Saturday, April 1, 2017

The meet that wasn't

I arrived at the Choccolloco track meet in Oxford, AL... in time to run the 400m.  But I decided to stick with my regular plan and just run the 200m.   It didn't happen.  After warming up, chatting with my competitors, with spikes on I took a hard sprint down the back stretch and felt something in my left ham, which is odd, because my right ham was the sore one I was worried about.   Uh oh.  Well, maybe it was a fluke, so I tried it again, up to full speed and yes... the ham was definitely tweeked.  So, minutes before my heat, I scratched.  It was really a shame.  Had lane 5, a tail wind, a brand new track, felt strong ... oh well.  Better to do it in a warmup for a meaningless college meet than in a World Championship Final.  Disappointing though, because I was there all day waiting for the race.  If I had run the 400m, I would have been better warmed up and probably not have had that issue.

This is not serious, it's not even very sore, but it's no April fools joke either.  I haven't had a serious ham injury in 5 yrs and only a slight tweek 3 yrs ago.  This is about like that was.  That wasn't so bad, as I was actually able to finish my 400m in 57 sec, and I raced 2 weeks later.  However, this puts my 100m Penn race in doubt.  I'll really have to up the prep and prehab.   The faster I am, the more injury prone.  It gives me much gratitude, and I feel fortunate that my body held when it mattered the most... held up to 3 rounds of fast 200s in Korea with no issues.  Can't ever take wellness for granted.  I know that Alan and Don might have been there if it weren't for their injuries.  I know Ben would have 2 world championships if his ham didn't go in that 200m final.  You can't win if you're injured ... and it doesn't take much, any slight muscle strain and that's it. 

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