Senior Olympian Sprinter

Last weekend the State Finals Track meet for NSGA  was held in Franklin, TN.   As you know from my previous blog, my back was hurting.  But I just shut up and ran. And good things did  happen.  I won the 100 meter dash for the first time in 5 or 6 tries at the State Finals.  It was getting so frustrating, that a couple of years I did not even sign up to run it.  That was how bad my prospects of winning were.   But this year I finally broke through. Thomas Siegle beat me last year and we had raced earlier this year and we were basically shadows of the other when we get to the finish. This year it was my turn and I finally took a gold in the 100!   The victory margin was 0.03 seconds or less than a foot.   I got a great start and had a little bit of a lead and within 20 meters Thomas was on my hip and it  went this way to the finish.  Absolutely neck and neck.  Linda videoed the event from turn one and it was close.  I managed to eek out a victory with a very nice lean and that was the d

Nobody wants to hear it!    It have had one of my more difficult weeks while my eye on the Tennessee State Finals this weekend.   I will fill you in shortly, but I need to offer up some hope before I dwell in sorrow and agony on end.  I am also going to use ever bad pun and saying ever created. I remember many years back the late great Dale Earnhardt Sr had a massive wreck in Nascar and broke his shoulder.  6 days later he won on the road coarse in Watkin Glen--he ran away with the race.  He had absolutely no business driving and kicked their butts plus he had never won on  road course.  Mind over matter for this one.  A couple years prior to that Ricky Rudd had a wreck at Daytona that should have killed him.  His eyes were swollen shut and 6 days later, he taped his eyes open and he won the next race.  Nikki Lauda almost was incinerated in a wreck in Germany in the early 70's and came back after recovering (partially) and missed the F1 Championship by 2 points.   And this stuff go

Birmingham was a good meet in terms of my racing.  I earned an individual in the 200 meters and also set a PR of 28.26 and again got a silver medal in the 4 x 100 relay.  Two medals is a satisfying result for me.   The down side was skipping the 400 meters due to the ouchy knee and missing by 6 inches the 100 meters final.  The knee is much improved because it resting this week and hopefully I can avoid the issue I had one week ago where the knee seemed to jump out of joint. Senior Olympians do have to invest quite a bit in our sport and that includes a large tape budget.  I had a mad right knee and used KT Tape to keep it in position and it very effective.  I also have some bad feet and they need some protection and are taped up as well. The final piece of protection was on my second toe on my right foot and it was in the process of losing the nail and it was completely taped up as well.  With all this tape needed it requires a lot of razor work to make sure it sticks and works a

We just finished a 5 day meet in Birmingham and it started really slowly and finished at warp speed.   Whew, the last day was nuts.   After missing out on the 100 finals and skipping the 400, I needed to deliver on the 200 meters with a finals on Sunday to get a personal medal.   I ran a PR 27.26 in the prelims on Saturday  to win the heat and make the finals.  We were scheduled for 6 heats and there was enough scratches that they redrew the heats and then we then had 4 heats with the winners making the finals and the 4 quick times going through as well.  My original heat was going to be winnable, but the new heat was an absolute slug fest.   I was in third place with 20 meters to go and won the heat!  I have made some miraculous finishes of late and this one is at the top of that list. I did not want to miss the finals--again.  All three of us transferred to the final and I was at the top of the heat sheet for the finals!!  I had to run my ass off, so there was no holding anything b

Puck  Night did not work out as planned, Pekka Rinne is 0-6 in the Paint Bucket and he just struggles.  Hopefully we can extend when we get the Preds back to Nashville. Here is the heat sheet for the 100 m,  hopefully it is legible.  Today we ran the  100 meter prelims and I got fractioned out and missed the Finals by 6 inches.  We had 6 heats and you take the heat winner and next 3 quick for a total of 9.  I was third in my heat with a time of 13.38 seconds, which also the time of one other racer.  The time to make the show was 13.37 and we were outside looking in.   The time difference amounts to 6 inches!  A better lean or slight improvement could have moved me on, but it was not to be.  The time was pretty good and I cannot whine about that.  The knee is still off some  and it has a slight numbness like pain, it is going to need a tune up when we return to Nashville.  Tomorrow is the 200 meter prelims in the afternoon.  It is getting hotter by the day and my shoes are sta

Nashville is in the thick of the Stanley Cup finals and Nashville has embraced winning hockey in the Music City!  Tonights game in Pittsburgh is pivotal to who wins the cup.  Go Preds!  We are at tthe races but we are watching right now. I did race today at the National meet in Birmingham. I ran ninth or last in the finals of the 50 meters.  I ran a 7.33 time and got  a great start but had just didn't have the speed.   Linda videoed the race and it appears my right leg has some problems with crossing under my left hip when striking the ground.  I know it has been hurting, but I am going  to need to doctor on this deal.  I know it did not help my speed  but you race what you got and right now, it appears I need a chassis tuneup and alignment. Tennesse had a lot of medals today in the 400 meters and field events.  We have a very large athlete count and it appears we are producing the medals.  Go Volunteers! Tomorrow is the 100 meters and all the big guns will be running, it sho

The Senior Nationals started today in Birmingham, Alabama.  Linda and I drug in last night after a very exhausting weekend.  We had house guests for several nights, hosted a brunch for about 35 to 40 people on Sunday and attended a wedding celbration as well.  The Predators kept us interested as well with their great weekend, the town is nuts! By the time we arrived Tuesday night we were on fumes--we drank a lot of coffee just to get to our butts to the hotel.   Then it was a quick dinner and to bed. Today--Wednesday--I drove to the Convention Center and got my credentials so I could race and found out that I had a morning race coming up--50 meters prelim.  I had not put that race on my start time list, but I had two hours to get to the track and would run it. I am going to do a 24 hour flashback for the purpose of making this story more interesting and complete.  After my final tune up session Tuesday at the gym, I warmed up and stretched indoors to stay in a nice cool place, I sa