Not 19, Not 29

I’m in Vancouver for the week, visiting my Chiropractor, “The Bur”. It’s a long way to come for treatment sessions but he’s that good.

I can’t count the number of times I have come to visit over the years, sometimes it’s for as little as 48 hours. It depends on the time of year, his schedule and what my body decides to do with itself.

My time here is always very reflective, my surroundings induce this. No TV, perched on top of a mountain with an abysmal phone signal, surrounded by the ocean, bears and 'cyotes.













All I can do is climb a mountain stare out at the wilderness and think.












Today’s deep thoughts:

In the last few years my visits to Port Moody, BC in need of the best treatment an elite body can find have become more frequent. “The Bur” made the mistake of misrepresenting my age as he picked me up from YVR the other night, “Preddi, how old are you now, 29?”.

Ugh. I looked at him cross eyed from the passenger seat.

Annoyed. Feathers ruffled.

“Excuse you? We both know I am 28 and some months, so please stop the nonsense”.

But the truth is I am getting older. Many of the things I could get away with when I was a 19 year old college freshman at Illinois, I don’t dare reenact at 28.

For instance I would show up for practice in college and me and a certain partner in crime, would pick and choose which elements of the warm up we would participate in.

“Let’s see:
50m of Side shuffles?...Pass
60m of B-skips? Hmm...mebbe.
40 Lunges? I’ll give you 3—my best offer”.

Crime partner and I, would find great pleasure in this, and laugh our heads off silly, going through the motions but never truly completing 50% of the warm up. Then we would hop into our spikes, ready to do the hardest workout of the week, and complete it unscathed.

A hazardous result that only fortified our intent to do it again the next time.
(This would go on for semester after semester until I finally got my act together as an upper classman).

But, I can’t imagine myself pulling that stunt now, forget dedication and accountability. I am talking about ruptures and stupidity.

Admittedly my body doesn’t have the same resilience it did a decade ago. The approach I take with it has changed. I am more careful with it, respectful of it. Of course my craft depending on it is the main reason.





My coach stresses the importance of taking care of the “little things”. The little things are what tack on years of quality races to your career. The cool down, the diet, a good sleeping pattern, quality treatment, ice baths, managing ones personal life, and "Perdita avoiding Krispy Kreme".



Not doing the little things catch up with you. Not when you’re 19, 21 or 25...but when you have been doing this longer than you thought you would.













Relax. By no means am I announcing the twilight!












As it stands hurdlers get better with age. As our natural speed, power and explosion decline, (ala ageing 100m sprinters), if we can hone in more thoroughly on the strong technical component of our event, we can race, and be competitive into our thirties.
(Putting aside such things as motivation, injury avoidance, priorities, etc.).

















So, without me knowing it I have adopted the mantra of “The little Things”. As if subconsciously sensing this shift from neophyte to expert, I made the transition silently.















One day I could care less about my cooling down, then the next I was manic about it.

I have been in track and field ever since I was nine years old. That is along time to demand excellence from one body. Imagine the number of repetitions, high levels of intensity, stress and taxation bestowed on a single frame. Mine.

So I guess a trip to Vancouver, with its thought provoking effects, is part of the little things. After all I may not be 19 anymore, but I certainly am not 29!

Peace out,
Perdeets

Top 100 Canadian Sporting Moments

An article about a book chronicling the greatest 100 sports moments in Canadian history. I expect a lot of hockey, but perhaps it will surprise me.

Source: eyeopener.com
Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2008
By line: Erin Valois

Rye grad picks 100 greatest sports moments
James Bisson’s favourite Canadian sports memory is the 1987 Canada Cup, a tournament packed with superstars and amazing hockey.

“It was the only time you could see Wayne Gretzky play with Mario Lemieux,” he says.

“I remember watching it when I was 10 years old, running around in my basement and screaming every time Canada scored. I was grounded.”

Although this moment plays clearly in Bisson’s head, not every Canadian knows about one of the most famous hockey games in the country’s history. So the 31-year-old Ryerson journalism graduate decided to write a book about Canada’s proudest sports moments.

Bisson is the writer of “100 Greatest Canadian Sports Moments,” released in September. He graduated from Ryerson in 2003 and works at the Canadian Press as a reporter-editor.

He wrote the book because he says people love talking and debating about sports, but no one had written this type of book about Canadian sports before. The biggest challenge was finding a way to keep readers interested in events that happened more than fifty years ago.

“We had to find a fresh way to present the information,” he says. “It helped to get new quotes and perspectives from the athletes.”

He started the project by making his own list of top Canadian sports moments.
Bisson created the final list for his book through input from a panel of sports journalists from various media outlets, including the Canadian Press and The Score.

“One person’s opinion is only one person’s opinion. I didn’t want this to be a vanity project, so it was good to have the panelists,” he says.

“I believe every moment in the book is justified, there isn’t any filler.”
The book is filled with colourful pages of Canada’s top athletes and their achievements. It’s easy to understand, especially for amateur sports fans, as Bisson clearly explains each significant moment.

From #75 — NBA franchises in Vancouver and Toronto, to #3 — the Blue Jays’ second World Series win, the debate swirling around Bisson’s choices for top Canadian moments will be the focus of drunken pub arguments for years to come.
And Bisson doesn’t just recognize recent Canadian moments — he added a couple throwbacks to the mix.

“One of the best moments is about Percy Williams who won two gold medals in track and field in 1928. I think the influence of television really dictated the book because people remember what they see,” he says.

“It’s great to see people remember something that happened 80 years ago. I think the people who voted for this moment to be significant made it special.”

Bisson says he’s interested in updating the book in a few years.

He says the Olympics in Vancouver will create moments in Canadian sport history that deserve recognition.

But right now, he’s just enjoying the response to his first book.

“It’s great to see all these people share their stories and see their passion for sports,” he says.

“I love touring around Canada and hearing people talk about the book and debate about different moments.”