Arrival in Daegu - 4" PVC Pipe + Escalator + Low Ceiling = BANG!

The last week, Team Canada has been preparing for the World Track & Field Championships in Changwon City, Korea. I have been keeping busy. Currently, I am training once a day, so that leaves a lot of down time to fill. Lately, I have been filling this time with teaching. You will ask, how do you teach in Korea? Right now, I am just keeping up on my classes in  Basehor-Linwood. I sat down the other day to finish locker assignments for boys P.E. This is a job and a half. While doing this, I ask myself a lot of questions. Who shouldn't be beside each other? Who will be good at sharing lockers? How will I space out my classes, so everyone has room? The locker room set up is really an art. This took me about 4 hours of work to arrange this.

 

Other things I do in my spare time...

Hang out with Jim Steacy (Right) at the track watching the 4x100m team run time trials.

Stand in tubs of ice (always good fun).

Tame wild Korean snow tigers.

The morning of the 24th, we left Changwon City (Team Canada has been there training for last week). We travelled by high speed train.

I was told 200km/h. The trip in total was 1hr. The country side was beautiful. It is what you would expect of Korea. Rivers, mountains, rice paddies, heron and cranes.

  Upon arrival, the adventure began. We unloaded all our bags off the train and proceeded to the upper floor of the train station.

I'm just glad I'm not a pole vaulter

Earlier in the day, our throws coach was talking about his experiences in Budapest, Hungry as a javelin thrower. One story he had told me before, but he decided to share again. It involved a javelin case (pictured above), an escalator, a ceiling and a javelin thrower. So....today, I decided to demonstrate the story to everyone when we arrived at the station.

As I get on the escalator, I always check to see if I am going to have issues with my javelins at the top. From the bottom, it looked like there would be no issue. So I continued my conversation that I was having. NOTE, all of this I am about to tell you happen in about 2 seconds.As I get to the top of the escalator, I soon realize that the end of my javelin case (made out of 4" PVC) is lodging itself into the ceiling above. In my head there are many things that come to mind... kick the bottom out, QUICK... Pull on the top, QUICK... Yell HELP!!! ... Start to cry now, because something bad is about to happen. All I could do was wait. Wait, to see if 4" PVC is the same as 3/4" PVC pipe. Does it bend or does it splinter into sharp pieces. I only know about the splintering, because I attempted to find out if it was possible to bend 3/4" PVC without heating it, this summer. Well, 3/4" snaps and sends pieces of PVC flying in all directions. Who ever made my safety glasses, thank you.

This day, I didn't have safety glasses and the PVC pipe was 4". Does it snap??? I hope not!?!?!?! Back to the story... There I was with my javelin case wedged into the ceiling and the escalator running. Now, the case begins to bend away from me. Internal thought.... Wow, this piece of PVC is bending and not breaking...AMAZING! Oh wait, what happens next... It's gotta go somewhere?

Let's think about this. If it's bending away from me, it's either going to snap and the top of my case will hit me in the head or it is going to unload, like a spring and hit me somewhere between my head and toes. Next I hear a huge CRACK! And then BAM!!!!!!! My case just hit me in the stomach, chest and shoulder. At this point, all I can do is make a grunting sound (UUUUUUUUGH), because I cannot breathe. The wind has been knocked out of me. Next, I have to save myself from falling down 40-50 stairs and in doing so, save everyone behind me from the domino effect. I grab the rails of the escalator. One of our sprinters (Oluseyi Smith) is behind me and he helps me from falling. In about 10 more seconds I reach the top of the escalator and everyone give me a hand with my bags and body.

The first thing I do is laugh, because my coach was just talking about this less that one hour ago. Secondly, I have to make sure the pole vaulter in front of me and the sprinter behind me are ok. They say they are ok. Now, I can bend over and take a breath. Here, I feel like puking, but I think I'm ok. I take survey of all my parts. Head...CHECK! Chest...CHECK! Stomach...CHECK! Hips, knees legs and feet...CHECK! Arms... Left... CHECK! Right????? Oh NO! OUCH!!!!! The javelin case hit me in my throwing arm. I am battered and bruised, but it feels ok.

Within 5 minutes, we are on a bus and onto the athletes village.

30 minutes after accident

Today, our team doc, Linda Thyer, check out my shoulder and thinks it is ok. just to make sure it is just a bruise, we went on an Adventure called... the Korean Health Care System!!!!!

The ride

Dr. Thyer (Team Doc) and Me in an ambulance

The table I was X-rayed on

After a 2 1/2 hour trip to the hospital, we found out that I don't have anything wrong with my shoulder that wasn't already there. THANK YOU!!! I am just bruised.

One day after being an idiot on an escalator, and yes this is my throwing arm.

...and the peasants rejoice!