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Washington runner crawls for ten hours after breaking leg in subzero temps rescued

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Joseph Oldendorf Washington runner
Pictured, Joseph Oldendorf Washington runner.
Joseph Oldendorf Washington runner
Pictured, Joseph Oldendorf Washington runner.

Joseph Oldendorf Washington runner crawls for ten hours after breaking leg in subzero temps before being rescued. Surviving against adversity. 

A runner who broke his leg on a snowy trail in a Washington state park has survived after crawling for more than 10 hours in subfreezing temperatures before being rescued.  

Joseph Oldendorf slipped on ice and broke his leg about 12 miles into his 20 mile run on a remote trail in the Olympic National Forest on Friday at about 5pm. 

Oldendorf, whose tibia became detached from his ankle, started crawling on his hands and knees back in the direction he came from after realizing he had no phone signal to call for help. 

He crawled for about seven hours until his knees were past raw.

It was then that he received a text message and realized he had phone signal again. He called 911 at about 12.30am. 

Oldendorf, who was only wearing light running clothes and feared he would die if he remained still, continued crawling for several hours until rescuers managed to locate him at about 4.30am. 

Temperatures in the park on Friday night reached lows of 26 degrees.  

Upon rescuers locating Oldendorf, he was treated for exposure and a broken ankle, before being hoisted up into a rescue helicopter and rushed to hospital for further treatment. 

‘I don’t want my family to hear I died in the wilderness. I think it’d be unbearable.’ 

Speaking from his hospital bed in Seattle where he is recovering, Oldendorf told KIRO that the whole ordeal felt like a weird dream. 

‘I wasn’t counting on my phone ever working. I just figured this is my only chance. I’m going to crawl all the way there,’ he said. 

‘My ankle was in such shape that… I had to be facing chest down for it not to be flopping out of alignment. 

‘So, I had to crawl on all fours, and my knees – it’s a rocky, snowy, dirty, wet trail – and after a while, my knees were just raw. 

‘So I had the idea put my shoes over them so I would at least have some traction and a little bit of protection but they’re still really messed up.’

He said he thought of his family the entire time he was crawling and that it helped push him through the pain.  

‘I stopped to lay down and stay warm, thinking they might be there relatively soon, but I was way too cold. There was no way I could do it without moving,’ he said. 

‘I don’t want my family to hear I died in the wilderness. I think it’d be unbearable.’ 

‘He’s a lucky guy,’ said Brinnon firefighter rescuer Jerry Rule via fox19.com. ‘I wouldn’t expect that he probably would’ve been found, to be honest with you, in my past experience.’

Oldendorf has told of his plans to one day hit the trails again.

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