Current items of interest in Track & Field throwing events, and my progress as a Masters Athlete.
Friday, September 22, 2006
5-4-3-2-1
That would be the sound of me counting down the weeks until the last meet of the year. It's hard for me to believe that it's this time of the year again. It seems like only yesterday that I was counting down the weeks until the first meet of the year.
The last meet of the year is always a fun one. It's a throws-only affair, so there's nobody running around in circles to serve as a distraction. It also tends to be a no pressure affair, which is good. I'm looking forward to seeing if I can't improve some of my season's best marks this last time out. There's always hope.
One thing I definitely need to improve is my SuperWeight mark. After throwing that damn thing once I vowed I would never do it again, but some fool went and posted my measley 12' 2" mark on the internet. I just can't stand to see that one go down in the record books, so I need to add a few feet to it before I retire again...and this time for good. (I wonder if this is what Cher feels like?)
It’s hard to be too disappointed when you throw your 4th longest throw during a rain storm, but I can still find a way. You see, I was about 3 meters short of what I wanted.
Everything was going well during the warm-ups. I felt good for finally getting my 140’. But as soon as the warm-ups ended, the skies opened up and the rains came down. Luckily I had been out practicing a couple of weeks ago when it had started raining, and rather than leave I said to myself, “Someday I’m going to have to throw in a meet in the rain, so I might as well figure out how to do it.” I think that help my confidence a lot today. Everybody else threw way below what they normally do, while I threw what I normally do. That was kind of sweet.
To give you an impression of just what an effect the rains had on others. One of the ranked throwers in an older age group slipped and fell, and broke a finger. From then on all the other throwers in his group threw standing throws from the front of the ring. Meanwhile in my age group, the No. 2 thrower in the country (who’s had a 170+ ft throw this year) threw just under 140! He had been throwing around 160 in warm-ups but on his first competition throw he slipped, and his confidence was gone from then on.
A guy goes to see the doctor and says, "Doctor, it hurts when I do this". And the doctor looks at him and says, "Well don't do that!"
That's the short version of my MRI experience, except that when you pay a bunch of money instead of saying "don't do that" they say "modify your behavior". It turns out that I have a slight tear of this, and a possible tear of that, and early signs of arthritis. Nothing worth having surgery over, but they were kind enough to offer me a cortisone shot, which I declined. I'll save that for some future time when I really need it.
I had an MRI on my shoulder last Friday. I’ll get the results next Friday. Needless to say, the shoulder isn’t getting any better on its own.
I’m still planning to compete in the Sate Senior Games meet on September 17th, but definitely not in the Shot Put or the Javelin Throw. Whatever is in the cards for treating my shoulder, at least I will have had the MRI out of the way at that point and treatment could begin immediately following the meet.
I had a throw of 140’ 2” today in practice, and I threw the 2k about 110’ yesterday. If I have any hopes of hitting 140’ at the State games I need to be able to throw it fairly consistently in practice, and that just isn’t happening…yet.
That would be the sound of me counting down the weeks until the last meet of the year. It's hard for me to believe that it's this time of the year again. It seems like only yesterday that I was counting down the weeks until the first meet of the year.
