeking new activities, using movement as a way to avoid confronting his own thoughts. This pattern of distraction came to an abrupt halt during a surfing accident in San Francisco that left him with a broken neck and temporary paralysis. Facing the reality of his own mortality alone in the water, he was forced to stop running and finally sit with himself.

This story explores the process of overcoming trauma when you are suddenly stripped of your ability to move. It highlights the shift from avoiding your internal state to finding inner peace during the most critical moments of life. By detailing the moment he thought he was going to die and began saying goodbye to his loved ones, this video offers a raw perspective on facing your thoughts before life forces you to.

What You'll Hear:

- How a childhood built on toughness taught Pat to hide what he was really feeling
- The accident at Ocean Beach, and the minutes he spent saying goodbye to the people he loved
- What it was like to be rescued, revived, and told his neck was broken
- How he found gratitude inside a body that had to relearn how to walk
- Why he now works with young people who carry the same silence he used to carry
- What it means to finally live in the present instead of always running from it

Guest Bio:

Patrick Yalon is a San Francisco-based deputy probation officer, high school basketball coach, endurance athlete, writer, and the author of the upcoming memoir *Still Here*. In 2024, he nearly died in a catastrophic surfing accident at Ocean Beach, where he broke his neck, drowned, was revived on the beach, and underwent emergency spinal surgery. What followed was a long and uncertain recovery that forced him to rebuild not only his body, but his identity and sense of purpose.

Since then, Patrick has used endurance, reflection, and writing as part of that rebuilding process, including taking on the Moab 240 ultramarathon. He writes and speaks about trauma, resilience, meaning, and what it means to live fully after nearly losing everything.

Links:
iRunFar article: https://www.irunfar.com/still-here-running-the-moab-240-mile-after-a-near-death-surfing-accident

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