18' 1" Olympic Trials 2008

18' 1" Olympic Trials 2008

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Making Time


There has been a lot going on in my life. If you’ve stuck around you are probably close enough to me to know most of it. I will get into greater detail another day but for now I will leave you with this. I didn’t care about the indoor season and almost skipped it entirely. I can almost count on one hand the amount of days I pole vaulted between practice and competition (3 meets, 3 practice days). But some competitions are just way to fun to pass up on. I work two jobs, and neither pay well. But I get by, I still have time and capacity to train as my regiment has remained intact, and I’m happy and having fun in these Sierra Foothills, my version of Neverland.  

120 days. That is what my journal reads. This is the number of days that I have consecutively completed therapy for my poorly designed spine. When they were handing out bodies, someone should have taken a moment to match my personality with an indestructible vessel. Unfortunately, situations like that only happen in Fairy Tales and Mythology. So I am bound by the ongoing quest for knowledge, followed by physical routine bordering on the religious and an unequivocal patience paired with a presence of mind for a healthy and active lifestyle in the present and for many years to come. One hundred and twenty days without a miss. My goal was a mere one hundred. Triple digits seemed admirable, but as you all know, once one goal is achieved, it never seems to fill that empty space it had reserved in your pride. So now I’m chasing after 365 days. If I make it that far, who knows? It’s an interesting and fun challenge. At times embarrassing and others empowering. For example, last night after work I was doing therapy on my friend’s living room floor at 11:30pm. On long road trips (which are a weekly event now that I travel for pole vault, and work) I find myself doing it at gas stations and restaurants, hotels, fitness centers, public parks, parking lots, and regularly inside my place of work (which I can’t really disclose specifically on the internet unfortunately). Sick or healthy, rain or shine, amongst tragedy, celebration, positively charged days, and days shaded by the darkness of the negative, I always make the time, and so should you.