Senior Olympian Sprinter

Last weekend I participated in the USATF Indoor meet in Landover , MD.  I did get one Gold in the 4 x 400 relay  and struggled in the individual events.   Overall it was great weekend, but I have some work to do to be competive in the outdoor season.   We ran the 400 race first day in  two heats and I was in the fast heat.   My plan was to stay with the leaders and make the first lap at about 29 seconds and then see what I had left.  I was close to 29 at the half way,  but I was already toast—nothing left.  I cruised home in big distress at 66 seconds and was 7 th, which was quite a  disappointment.   Great strategy, but lousy execution.    Next race was  the 60 which I did well but was 10th.  Too much speed on that track.  I ran a 8.78 second AA Silver Standard time! I had worked hard on my speed in the off season and will continue some of that speed work.  My start was really sol...

The USATF Indoor National track meet is this weekend near FedEx Field in Maryland.   I am headed that way today to run in all the sprint events and a couple of relays.  I am a member of the SoCal Track club who likes to compete for the team title at these National events.  We were second at the outdoors last year in Baton Rouge.    Hopefully I can score enough points to be helpful.  I am in 5 events, two relays and 3 individual races.  I think I can score about a dozen points--we will see.   I have been training as much as possible.  I have done a lot of core and hip related work and that's section is pretty strong.   I had a issue with some back pain last week and I can get through that with some heat.   Some of these aches and pains are probably the "new normal" but I do not want to admit that is the case.   I have been working hardest on the 60 and I hope to make a good show in that event.  Th...

I am in Tulsa, OK this week and guess what?  It is windy!  The wind is a constant in this part of the world.  We had some decent weather today and I headed to the Memorial High School field in Tulsa for some running on their 6 lane track.   Decent weather here  is 15 to 18 MPH wind, 11% humidity and 60 degrees at 4:00 PM.    The wind on this track is typically right down the front stretch, which is also shady.  To stay as warm as possible, I do my work in the sun on the back stretch.  Today I worked on 100 meters repeats on the synthetic turf into the wind.  I brought my parachute, but it was not needed.   I ran four 100 meter repeats  into the wind and after getting some pretty good work, I got out my stopwatch and timed two 100 meters into the wind--15.94 and 15.90 were the times.   I then ran two sets with the wind  with similar effort and  that was different....

Last weekend Linda and I made it to Vegas for a quick two nights to celebrate her 16th 39th birthday.  It was as advertised and we had a great time and were just exhausted when we made it home for the Super Bowl  game.     I napped into the second quarter. The reason for this trip was Van Morrison.  He is a bucket list show for us and he did a couple shows at Caesars Palace and we scored some tickets last July.   The fact that the show was the day after Linda's birthday just made the show that much sweeter.  Van delivered with a 100 minute show with great sound and the band and vocals were really entertaining. His show is a very bluesy.  This bucket list item did not disappoint.  FYI-- the Faith Hill song lyrics echoed thru my head all weekend. "Hey baby, let's go to Vegas, bet on love and let it ride,...." We stayed at the Venetian, which is a very large suite hotel right on the str...

I travel Internationally for work  at least annually and the chance of something going berserk is pretty darn good.   Last week I was in Puerto Vallarta for a sales meeting and I got the 'call'.  Linda was just ready to leave the house and heard a very disturbing 'boom' and then water blasting out of the wall from behind the toilet!  What??? Yes, a water line exploded and water was literally gushing out of the wall. Of course, I was in a meeting with my phone off, what kind of husband am I?    Linda was not able to find the water cut off valve to the entire house--because the valve is in a horrible location for access.  So water was just gushing into the bathroom.  Linda was able to get the neighbor on the phone and he found the shut off valve and got the gusher stopped. Thanks John. She also diverted the water from the rest of the house with some towels to the drain in the floor of the bathroom area--it is a stone flo...

  This picture of June  just makes Christmas worth all the effort.   All the wonder is rolled up into this shot with Rudolf and the tree.   June  will be going through her first Holiday Season and I hope she has a blast just like the rest of us.  The dress she is wearing was used for her baptism a couple weeks ago.  She will be our star this season!!  Josh Simon married Betty and Linsi and also did the baptism.  I would say this is the first fruit of his marriage ceremonies.... Josh is finally graduated from school and is now ordained and will  start building his flock in Vermont very soon.  He is a great person and we wish him the best of luck. He is one of Betty's friends from high school who would occasionally hang around our farm house with the other kids.  What a great story!  Josh is batting 1.000...... This next photo is an absolute classic.  While waiting to see S...

If the Canyon was not enough torture I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving morning.    I run this race every year to support the local charity --Graceworks and to remind myself of why I am a sprinter.   I am a sprinter because I cannot get enough air into my system to do longer distances....period.  This year we did run the complete 5.0K course and I finished in 30:56, which was 13 of 43 in my age group.  I have always be trying for beating 30 minutes but I have too many excuses this year, and they do not matter because they are just excuses.  Last year they cut off a section because the lead out people screwed up badly.   We ran a 4.45 K last year and I was really fast in comparison!  The weather was substantially cooler this year with a race time temperature( 8:00 AM)  of 30 degrees and clear. There was over 3000 that started the race and it grows a little bigger each year.   The event is well organized and is easy...