Good Morning everyone,
I hope you all have had a great weekend and got out to see Saw IV or Law Abiding citizen, I did not get a chance to but I plan on it when I get a chance.
It has been a couple of interesting weeks since last I spoke with you and a lot has happened. Ok, so the week of October 5th I was feeling better my leg was getting stronger, I had spoken with Todd Hays the driver of USA 2 about getting a race off for a spot on his sled which he was going to give me so I was feeling pretty good! Later that week me and some of the other guys he was thinking about using was at the Push Track in Lake Placid training and recording times, well my first few pushes felt great than on my fifth push of four-man we fired out the hole pretty good then on like my sixth step something Popped in my right abductor and I had to hop on the sled early since I was unable to keep running!!!! This is NOT what I needed to happen to say the least!!! I was extremely upset I ended up punching the ground and a nearby wooden sign, I could not believe what was going on!. It was one of those moments where I saw 8yrs of my life just floating by my eyes.
I immediately got dressed and one of my teammates let me use his car to drive back to the training center to have our sport trainers take a look at my leg. The trainers began examining my leg, but it was really tender to the touch so they immediately placed ice on it to take down the swelling. The only weird thing is that it hurt but it felt like something that needed to be loosen got loosened up. Don't get me wrong it was still really sore but it did feel better than it did before (or maybe I just got use to the pain, kind of hard to tell since I am not use to being injured)
From that day on I was in the training room four times a day (twice in the morning, and twice in the afternoon) getting Ice and stem, Ultrasound, Compression, and any other treatment I could do to get my leg back. I was also applying anti-inflammatory cream to my leg and wrapping it with and ace bandage every day. All this and a ton of praying my leg began to recover and really fast pace unfortunately though my chance at a race off had past since team trial race would start next week on the 14th and 15th. Needless to say it was not any fun having to watch team trials in Placid, but like any other brakeman who does not race I helped move the sleds for those people who were racing so that they can concentrate solely on racing.
It was very frustrating for me but I just kept thinking that ok I did not get a chance to race in Lake Placid but maybe that is just God's way of giving me more time to rest for the last part of Team Trial Races the upcoming week in Park City, Utah. Due to the fact that some drivers were not happy with their crews and their start times and some other shuffling that was going on with some crews not happy with their driver I was given the opportunity to race with Mike Bradley USA 5. Yeah of course I would have liked to race with a higher ranked driver but the opportunity came with mike first so I took it! Thank God now at least I know I was going to race team trials at the least!!!
I arrived in Park City on Sunday the 18th, training started on Monday the 19th with some two man training. I pushed on Monday and my leg felt pretty good which I was happy about!!! The next day we did some 4-man training and I was still feeling pretty good. Each day I felt like my leg was continually getting stronger and I was beginning to get back into my running rhythm, it felt a little tight but I just assumed it was because I needed to just warm up longer. The 2-man race was on the 23rd which another guy on my team raced in. The for man was the next day on the 24th. On the night of the 23rd I did my usual pre race day warm-up and stretch, I ran a few laps around the track in the gym and was feeling pretty loose, I did a couple of drills and stretch like usual and left the gym feeling confident for the next day of racing.
The day of the race I began my preparations for the race doing my completed warm-up drills, stretching, and sprints. I was ready to go!!
Me and my team got to the starting block, got in our ready stance and took off!! My running felt fine to me, the load was good but when we got down to the bottom of the hill our start time was 5.12 when other teams were pushing 4.88 and 4.94 or so! We were not happy at the bottom we had the slowest start. When we got back to the top I heard that the coaches thought I had gotten hurt running because I was running really wide and away from the sled as if I was protecting my leg. I immediately let the coaches know that I was not hurt and I was running wide because in training I kept hitting the side bunk of the sled we were using. I was use to racing in a Bo-dyne sled and this one was different and I evidently over compensated by running to wide to avoid hitting the bunk in the race. The second heat I said forget and just got back in my normal running position, if I hit the bunk I hit the bunk! We pushed again and the time was still only 5.10. I was told by a few teammates watching that it my pushing looked a lot better but my coach still thought I was guarding and I did not look like I normally look when I push. Honestly I felt good pushing and I thought our start time would be faster, I know I am not the only one pushing but it felt like everyone was looking at me for the slow times because of my recent injuries. Needless to say we finished 5th out of 5 sleds. We had hoped to prove that we could put up a strong start time with Mike, which would had looked good for myself and Corey(my teammate from last year who was just added to Mike's sled for this race) since mike is not the fastest pushing driver. Unfortunately this did not turn out the way we had hoped.
However a couple of hours after the race my left leg was pretty sore more so than usual after a race, which I know now that I still have some healing to do before I am able to push and run the way I should be.
Later that day on the 24th at 4pm the official announcement of the National Team was made and I was not on it, which was disappointing but with the timing of what has been going on with my leg especially these last few weeks I was not surprised that I was not on the team.
Thankfully there is still time for me to get fully better and continue chasing my Olympic Dreams! How is that possible you ask, well let me tell you!
Each year there is a World Cup Tour that the National Team races on , but there is also a America's Cup Tour for those athletes who do not make World Cup race on! Due to changes in the Olympic Qualifying Process a driver can still make it to the Olympics if he does well on the America's Cup tour. And we have drivers on the America's cup that are capable of doing just that. My job now is to get back to placid, get in sports med and get my leg fully ready and stronger than before! After that I will start pushing on the America's Cup Tour which starts here in Park City three weeks from now, then to Calgary, and to Lake Placid for a total of 14 races in three weeks. It is important that I push the driver I am with extremely well in order to be selected to attend a another Push Championship the month of January over in Germany that will be used to determine the Olympic Team, added with past competition results.
The road would be a lot easier if I was on World Cup but there is a chance slim as it may be for me to make it and that is good enough for me!!! A good friend of mine once told me to just keep pushing, let everything sort itself out and that is what I will do. With God's blessing I will continue to get healthy, train and do my best so that my coaches see that I should be called up!
My spirit is high, my confidence is up and there is no quit in my heart!!!
Thank you all for your support and the e-mails that you send me. You all keep me going
Thanks and God Bless!
Jesse
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