Senior Olympian Sprinter

    If you leave the airport in US Virgin Island, look to your right and this beach will be right behind the thin line of trees and shrubs.  The beautiful water gets to you quick.   The water in the Virgin Islands is quite clear and plentiful.  Linda and I recently spent a week on St Thomas and enjoyed the weather, people, beaches and food.  We 'won' a trip last year at a fundraiser for the Nashville Rep Theatre and this is the trip we collected.  It our first trip to the Islands and we enjoyed it and would go back if given a chance.    The island we were on is really dependent on the tourist trade and the cruise ships are a large part of that equation.   Everybody that works on the island knew the ship schedules.   We went to a beach on the North side of the island and arrived before a boat docked on the South side of the island.  One hour after that boat docked, 1500 more people arrived at Magen's Beach.  The boats are a big deal to the local economy.    

I have been on my new meds for a couple of weeks and finally had a chance to test my speed at the local track this week. I have gained a couple of pounds--but I have had a very robust appetite. Med related???    I have been running only once a week and that makes for a lot of energy from the legs. I ran some 50 meters from the blocks and felt pretty good.  I did  a couple of stop watch runs without blocks and the numbers were pretty good and I think I should be able to get into the USATF bronze or silver award range in the 60 meters.  One of my fellow Sr. Olympians gave me a heads up about a USATF masters event on May 6.  I  will sign up.  I have not gotten an official time in the 60 meters and will definitely run that and the shorter sprints.   I think three races in on day are enough.  I do need recovery time and getting hurt now would be just stupid.  I think the 'rest' period that I have been enjoying is over and I will slowly start my prep for the big events this summer.

  I discussed doping my last post and I have continued to work on getting clean for racing.   I have successfully changed my blood pressure meds with a totally different active.  The follow up visits with my doctor have indicated that the BP is in my normal range and that change has been OK.   I have been experimenting with different actives for my allergy medication.   I have used Allegra D 24 for years and it is not legal for meets, but is OK during the rest of the year.  Tricky medicine to get out of your system as well.  I have calculated it would take around 72 hours to get clean after a dosage.  This pill is encapsulated for timed release and it makes getting the actives much more difficult to clear. I was in Canada a couple weeks ago and bought some Claritin and Allegra D 12 hour medicine to "trial".   The Allegra D 12 was effective while in Canada and not nearly as strong as that neutron bomb I had been doing in the Allegra D 24.  When I got back on the 24 for a