My first brush with death.
I have ever since my childhood awoke at 5 .am. I have a built-in alarm clock. I am 100% when my eyes open in the morning. To the woe of my wife, Mary, I still arise at 5 .am even though I am retired. While I worked, I didn't use an alarm clock. I have never been late to work. I was 16 years of age when I went to Lake Tahoe to attend a summer runner's camp. The last track season, I had beaten the world's greatest athlete's time in the 1,500-meter run. I had beat…