Blogs : Jason Richardson

UNC: 7.83 against a Frenchman, Beef Patties, and Butt Cheeks!

Friday:

Be it that I’m the diligent employee I am…. I skipped work on Friday cause I needed to wash clothes before we left for the meet.  Your boy was in DIRE need of clean half tights to wear under his bodysuit or I was gonna have to FreeBall and if I hit a hurdle… there woulda been Ball Juice EVERWHERE!  I threw random clothes and uniforms in my bag and proceeded to the bus to contort myself into some pretzel formation for the 4hr ride it took to get to Chapel Hill.  Being 6’2 + Charter Bus = Extreme Discomfort only assuaged by being knocked out and drooling for the majority of the ride!… (I think if your over 6 feet they should give you complimentary Ambien upon boarding!)  Before I blessed UNC with my presence, we stopped to grab dinner and half the Negros on the team ran to a Jamaican joint (myself included).  But just like Black people (I love us, but we a mess sometimes) half the foods on the menu weren’t being served and we were ready to start screamin’ ‘Blo*dCl*t’ cause the man ran out of Ox Tail!  Keke and I settled for beef patties then took our Americanized selves to the Golden Arches and dropped a $5 for a 10 Piece Nugget

Saturday:

My ipod is 3/4ths Gospel music because it’s a must for me to remain sane.  The ride to the meet was an exercise in relaxation and preparation.  At the track, I warmed up and joked at the same time, and had me and my teammate Kayla laughin’ at our use of ‘Squowzed’ as the past tense for ‘squeeze,’ lol.

Now as if last week’s public hurdle massacre wasn’t enough, I’m just doing my own thing when I hear this odd language… I turn to see an African-blackish tall guy…  I squint…look closer… and then it hits me: it’s Ladji Doucoure 2005 World Champ for 110 Hurdles, speaking some crazy fast French.  Of all the places a group of French athletes could run, they manage to make it to Chapel Hill, wtf? Haha

I felt great at the meet, but I still felt timid because of past experiences with injuries.  I felt fresh and explosive but I was mentally struggling with the idea that the upcoming race could be my last of the season.  It’s then that I decided that negativistic thinking breeds grounds for injury and that I had to put Faith in my God, training, coach, and my own will.  Sometimes it takes just saying a quick phrase like, “Help Me Believe” or “If It’s To Be, It’s Up To Me” or “Thy Will Be Done” to keep me regulated, grounded, and motivated.  The result was great!

During prelims, I ran a technically horrible race and fell short on my acceleration pattern, but the clock read 7.83…the very time I ran at the V-Tech Last Chance Meet sophomore year that got me a ticket to Nationals.  To say that I was excited and content is an understatement.  For my first race in what feels like 4,567 years…I’ll definitely take it!

“The Only Way to Go is Up,” is such a lovely adage but as it applies to my life… its FALSE!  Thinking that I might be able to auto being next to Ladji in finals, I cooled down after my prelim race while entertaining the thoughts of a sub 7.7 time.  Daydreaming is dangerous children!  My retarded ass tripped over the silver railing that is in lane 1 and rolled my ankle TWICE!  I felt like suing cause silver railing, when hit with just the right amount of light appears white, thus blending into the white lane boundaries painted on UNC’s blue track! (So it’s a stretch, but I was mad, lol)  Klutz is a nice term for the idiocy that I displayed and I couldn’t help but think of Brianna’s post while I tried to jog and play it off, of course laughing cause I really didn’t give a hell who saw me (cause I know I woulda laughed at me had I seen it!).  My ankle looked as if some deranged Golf surgeon had stuffed a golf ball into my foot!  It hurt to walk, hurt to jog, but I wasn’t going to give up on my auto so I iced, did some quick therapy and willed myself to the line for the 60H final.

Ladies, ladies, ladies… the jig is UP!  So dudes are chauvinists and misogynistic and all those other wonderful feminist inspiring terms, but some of ya’ll aint NO BETTER!  Now I’m not afraid to admit that I take joy in appreciating the physicality of the African American female body structure while in athletic motion, (like how I put that,J) but I try to use as much discretion as possible.  Females are BOLD with it!  I’m at the starting line trying to focus when I started smiling because I caught these two girls talking bout my level of attractiveness, my butt, and the resulting argument about telling me or not! Hahaha:  I almost peed on myself but be it that liquid running down my leg is not a good look, I held in the laughter!  Lesson learned:  chicks are as savage as my boys are… and here I am feeling bad that I was staring at shawty in the relay bout to pull a DeeDee Trotter.

Back to the race, the gun went off and I got out but came up too early.  I was SERVIN’ Ladji till the third hurdle when I hit it and got knocked of balance a bit.  When running against pro’s you can’t make ONE mistake or they’ll leave you and have you wanting to grab their ankles for the ride!  He blazed to a 7.6 and I had to settle for 7.84.  Considering the conditions, a screwed ankle, smashed hurdles, and some hurdle inexperience, I’m so proud of my performance!

Next week is the UF meet where I almost auto’d last year.  I’m trying to make it happen!  Stay Up….

"A Goal Without a Plan is Just a Wish." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900 1944)

Untitled Comment

10:09 PM, January 21, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

good stuff brother. keep up the good work.

You're....

10:26 PM, January 21, 2008 .. Posted by UnrTrack

... a funny kid haha...

Signed: The Bi-Pod

Good luck to you

1:52 AM, January 22, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Congrats on your weekend performance! I always read your blog but don't usually comment and figured I should this time! Good stuff -- your keepin' it real, even when it goes wrong, always makes me smile! Continued good luck to you! :)

from one fellow klutz to another...

2:36 AM, January 22, 2008 .. Posted by missbri

good job!

hope for many Blessings

2:50 AM, January 22, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous

Entertaining as always. Love to read your blogs and see your outtake on life. Good Luck in Florida! Terry

Man you a fool

3:32 AM, January 22, 2008 .. Posted by justblaze

LOL...man you a funny cat, great read, and good run this weekend.