Prefontaine Classic

The athletes have started arriving, on Wed. I treated Michelle Carter/U.S. shot putter, and David Rodisha/Kenyan 800m World Record holder.  The weather forecast is clear and the mid 70's for the meet Sat, yeah!

New York Diamond League Meeting

New York was a blur, Thursday was hectic, between canceled and delayed flights athletes were coming in until 11:30pm for treatments. Friday was a repeat of Thursday with the addition of a FAT Tool Work Shop Friday morning, with the addition of the rain the temperature dropped into the 50's.  I didn't finish working until 11:30pm at night.  The weather Saturday started out wet and in the 50's again, not ideal weather for a track meet.  I got on the 10:00am bus to the warm up area at the track to work the meet, and then finished my last flush out at 10:00pm. I think I worked on at least 60 different athletes.  I caught the 7:30pm bus to the airport, and got home at 7:00 NYC time, I unpacked and repacked and am ready to go back to the airport tomorrow to fly up to Eugene at 9:00am.

Shanghai Diamond League Meet

I arrived in Shanghai on Wed. evening to rain, and it rained continuously until just before the meet Sat. night.  Prior to the meet starting I worked on numerous athletes: Nick Willis in the 1500m from New Zealand; Mike Hanany from France, Trevor Barry, and Donald Thomas from the Bahamas, all are high jumpers; Michelle Carter a U.S. and Cleopatra Borell from Trinidad in the shot put; Tiffany Williams a U.S. 400m hurdler; Marvin Anderson a Jamaican Sprinter; Andreas Thorkildsen a Norweigan Javelin Thrower, David Oliver and Jeff Porter U. S. 110m hurdlers, Genezebe Dibaba and Gillete Burka Ethiopian 500m runners; Aleen Bailey from Jamaica and Blessing Okagbare from Nigeria in the 100m; Ngonnidzashe Makusha from Zimbabwi and Will Clay from the U.S. in the long jump; Mallika Akkoui a Morrocan 1500m runner; and LaShawn Merritt a U.S. 400m runner.

I think because of all the rain a number of athletes were injured or pulled out at the last minute because of injury or cramping. The worst of the injuries was Rutgers Smith a Dutch discus thrower who may have had a career ending achilles injury. Carmelita Jeter appears to have had a quad strain or cramp.

I wasn't able to post anything before today because the Chinese sensors wouldn't allow me access to my blog.

Travel to the Shanghai Diamond League Meet

Today is packing and preparation day.  I depart for the airport at 9:00am Phoenix time. I have to fly to Los Angeles to connect to by long haul flight to Shanghai.  I hope there's no fog delays there, because I only have an hour to transfer.  Once on board my United Business class seat the 13.5 hour flight will be a lot easier to tolerate. I am hoping for good weather and an uneventful trip.

Big West Conference Championships at Cal State Northridge

I left for Northridge on Thursday morning at 6:30am and drove for 6 1/2 hours to be ready for the arrival of the U. C. Davis women's track team coached by Kim Graham Miller.  I worked through the evening and Friday all day at the track.  The most notable results were from their Sophomore sprinter Ashley Marshall who won both the 100m in 10.34 a conference record time & tied the 200m conference record time as well as acheiving the "A" standard for U.S. Nationals in Desmoines in the 100m. Now the question is does she run for the USA, or the islands of her parents.

On Saturday I treated Marieke Veltman/Miller an athlete from the mid 90's, she was a long jumper on the 1996 Atlanta U.S. Olympic Team, it's great to have these types of long term relationships.  I must be doing something right.

Kingston Invitational Meet

Was worried all day yesterday about the weather, torrential tropical rain most of the afternoon in Kingston, but 2 hours before the start of the meet the rain stopped and we had awesome conditions for the meet.

Some world leading times were set, I think the most impressive was Tyson Gays 9.86 while winning the 100m.  I think that's the best he's looked in the past couple of years.  Nickle Ashmeade ran a WL 20.00 in the 200m. My girl Murielle Ahoure ran 11.11 and finished 4th in the 100m. Ryan Whiting threw a WL 21.74m in the Shot put.

The travel back started at 5:00 am Jamaica time, and finished at 7:30 pm Phoenix time other than length of layover a very uneventful long day.  I don't think I got any sleep last night, as I didn't finish with my post meet flushes working on Ryan Whiting, Kerron Clement, Shevon Stoddart, and Dwight Thomas until midnight.

Jamaican Invitational Track Meet

The travel begins. Yesterday I spent most of the day flying from Phoenix to Kingston, Jamaica. The original plan was for a 4 1/2 hour layover in Miami.  Unfortunately as we were trying to land in Miami they closed the airport for weather so we ended up landing in Orlando to refuel, by the time we landed in Miami that long layover turned into a 30 minute dash between gates to catch the flight to Kingston. Luckily my bags made the short connection and I headed to the Pegasus Hotel with everyone else on the flight. Unfortunately I had an hour wait at the hotel to get my room. After a quick late dinner I worked on Kerron Clement a 400m hurdler.

Today I have treated Kenia Sinclair, a Jamaican 800m runner; Murielle Ahoure, an Ivory Coast 100/200m sprinter; Novalene Williams, a Jamaican 400m runner; Dwight Thomas, a Jamaican 110m hurdler; Nickle Ashmeade, a Jamaican 100/200m sprinter; and Diane Cummings, a Canadian middle distance runner.