In 1990, after producing one of my plays Off-Broadway, a tribute play to my late father, I gave up theatre. The process of producing this play took the life out of me, for I was so passionately committed to it, but due to creative team problems and more, I didn’t get the play production that I hoped for.

And I was devastated.

(I was also a very dramatic 31 years of age.)

So I gave up the theatre for 6 years. I focused on my Fitness business up in Westchester, and I also started doing some public speaking and more, but I told myself I would never go back to writing and producing plays.

Then in 1996, something happened that made me question all my negative beliefs and WAKE up again.

I was training with a Fitness client for the 1996 New York City Marathon, and we were committed to running the race together. We started training in June, running and training together 4 times a week, and each week, we slowly added mileage to progressively build up our endurance.

We had a fantastic time training, until a very dark Sunday in Mid-September. We were running one of our longer runs - 18 miles, and BOOM, my knee started to hurt. I needed to stop, but because my client, who I was running with, was doing well, I decided to push through the pain so that I didn’t look like a wimp. Not a good idea.

The next day, I could barely walk due to intense knee pain.

I immediately went to my orthopedist who told me to lay off for a week, and then go to a physical therapist to build up the muscles in my upper leg, for there was an imbalance that caused my kneecap to become subluxated.

“Do you think I will be able to run the Marathon in 6 weeks?” I asked him, knowing his answer.

He smiled, and lovingly said, “No. You won’t be able to run. Right now you need to get this knee back into shape.”

So I was DEVASTATED (for I was a dramatic 31 years of age,) but part of me just didn’t believe my doctor.

Part of me knew, I had to complete this race.

A week later, when I started physical therapy, I asked my therapist Nestor, “Do you think I can run this marathon in 6 weeks?”

He smiled, and then lovingly said, “Anything is possible. You may be able to run this race, but if you do, you have to do it safely so you don’t hurt yourself, and you have to promise me that.”

“Yes!” I said immediately.

“And you have to be willing to do things differently.”

“Yes! No problem.”

“So let’s make an appointment for tomorrow and I will set you up on an alternate training program to keep you safe and hopefully, get you to that finish line!”

Nestor was a smart guy, for he came from the belief that there is always a way. There may not be a way, but he always started there, and that is a good place to start.

When I arrived at our MARATHON training session, he immediately put me on the treadmill. It was off, and I stood there looking at thim strangely. He knew that when I walked my knee hurt like heck.

“So Ken, I want you to turn around.” Nestor said with a fiendish smile.

“What?”

“I want you to turn around, and then I am going to start the treadmill, and we are going to see if it will hurt if you walk BACKWARDS. 60% of the joint pressure is removed when someone walks backwards.”

I turned around. He turned on the treadmill, and I started to walk backwards…

And it DIDN’T HURT! WILD.

He smiled at me and said “Fun, huh? So now you CAN walk but just in the wrong direction. So in addition to our strengthening therapy, I want you to start walking backwards and systematically add more mileage each week.”

“It is 5 weeks to the marathon, I am never going to get to 26 miles.”

“This is not about endurance. This is about walking. In addition, to daily walking backwards, do you have access to a pool?”

“What the heck is going on here?” I thought.

“Yes, I can get access to the SUNY PURCHASE pool.”

Great. I want you to do deep water running and swimming at least 4 days a week, building up to 3 hours by marathon time. That will help build your cardiovascular endurance. Plus you haven’t totally lost your endurance from your earlier training, you have only been off about a week, so this should be fine.”

So there began my “Possibility” marathon training, and I dove in with an insane passion like never before.

I did my physical therapy three times a week, and my deep water running and swimming 4 times a week as prescribed, and I started passionately walking backward. Eventually, I found treadmill walking boring, so since it was a beautiful Indian Summmer that fall, I started walking backwards outside with a mirror so that I wouldn’t run into things.

And I got so good at it, I began to RUN backwards with a mirror and then without a mirror! I would run on the backstreets of Rye, NY, where I was living, and somehow I intuitively missed potholes, dog do and more. It was like my passion and commitment to run this race, was somehow guiding and protecting me.

I got so good at running backwards, I was able to run a 10 minute mile BACKWARDS without tripping or bumping into anything. You should have seen the faces on cars driving by! (I was running backwards so I could see their faces!) What the heck was this man doing, and doing so well?

The day of the race, my training partner and I met at 6 am and took the bus to Staten Island where the The NYC Marathon starts. I had only run forward in water, or swam, or run backwards on land. That day, the day of the race, I would run forward for the first time in 6 weeks and hopefully complete the 26.2 mile adventure ahead.

BANG! The race began and all 33,000 of us started the run across the Verranzano Bridge (Today the race is often twice that number.) With so many people on the bridge the bridge actually bounced, and as the road before us opened up, and as I ran, it almost felt like I was on a trampoline, or I had some sort of super power. It was one of the most amazing experiences in my life, almost flying on the Veranzano Bridge!

Needless to say, I finished the race, as did my training partner. At one point, I was “hitting the Wall” and I sent her on to finish without me.

I was at the Willis Avenue bridge, and my left knee was throbbing and I knew I couldn’t push through pain, so I took some patella-femoral tape I brought with me, and I TAPED my subluxating kneecap in place, and I stood up and started to run slowly. The pain was minimal. This was still possible. I turned on Celene Dion’s Meatloaf Cover “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” and let the song take me, and I miraculously ran the last 8.2 miles to the finish line.

I chose to believe in possibility, and I did it.

That night, I went home and dunked myself in an ICE TUB repeatedly, so that, hopefully, I could walk the next day, and then I bundled up in warm pajamas and went to bed. As I lay there, I saw that all my excuses for not being a creative artist were bullshit. Total hogwash. I had one negative experience and because of that I gave up theatre? I let the pain of 1 event, shape the course of my life?

So lying in bed that night, weeping like a newborn baby, I committed to being a playwright/actor once again, for in that moment, it was clear, it was my life’s work.

That night, after the 1996 marathon, was the beginning of my Renaissance as a playwright and creative artist.

I started writing furiously and producing my plays furiously, and my life transformed, leading to the creation of Manhattan Rep in 2005, all because I choose to believe in possibility, and find a way no matter what.

You can’t let negative experiences and beliefs waylay your playwriting career. All those things that you believe are true that stop you, are bullshit. (Forgive my French, but it is true!) If you commit, choose to adapt when you are not getting the results you want, and keep going, truly living from your creative passion, YOU WILL GET THERE.

So it is time for you to commit to your playwriting career.

Yes, you may be running a marathon, but it is much better than watching from on the sidelines.

Make the bold, and fearful choice, to believe in POSSIBILITY, take inspired action, and live the life of your dreams!