Joseph Ford III is a Wonderful Man

 I have blogged for several years and  Joe Ford is a very dedicated viewer of my work and I would see him at various events and he would inquire about my lack of blogs in recent years.    He was quite dogged in his follow ups, so here we go again.   The picture is Joe on his event, the pole vault in Louisville.    Thanks for the reminders  and patience Joe!




I think my last post was about Donald Trump being an asshole about losing the election and what he would eventually do, he is a predictable loser.   Lets talk about something positive.    

I have moved to Brookfield, Wisconsin since my last entry and we will be here for a long time.  I have retired and may work some part time in the future,  but currently I am not doing anything that makes us money.   We have three kids and a grand baby in the area and they are why we moved here, plus Wisconsin does not levy state taxes on my social security.  Wisconsin also will not have issues due to global warming that we cannot contend.   

Last weekend was the USATF Masters Indoors Championships at the Norton Health and Learning center in Louisville.  The facility is new and state of the art indoor running track that has turns that will either be on an incline or flat depending on the event.  Very slick set up for a track.   The rest of the facility is quite nice as well.  This is a breath of fresh air to a struggling neighborhood. 

I entered the 60m, 200 m, HJ and the 4 x 400 and 4 x 800 m relays.  The relays are for team points, SoCal my team, is always looking to win the team competition and we do quite frequently.  

SoCal did win the team championship by a few points, the win was from a lot of people running a lot of events that they do not normally compete.   I ran in the 4 x 800 relay and we took 3rd place in the 25 year old division.   I have never run an 800 in competition in my entire track career.   I ran a 3:18 leg and did not pass out or throw up,  the official at the exchange zone kinda escorted off the track, thinking I was a little bit light in the head, and she was quite perceptive.  But, I ran it to get 4 points for the team and would do it again.   A lot of that happened in Louisville.  

The 4 x 400 team at the right scored a silver medal in our final race of the weekend.   The gentlemen in the black gear is Dr. Bill Cheadle who lives in Louisville and is a surgeon and a very good hurdler.   He was coming back from some cancer and he did very well in the meet.  Great to see Dr. Bill back in action.  He also hosted a team dinner at his house Friday night and he has an incredible collection of art and music memorabilia.   That was a fun night.   



In the HJ, I cleared 1.45 meters, which is basically a personal best.  I have been stuck at 1.40 meters for a couple of years and it felt good to get over the 1.45 meter stick.  I promptly bombed out at the next higher height--1.5 meter --- and settled for a tie for 4 th.  That jump puts in 14th best position in the world this season, 6 th best in the Americas.  I think I need to get more serious about my jumping, I have not jumped this year in anything but two meets in February.    I did not qualify for the 60 meters finals, I ran 11th in the prelims.  I also ran the 200 meters prelims, and qualified 7th for a 6 lane track.  I messed up and let up at the end and it cost me.  Bad running on my part.  


The next scheduled events are in July and more about that later.   I have a little injury on my right ankle that tends to lock up while walking--- goofy shit happens at these meets.  But overall I came through this one unscathed and ready to go back to training soon.   

Thanks Joe!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Time Ever?

Image
Things are just a little crazy with the chaos associated with the coronavirus and the global reaction.   Talking with my wife and brother, as well as the rest of the world that will still chat with you, nobody can remember anything quite like this situation.   The crash into the Twin Towers on 9-11 had some elements of the situation, but the total shutdown of sporting events, meetings, global travel and the run on water, sanitizer and toilet paper is just totally new to us.  The Master Indoors meet was cancelled this week, I was not planning on going this year.   I am in the middle of relocation from Nashville to Harper Ferry , West Virginia.  On March 31 we will close on the Brentwood house and close on the new place on April 2.   Getting this into place has been a real battle, but it is going to happen.    We are on our third contract for the Brentwood house and after trying to sell it for 9 or 10 months it will close this ...
Read more

Enough!

 I have been voting in Presidential elections since I first cast a vote for Jimmy Carter.  In that election cycle, the country was trying to get the Nixon residue off and Carter was something different and hopefully better.   He was and still is a wonderful human being, but his Presidency did not go well.   Oil shortages, inflation and huge unemployment figures and he was a one termer.  He was not able to make any headway against a very stiff headwind.       I am at the point of this election cycle I cannot wait  to cast a vote against the worst President of all time..  The first Tuesday in November cannot get here soon enough.     I do not think we will ever elect anything as bad as this again.  We will not survive a country if we do.    Is Joe Biden the candidate of my choice--probably not.  Is a mafia Don like we have in place now?? NO!  Does Joe have some seasoning as a leader?...
Read more

Time to run my mouth a bit

Image
I raced last Saturday in Nashville at Stratford High School in the TN USATF meet.   This meet is an annual get together and gives everyone their first chance to run outdoors with electronic timing.   The weather was as usual-- threatening --that is what this meet has always attracted, but we only had limited rain, and no wind or lightning.   No lightning is a huge plus to get the races ran.   As I stated, there was no wind, the track was wet and as a result quite cool and that made for great running conditions.  The track would really push back when you compressed it with your spikes.   I set up my shelter near the 100 meters starting line and keep all my gear dry as could be for the event. We ran the 60 meters first with 5 or 6 people in the heat and some were quite a bit younger and faster.   I used my own blocks and that was a plus, the blocks provided did not dig into the track very well and were a little scary due ...
Read more