aloha!

This blog entry comes to you from Maui, Hawaii. You guessed it, vacation! I got to Hawaii Wednesday night and my flight home isn't until October 30. It has been a well needed break and thus far and I am enjoying every second of it. I am hanging out with my roommate and training partner Brad Walker and another good buddy of mine was born and raised here and lives about 20min from our condo. We chose a spot about 30 seconds from the water and we have been spearfishing everyday looking for dinner, but have come up with nothing so far. I have access to kayaks, kite boards, wind surfing and any kind of water/board sport you can imagine...unfortunately I cant do too much at the moment because of the knee.

A few hours before my flight to Hawaii, I took another injection to the knee. This time it was synvisc, the same shot that I took for my shoulder back in May. It was a difficult decision for me to make, but with the help of my doctors and training staff at the Olympic Training Center, we chose the shot over the knee scope. The knee is pretty beat up and I was advised to get another knee scope to remove some floating debris and clean up some rough edges...But given my history with the prior surgeries, we decided to take the less invasive option in hopes that I get the same result as the surgery would provide. We made the same move with the shoulder in May and it worked great. If the shot doesn't work, then we will go for the scope in November and go from there. This is me, crossing my fingers!

The view from the backyard

"Welcome to the NFL"

Whats that? The NFL? That’s what the Americas Team doctor told me after having a look at my knee. “This is the same thing that I see when my former NFL guys come in with knee pain”. “You have a 10 year old ACL reconstructed knee, right about this time stuff just starts to fall off and break loose, its just the life of NFL player…or in your case, a professional javelin thrower”…sigh. Well, what to do? After talking with my team doctors here at the Olympic training center and getting outside opinions from Vail, Colorado and Dr Steadman, arguably the best knee doctor in the USA… we still have yet to come to a conclusion. After my initial exam on Thursday, I thought I would be in surgery right now getting the knee scoped out. That hasn’t actually come to be yet, thankfully, the doctors think there may be another way. That way has yet to be finalized, but I am hoping to have that decision made by the end of the day tomorrow.
In other news… I am on vacation! Sort of… I am still at the Olympic Training Center, waiting on the decision on the knee, but the season is over and I have some time to lick my wounds and get ready for next year. My performance at the Continental Cup was less than acceptable, but given the circumstances, I have accepted it and moved on and I actually think that it has motivated me in a way that I could not have expected. I wont go into detail, but lets just say that I am making a few changes next year and I have had great conversations with my coach and training team. The sub-world class performances of the last 2 years will not happen again, you can count on that. I reflect on how I felt after I left Beijing in 2008, and the feeling is the same and can be summed up by what I said then…”Never underestimate the power of ambition.”

The Chula Vista High Tech High Bruins have returned to school for the 2010-2011 season but have not started practice yet. I look to join the team in November to get ready for an amazing 2011 season and more school records. I am headed to Hawaii for the month of October for a much-needed vacation and down time. Hopefully the next blog entry will be from the beach in Maui….until next time,
M++