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!