its official....

I'm done.

Torn ACL.

Torn meniscus.

Surgery is next week. Will be out for at least 4 months. I'm so bummed right now.

I did something really stupid yesterday.....

I broke one of my third attempt rules and went up a a pole before I had the standards back at 80cm at 5.50m. The result was me coming up short, landing on the front buns, and feeling a large pop in my knee. Instant pain all over my left knee. Trainer at the meet thinks I popped my ACL.

I went to Urgent Care and am now on crutches with a knee brace. I'm not able to put any pressure on it laterally without the brace, so I think the ACL diagnosis is correct. Got an appointment for an MRI and with my orthopedist tomorrow.

Damn. Just when I was getting close.....

a skeptic in every bunch

There's some talk that I'm not a real person and this is all made up.

Let me assure you, I am a very real person. I've not just been sitting on my hands for the last nine years. I've been actively coaching the vault for 8 years now, so I've not magically gotten good at the vault suddenly in the past few months. I've been jumping with the group I coach, but Ive not trained seriously up until now. My technincal ability has not been a limitation for me, only my fitness level.

It really irks me after all I've been through, after all the time I've put into this, that someone would doubt my sincerity in this undertaking. I seriously considered not bothering at all and just carrying on with the status quo, but a few kind souls twisted my arm and convinced me to do this. This is not easy you know.

and so it begins......

Jumped in my first meet today! Didn't get 5.50m, but took 3 good attempts at it. I'm thinking I shouldn't have passed directly to it after making my opener, but I still feel pretty good about my performance. I'm glad the college close to here has good vaulting facilities. There were a lot of people surprised to see me today and were really great about encouraging me. I'm so glad I got back into vaulting, just to be around the people involved.

I just want to thank all of you for all the support and encouragement you've been giving me. I'm also getting a kick around all the speculation around who I am. Makes me feel like a celebrity or something. :)

some sad news...

Well, the solution to my support problem at home has come to fruition. I filed for divorce from my wife yesterday. This was a long time in the works, but her complete lack of support and daily criticism of me pursuing my dream was the straw that broke the camels back (that and some mysterious TXT messages). She never appreciated anything that I sacrificed for her and our family. I gave up my initial dream of vaulting professionally to settle down with her and start a family. Once the opportunity presented itself to come back, she was nothing but negative about the entire thing.

I feel pretty awful right now, but this whole process has doubled my resolve to follow my dreams. I'm making such good progress (5.60m over a bar today!) that I can't waver from my goal. Things are going to be that much harder, but I can't let these setback deter me.

onward and upward!

and I'm back.......

I know I haven't posted in a long time, but don't take that as a sign that I've given up! Obstacles put in your path only serve as tests of determination and will. My laptop broke and my job blocks access to Blogger, so I haven't had a way to get onto the internet from home until now.

My training has been excellent, but many distractions have presented themselves these past weeks. I got promoted at work, but with that promotion comes traveling to some of our satellite offices to train other people.

I'm also having a lot of distractions on the home front, namely a less than supportive significant other. I'm not going to bore anyone with any details (as it quite personal), but I see a resolution to that issue in the near future (that's been in the works for a while).

Enough with the gloomy news, lets get to the good stuff. My vaulting has been coming along great! Smoked 5.50m clean last week on a couple of jumps (yes, with a bar). I opted to not do any indoor meets and just focus on technique. Now that outdoor season is starting up, I'll look into meets that fit into my schedule.

Now that i'm back online, I'll start posting more often and hopefully have some video in the near future.