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. |
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 |
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 |
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!
2 comments:
Wow! This story reminds me of an incident involving a bicycle and a very steep hill while at KU!
And when he finally got to practice his teammate had left because it took him so long. Great story Scott.
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