LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Michael Brizendine runs with a purpose. He’ll push for a time, a split or toward a finish line.
But none of that was a factor the first time he went running. Brizendine started his running journey on the worst day of his life. That sprint was because of disaster and toward tragedy, and it has since taken him places he could have never imagined.
Brizendine was 10 years old when his home country of Haiti was ripped apart in 2010.
"At first, I just didn’t think it was really happening, because it happened so quick and you would never dream of something like that happening," he said.
He was walking back to his school building from the bathroom when the earthquake hit. He watched the building collapse with hundreds of students inside.
“On that day, I’m the only one who survived from the whole school,” he said.
Run. That was the first thought.
“I ran back to my house. My, mom, dad, they were in the house, and when I went back, the house collapsed, and I couldn’t do anything to help," he said. "I know they were under it, but I couldn’t do anything in my power to get them out of it.”
Brizendine's school, house, friends, parents — everything he knew was gone in an instant.
He ran.
"Things were really bad," he said. "I described it as some sort of zombie movie, because you were seeing dead bodies everywhere.”
Brizendine ended up in an orphanage and stayed there for years.
“One thing I found that helped me get through things was running," he said.
It was a temporary escape. The permanent one didn’t show up for five years. When Brizendine was 15, he met a Louisville family that was in Haiti for missionary work. They weren’t there to adopt and ended up at his orphanage by pure chance.
“I have a picture in my living room of our first conversation when he told me his story, and I see it every day," said Mikki Brizendine, Michael's adopted mother. "I remember this instant connection and knowing that even before we left we had to do something for this young man.”
The Brizendine’s wanted Michael to be a part of their family.
“I knew there was something for him beyond an orphanage where he would age out,” Mikki Brizendine said.
It took them less than a week to make the huge decision, but it was a year and a half of road blocks and red tape before Michael made the move to Kentucky and enrolled at Christian Academy of Louisville.
"I started learning about life in a whole new way," he said. "I absolutely loved it here.”
Suddenly, his therapeutic hobby could be more than that.
“I never knew that running was something people did to compete,” he said.
One season on the track team and one in cross country was all it took before Michael signed to run for the Bellarmine Knights. He enrolled this month, and his collegiate career is underway. If his parents could see him now...
“I’m sure they would be overly excited," he said. "Because I’m sure that was their wish for me.”
Michael now runs to win, but it’s important to remember that his passion for the sport started with loss.
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