Thrill of victory and the agony of defeat

WMA official Team USA gear
WMA = World Masters Athletics.

 

WMA official Team USA gear
Official Team USA gear arrived yesterday.

 

Stopped running four days ago. And won’t be running the next five days while visiting Glacier National Park.

Will nine days no running be enough to shake this undiagnosed right calf pain?

Is there still hope in wearing the Team USA jersey that arrived yesterday?

Next Blog

London 2012 Olympics Team USA Track & Field results

USATF truck

Team USA should be proud of the way they prepared for, competed in, and spread good will and inspiration at the 2012 London Olympics. Here’s a cut and paste from USATF’s official press release:

Team USA Superlatives

  • Allyson Felix is the first woman since Florence Griffith-Joyner in 1988 to win three gold medals at a single Olympic Games
  • 1st time U.S. women won 2 medals in the long jump
  • The .55 improvement in the women’s 4x100m relay world record (41.37 to 40.82) was the largest drop in that event in the modern era.
  • Will Claye’s bronze in the LJ and silver in the TJ marks the first time since 1936 that any man has medaled in both jumps at the Games and the first time an American has done it since Meyer Prinstein in 1904
  • 2012 marks the fifth time the U.S. has gone 1-2 in the decathlon; the last time was 1956
  • Ashton Eaton’s 10.35 in the 100m is an Olympic decathlon record
  • Galen Rupp’s silver medal in the men’s 10,000m is the first medal by an American since Billy Mills’ gold in 1964
  • Leo Manzano’s silver medal in the men’s 1,500m is the first medal by an American since Jim Ryun’s silver in 1968
  • Sanya Richards-Ross is only the second U.S. woman to win the 400 at the Games
  • The two-medal effort by Richards-Ross and DeeDee Trotter in the 400 is the second for the U.S. in that event in Olympic history.
  • The two-medal effort by Allyson Felix and Carmelita Jeter in the 200 is the second for the U.S. in that event in Olympic history.
  • The U.S. won multiple mens’ medals in distances 1,500m and above for the first time since 1968
  • Best U.S. team finish in the men’s 1,500 since 1936 (2nd, 4th)
  • Brigetta Barrett’s silver in the women’s high jump is the first U.S. medal since Louise Ritter won gold in 1988.

U.S.-best performances at Olympic Games (18)

  • Galen Rupp, men’s 10,000m – 27:30.90
  • Trevor Barron, men’s 20km race walk – 1:22:46
  • Dawn Harper, women’s 100m hurdles (tie) – 12.37
  • Matt Centrowitz, men’s 1,500m (run in the semifinals), 3:34.90
  • Leo Manzano, men’s 1,500m – 3:34.79 (surpassing Centrowitz’s semifinal time)
  • Maria Michta, women’s 20K walk – 1:32:27
  • Justin Gatlin, men’s 100m – 9.79
  • Duane Solomon, men’s 800m – 1:42.82
  • Aries Merritt, men’s 110m hurdles – 12.92
  • Men’s 4x100m relay – 37.38 in prelims
  • Women’s 4x100m relay – 41.64 in prelims
  • Women’s 4x100m relay – 40.82
  • Men’s 4x100m relay – 37.04
  • Brigetta Barrett, women’s HJ – 2.03m/6-8
  • Ashton Eaton, men’s decathlon – 8,869 pts.
  • Lashinda Demus, women’s 400m hurdles – 52.77
  • Amber Campbell, women’s hammer – 69.93m/229-5
  • Brittany Borman, women’s javelin – 59.27m/194-5

Records set at Olympic Games by Team USA
World Record – Women’s 4x100m relay (40.82)
American records – Men’s 4x100m relay (37.38), Men’s 4x100m relay (37.04), Women’s 4x100m relay (40.82)

Can Barely Walk

Last night I could barely walk.  Foot pain.  Left heel.  Why?  Not sure.

Some of you know I represented the United States at the 2009 Masters Track & Field World Championships in Lahti, Finland.  The first week of August seems like so long ago, when in fact, it wasn’t.  Since then, I’ve completely tapered off on training. Completely.

So why the pain?

What is amazing to me, and something I tried to hide in the Lane 8 blog posts before traveling to Finland, is that I was actually able to compete at all.

“Then why put yourself through all this”?, is a common question.  Roger Bannister, the first human to break the four-minute mile barrier, said it best:

“I sometimes think that running has given me a glimpse of the greatest freedom a man can ever know, because it results in the simultaneous liberation of both the mind and body…..  The runner does not know how or why he runs.  He only knows that he must run…..  We run, not because it is doing us good, but because we enjoy it and cannot help ourselves”. — Roger Bannister 1956

Confused?

Confused?  Yes.

In pain?  Yes.

Why?

That’s what is confusing.  Why is the left foot pain returning?

It’s always something isn’t it?  There’s always something that is in front of us that tempts us to want to stop doing what we know we can’t stop doing.

Always has been.  Always will be. Getting so impatient with this that a cortisone shot is looking very tempting – cortisone is something I swore I wouldn’t do.

Yet my podiatrist and I agreed, in March, that we should try one shot.

Now I’m seriously thinking about a second.  Remember, I swore I’d never do a single shot.  Now I’m thinking about a second. Good luck with your temptations today.

Pain Update

Pain update.  Short and sweet.

Yes, the pain is still nagging me, slowing things down, tempting me to become very discouraged.

Tempting me, and I shudder to think about it, to quit.

Quit?

Yes.  Quit.

This has been going on for years.  YEARS!

Being 50 years old and achieving and sustaining a world class fitness level is not easy.

Why work so hard, so long, so quietly?  You know there are many, many people who know me well and have no idea I went to Finland for the 2009 WMA Master’s Track and Field World Championships?  So yes, quietly.

So why then, all this work?

Remember my big goal?  To see our son graduate from High School in ten years.  No man on my Dad’s side has made it past 60.

What’s your “excuse”?