Hello everyone I am back from my extended break and of all days to come back, it’s MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!! This summer I had a lot to think about and I have most of it sorted out, but right now I want to inform you on some of the changes that have happened in my life this summer.

First I am now the new Athletic Director for the school district I work for (Zion Elementary School District #6) I am over the elementary schools and the junior high so I am excited about my new task and the challenges I will face.

Secondly I have a new look. Before I go any further with that I apologize for not putting up the pics like I was supposed to but they will be up this week I promise. I cut all of my hair off!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!! Yes It’s gone, ALL GONE and the pic is forth coming. Why did I do it I don’t know just wanted to do something different.

Well what about track you ask…….Well that news is forthcoming and I think it will be something worth waiting for. As for now I bid you all farewell and to those new to the site welcome.  My goal is to update at least 2-3 time a week so I hope to stay on top of that.

On another note get out and VOTE VOTE VOTE things need to change and the only way they can is if we change them. GO VOTE if your not registered go get registered. Talk to you soon.

written by lamontdagen

As the title of the post states I apologize for the wait I know it’s been a few days. Most of you know by now I did not make the US Olympic Team in the triple jump and before I go on I want to congratulate the 3 men that did, Aarik Wilson, Kenta Bell, and Rafeeq Curry. 2 of the 3 men I’ve known for a while, Aarik being a friend, Kenta being my frat brother, and Rafeeq who I’ve just gotten to know through competition over the last few years. God Speed to all three of you and the best of luck in Beijing.

Things did not go the way I planned during the preliminary rounds. I was not aggressive at all on my first jump on registering a mark that I jump daily in practice from a 6 step approach 14.56m (47′ 6″) My coach looked at me as if another person had stepped into my body and told me to get aggressive. Some would call it nerves, but I was feeling good and felt fine before the jump. I did just what he told me on my second jump coming down the runway probably faster than I had all season hop, step, jump to what I though was a mark good enough to put me in the finals until I saw the red flag. I had fouled the jump, a plasticine (or clay) foul. My shoe left a small indentation in the clay showing that I had crossed the foul board. The jump although not measured was close to 53′ That one felt good and I knew what it would take to get into the finals at this point, no worries no pressure, last jump. So I’m coming down the runway faster and more efficient than the last approach and my coach even told me, after the event he thought that approach was the best he’d seen me do it. I took the hop and it felt great, but then that’s when things went wrong. The amount of speed I was bringing down the runway I wasn’t used to and I came out of the hop too early when I could have carried it further, causing me to get over rotated (leaning forward) going into the step. From there it was a fight to try to get back upright before the jump phase, but it was too late I was landing in the pit and my hard work and dreams were blowing in the dust with a final mark of 14.78m/48′ 6″ leaving me 23rd overall, the top 12 made it to the finals.  

Now some will ask why did I go through typing all of that out, well for 2 reasons. The first being many people have called me and emailed me regarding what happened and there it is. I apologize to all of you who have contacted me and I have been slow with the response, but I needed some time to sort things out, you know have my pitty party. The second reason goes with the last statement I just made with time talking about it now is therapeutic. I’m a triple jumper with a PR of 54′ 6″ and I jumped 6 feet below my PR. WHAT!!!!!!!!!!! It didn’t and still doesn’t make sense to me. Some of you may not understand what it takes to compete on this level of track and field dealing with the inconsistencies and the frustration of an event, or to work so hard to achieve something and come up short. Notice I didn’t use the word failure or fail, because I haven’t. 2004 I left the trials with a back injury and every doctor I talked to was trying to hand me retirement papers because of the severity of my injury. I’ve accomplished so much through this sport and God’s will to be back and this position and I have to be thankful for what I have been able to do and see through his will and this sport. Was not making the team or at least the finals a crushing blow YES. I think I would have been able to take it a little better if I were able to fight for one more day, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Was I hurt? NO just my ego and pride were hurt. I felt like I let so many people down, so many who supported and cheered. Fourth and goal and fumbled at the goal line. God is good though because those same people I thought I let down picked me up and that made me feel like a Champion to know that people still cared regardless of the result. Sometime we get in our own way and block our blessings, but I realize now I’ve been surrounded by a support system that will never let me fall. Thank you ALL for that.

So what’s next? Are you going to retire? Are you going to try again in 2012? I know these are some of many burning questions that everyone wants an answer to……………………. I honestly can’t say right now, I would love to compete again this season just to end it on a better note, but it is so hard trying to find meets in the states with good competition this late and it’s going to be a task trying to get overseas to compete because I really don’t have any good marks (Outdoors) to go on. In regards to retirement, it’s up in the air right now. I love this sport it’s help mold me into the individual I am today and given me the opportunity to do some great things and all good things come to an end. Is it my end ummmmmmmmmm not quite sure I yet I’ve got some praying and thinking to do so we will see. 2012 falls into that line of praying and thinking, the physical commitment isn’t hard. It’s the mental and financial commitment of getting ready for another 4 years tough. One thing I always wished is that I had a sponsor or support to allow me to train at least one-year full time to see how much progress I could really make. As with the answers to the questions above only time will tell if that happens? God Bless I love you and thank you all.

written by lamontdagen

First before I start this post please accept my apologize on the delay in updating my blog. I’ve been so focused on training and the trials I have not been updating like I have supposed to.

Well today is July 4th and not only is it Independence Day it is the prelims of the Men’s Triple Jump at the Olympic Trials. I’ve been here since Tuesday and I have been relaxing and enjoying this time around in 2004 I was so nervous I couldn’t relax. Not to say that the nerves haven’t gotten worse since Tuesday, but I’m better prepared this time. The tension has changed everyone when I got here Tuesday everyone was speaking to each other, today there barely words being passed which just shows how serious this is. I’ve had 2 great training sessions since I’ve been here and I am ready to go I just wish my family would have been able to come, but the tickets were so expensive that it wasn’t feasible. I still have a job to do today and that is make it to the finals and once I do that focus on making the team on Sunday. 

Before I go I want to thank EVERYONE who has been supportive in my journey here and please don’t feel disrespected or left out because I haven’t named you personally, but there are too many people to try to name and I need to get back to the task at hand, but I did want to say thank you to ALL of you. Well it’s 4:25 PST and I compete in less than 3 hours so I will be back to update you all on how things went later. God Bless.  

written by lamontdagen

Well we are here in Chania, Greece on the island of Crete and I am a little tired. This overnight traveling is starting to take a slight toll on me, but I’m going to get myself together and put it together this meet. The site here again are beautiful the hotel is awesome and would be a place I would love to come back to stay in during a vacation. Some of the rooms here at this hotel have there own individual pools, now that’s cool. I have access to a computer here, but I HAVE TO PAY to use it. Never will I travel overseas again without a laptop, no way no how. I’ve spent more time on shared and pay computer than I need to.  At this meet I will be competing against the World Indoor Champion in the triple jump, Phillips Idowu and again Randy Lewis. These two guys are two of the best in the world right now and I am praying that I will be able to step into the forefront with them. Since I have to pay to use the computer and I’m limited to 30 mins for the next 3 days I am going to use my time wisely so I will cut it off and update more later.

written by lamontdagen

Well it’s the day after the meet and I’m not too pleased, but somewhat satisfied. I know that statement is just as confusing as trying to figure out what color Micheal Jackson is now, but that’s the emotion and reaction to the meet right now. I fouled 5 of the 6 jumps I took in the competition and probably wouldn’t have made the final if it wasn’t for another guy in the competition fouling all of his jumps. On the flip side though I had some good fouls. (For those who feel I’m speaking in a foreign language right now, a foul jump is a jump that doesn’t get measured, but I can still see the distance once I get out of the pit.) So I don’t feel too bad, but I wish I would have gotten at least once of those jumps in to have a better mark on the books. The mark that was measured was so awful that I’m not going to even put it up. Not only that I didn’t think they were going to measure it because they signaled foul I came out of the phase and then they overturned the ruling and marked the jump. So another meet another mediocre performance. I’m also a little sore too, after 2 meets in 4 days, 12 jumps total I’m a little banged up. At the same time I’m sending this from a ferry on my way from Athens to the island of Crete on my way to the last and final meet of this European tour in Chania. When I heard ferry I was thinking that I was going to be on a paddle boat, like on old river boat, but it was actually a cruise ship with cabins and everything else. Again I’m traveling at night and we won’t make it to the island until 6:00 am and not telling how far the hotel is from the port. One thing that I have learn from this trip you have to be mentally prepared for the travel, because that alone will take a lot out of you. My time is running out on this pay computer (3euros or $6/ 20mins) so I will write more once I get to the next hotel.

written by lamontdagen

Just when you think things are going wrong and you feel like there is no end to the madness, God answers your prayer and hears your cries. As stated in the last post I didn’t know anyone here, but I did know someone who I haven’t seen in a few years who is my main competior, Randy Lewis. I didn’t know him personally, but we have competed against each other a few times. All of the athletes went to the practice track we were all doing our pre meet preparations and after we were done I sat down and who is walking up, but Randy. I spoke and he spoke back and we began to hold a conversation. To make a long story short he understood my pain of being in Europe alone telling me about his experiences. That helped me ease my mind about being over here allowing me to refocus on competing. Well again I’m on the community computer and don’t want to hog it so I will update you all tomorrow. 

written by lamontdagen

I didn’t get a chance to write this earlier because I wasn’t trying to hog the “community” computer, but the scenery here is beautiful. The hotel we are staying in is right across the street from the beach and there is a mountain view from the hotel. The rooms that we are staying in are like bungalows and the views are equally kind to the eyes and the beach view. I don’t want to get to caught up in all of this, because I am here to jump and I don’t want to lose focus, but this is also my first time here and I have to admit it is a little overwhelming. The sights are great, but I’m here by myself and my roommate doesn’t speak much English so I really haven’t been able to communicate with him and I don’t know (personally) any of the other athletes so I feel a little isolated. I’ve seen Angela Williams, but again I don’t know her so…It’s not a bad thing, but I wish my family was here with me to enjoy this moment with me. I’m a little lonely, but I’m here to do a job and that’s what I am going to do. Well as you can see I’m a little bored and my mind is wondering so I need to get focused. They are loading up to go to the track soon so I will write more later.

written by lamontdagen

After an overnight flight and a 2 hour layover in another Greek airport I’m finally in Kalamata, Greece. This journey was long and frustrating for a few reasons. The first being that I when I got here my cell phone didn’t work. I had just gone through torture trying to get it to work in the UK and found a place where I could purchase a sim card for it to work in the UK and, from what the salesman told me, in Greece. Yeah Right!!! I got off the plane and turned on my phone, only for a big NO SERVICE to pop up on my phone, so I was without communication. Not only that, but by me not having a laptop I’m forced to wait to use a community computer, sharing it with the other 40 or so athletes that didn’t bring or don’t have a laptop. The second is that my roommate on this trip smokes. I walked into the room and what is the first thing I see?? 2 packs of cigarettes on the dresser. WHAT!!! Your an athlete and you smoke cigarettes!! WOW!!! A good one at that, he was one top high jumpers competing in the meet. Things truly are different on the other side of the world. Well I’m going to get ready to eat and relax a little before I go to the track. I’ll write more later.

written by lamontdagen

Well it’s the next day after the B.I.G. Meet and I am preparing to leave the UK to make my way to Greece. I’m trying my best not to think about the meet yesterday, but it’s hard. I didn’t come half way across the country to have an awful performance. I talked to Sean about the situation and he told me it happens to the best of them. I didn’t want to hear that, but I had to agree. My season has been inconsistent and this was just one of those times. I had to get my mind together for this meet in Greece the competition is going to be a lot tougher and must be ready to jump far. Randy Lewis one of the top triple jumpers in the World is competing in the next competition so I will try to feed off of him and do what I came over here to do. I’m on my way to the track and when I get back I will be packing everything, so I will try to write more later. My flight leaves here at 10:20pm tonight I will arrive in Kalamata, Greece at 9am tomorrow.

written by lamontdagen

I’m back in Wales from Bedford, but let me tell you about the trip and the meet.

We (Sean, Sue (his wife) and I) got to Bedford last night around 5pm (11am) in the states and we checked into the Inn Keeper Suites, and I must say this hotel was great a very nice and secluded area, but accessible to all your needs. There was restaurant connected to the hotel where we ate a British dinner I had turkey and beef with all you can eat vegetables (the meal included all you can eat vegetables don’t think I’m a pig ) after dinner I talked to my family and got a good nights sleep to prepare for the meet. I woke up every hour on the hour after 3am because of anxiety (don’t worry it’s normal before a meet). I finally rose around 9 am to get ready for the meet, and as it had been for the 3 days I was there it started raining. (GREAT!!) I had a light breakfast and mentally started to prepare myself for the day. We check out at 10:30 and made our way to the track (still light rain).

When we got to the track I went inside to go check in, as I was checking in the first athlete I saw warming up was Jade Johnson, she is the top long jumper from Great Britain and was getting ready to compete. After checking in I went to watch the women’s long jump for a second and then prepared myself for the triple jump competition. I was feeling good during the warm up and felt like this was going to be a good day. The weather had cleared up and I was ready to jump.

As I went through my approaches Sean checked me on the board and asked me how I felt I told him I felt good and he said my first 2 approaches looked go so I moved on to popups which also felt great, I just knew it was going to be a good day.

As I took my first jump of the competition I fouled it so I made the adjustment needed to prepare for the second jump, but ended up fouling that one as well. My back was against the wall and I needed a jump to get into the finals, so I took a safe jump to get me into the field. I passed the fourth jump because I was trying to get me head together after almost fouling out of the competition. I took jump 5 and fouled it. Now I was truly frustrated, but couldn’t be because I had to perform, so I gathered myself for the last jump and blew the step phase and jumped a mediocre 14.72 or 48′ (WHAT!!!!!) Yeah that’s what I said. I was so pissed. I came half way across the world to jump a distance I jump in practice every week from a 6-step approach. The bad thing about it these guys didn’t jump far at all I still placed seventh with that awful mark. Something must be wrong. This is all a bad dream and I’ll wake up soon right. WRONG it was true and I wasn’t dreaming I had bombed my first international competition, and I was not pleased. On our way back to Whales I just tried to forget about the meet and not over analyze anything that happened, but at the same time figure out what happened. I was so lost and I’d never felt that way before. I have to get this figured out before I go to Greece. Enough rambling for the night I’m tired and I need to get some rest. I’ll keep you posted on the next couple of days.

written by lamontdagen