Getting Back In The Saddle

It's been a WHILE since I have posted here.  I originally started this site as a way to share my story as a legally blind athlete with albinism.  After a few posts I didn't like talking about myself, or my disability, so I stopped.  It has taken me a few years to come to the conclusion that I might have a story that could help others.  So I'm back in the saddle. 

I am going to try and post at least once a month about different things that I feel are relevant to those of use who are not visibly blind.  If you aren't sure what I mean by that, stay tuned for my post on it.  I will also share experiences I have had a professional Para track and field athlete.

Next Post will be an overview of the Rio 2016 Paralypic Games.

The 2013 IPC World Championships: Lyon, France

I was so excited to be able to continue my track career and represent the United States as a member of the 2013 USA team. I had a great time preparing and competing in France. 

They announced the World Championship team a few days after the USA National Championships.  I was watching twitter like a hawk to make sure I made the team.  When it was posted I skimmed through it and didn't see my name.  I was a little disappointing but after looking again I saw it.  It was very excited and relieving.  Gear Day WAS AWESOME!!!

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The flight to France was about 24 hours after all the connections and layovers.  It was a LONG trip.  I am so thankful for the little TVs on the plan or I would have gone crazy.  The plane itself was HUGE.  The hardest part about the trip was the time change.  After being awake for about 24 hours I got to France at 1 pm.  For anyone who plans to travel across time zones.  You DO NOT want go to sleep right when you get to your destination.  If you do, you will be screwed up for days.  So I forced myself to stay awake until that night so I could get used to sleeping and nights.  It was hard but worth it because I adjusted in about two days.

It is hard to tell but this plane is HUGE

I practiced every day for a week.  It was a good chance to get used to the hot and humid weather, as well as the track surface.  The humidity was very deceiving.  It didn't feel humid but you would be wet on your arms and legs from sweat.  I drank a gallon and a half of water each day.  It was hard to stay hydrated, but very important.  I was lucky to have a great water bottle made by Camelbak.  

Practice Track

The view from my Hotel Room

My Bed for Two Weeks

The stadium we were competing in had about 3000 seats.  There were a morning competition session, and an evening competition session for 7 straight days.  The seats where sold out for each session.  I was so amazed how much people in Europe loved the Para Sport track and field.  There was media from 85 different counties, and the meet was broadcast live on TV in several of those countries.  Everywhere we would go in Lyon people were talking about the track meet.

I had never competed in from of that may people before.  It was a lot of fun.  I don't feel like it had any affect on my performance.  I know that that many people could get into peoples head, but I was enjoying every minute of it.

I got a chance to get out and see the city a little bit.  It was a very pretty place.  I have included some pictures below.  If you have any questions about my trip feel free to ask through a comment.

How I got involved in the Paralympics

Growing up I loved sports.  Track and field became one of my favorites because I didn't have to worry about my vision as much as I did with football, basketball, soccer, ect.  

I was competing at Idaho State University my junior year.  A coach from Utah Valley University approached me and asked about my vision.  I thought that was kind of a weird question.  I told him a little about it.  He told me that about the Paralympic program and that they had a division for blind and visually impaired athletes.  I didn't pursue the possibilities because of some things in my personal life that I was dealing with. 

A year after graduating from college, I decided to go and take and eye test to see if my eyes where bad enough compete in the paralympics.  I loved track and field and wanted to continue to compete at an elite level.  I traveled to Mesa, AZ and passed the eye test. I was pretty dang excited.  It s the only time in my life that I was happy that I had eyes as bad as I do.  

I still had to high jump well to make the USA Paralympic team.  I had been out of training and conditioning for almost a year.  While I was in college I was high jumping between 1.95m and 2.05m (6 ft 5 and 6 ft 9).  I needed to jump 1.85 to make the team,  I barely did it.   You don't realize how important training is until you haven't done it for a while.  

And that is how I got involved in the USA Paralympics.  If anyone reading this has low, or no vision, you should seriously consider training and trying out for the USA Paralympic team.  We need more US blind and visually impaired athletes.   

I owe a huge thank you to Cathy Sellers for sticking with me until I finally made the Paralympic Team, my track coach Dave Nielsen, and my wife Kenzie.

Feel free to ask questions or leave comments.

Thanks to the ParalympicSportTV for this clip of me long Jumping at the 2013 IPC Wold Championships in Lyon, France.  If I would marked this jump I would have been much happier with my performance in the long jump.

Bonjour

I am trying out this blogging thing for the first time.  I do it for my job, so I thought it might be cool thing to do for my track career and personal fun stuff.  

I was trying to be creative with my titles and web address but it is late so I went with simple and straight forward.