The Birth of 2012

It's been almost a week now since my ankle had a small argument with a pole vault standard. As beautifully rainbow colored as it is, it is healing quite well. Wednesday I was able to complete my regular stationary bike sprint workout, and today I was able to complete my regular pool running workout. If I had a competition this weekend, I think I would be able to compete. That not being the case, I am taking some time off the runway despite the fact that I am dying to get back on. Colorado was a huge eye opener for me, and its been on my mind everyday since. Normally I would be concerned that I need to get back on the runway and repeat this feeling or realization that took place. However looking back it seems more like an epiphany, and I believe it is something that will stick regardless of how soon I revisit my favorite task. This makes me very at ease.

Meanwhile, after my first hard training day, my back is already in a fuss. Not changing anything in my training regiment I realize that something I have been doing has been irritating it, and I have been choosing to ignore it. I must weed this little devil out of my workouts in order to once again mold my program into something that is worthy of producing an Olympian with such severe back problems. Each time I change it, I feel that much closer to perfecting it. But maybe it is something that cannot be perfected and has to constantly change, as I change. Either way, Alex and I already have ideas of what it could be, and have made modifications that look promising. Time is running out and every little detail counts. Ten months until the Olympic Trials. Just ten short months.
If you have ever been a Post-Collegiate or even Collegiate Track and Field athlete, you know that years don't end and begin in December and January for us like they do for the rest of the world. They end and begin in August and September.
Colorado was my final competition of the 2011 season. With its conclusion, the birth of 2012 began. As I drove away from there, I realized that on that day I began what is probably the last season of my career. After swallowing hard and choking back the tears welling up in my eyes, I looked down the long highway in front of me, and told myself; what I do next, will be legendary.