Hey all, I was a little stressed and disappointed that I wasn’t able to compete at the USA Outdoor Championships this weekend. My strained QL and not wanting to rush back too soon because of injury didn’t allow me to compete, but I have 2 HPC teammates that have qualified for the Championships and should be able to have a major impact in the event they are competing in. Brandon Roulhac and Alonzo Moore will both be competing in the triple jump and if things go well we should have some good news to report as a team, but the end of the weekend. I’ll keep you all posted good luck fellas.

written by lamontdagen

Well I got into the chiropractor today (at this time it’s late March) and after a series of adjustments and muscle test heard the news I didn’t want to here. I would be out 3-4 weeks with a strained QL and an out of line L3 L4. WOW!!! this is nuts I just thought it was something minor. Just when I was getting back into the groove of things. I don’t know if salvaging the season is even possible at this point. By the time I get clearance it will be 6-7 weeks before USA’s and I’m not sure it is worth it. Who knows what’s gonna happen yet, I guess only time will tell. Stay tuned.

written by lamontdagen

In the process of trying to get ready for the outdoor season. I went back to base training to make sure I had things in order strength and speed wise. I have been doing things better  than expected and in a short amount of time, I guess my veteran experience has taken over and my body is back in tune with what I want to do, or so I thought. 

Just when things were going good I decided to take a “active rest” day and play a simple game of horse. No dunking or reckless layups  just shooting long range jumpers, some even at half court. I went up for a rebound after one of the guys missed and felt a twinge in my back. I thought nothing of it cause I was still moving normal. I left the track and decided to go home and ice my back because I felt it start to tighten up. After icing it I tried to get off of the floor and couldn’t get up. I felt like that commercial, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up, the only thing is I didn’t fall. I had to have my wife help me off the floor. I couldn’t touch my toes and at that point I didn’t know what was wrong, but I called the chiropractor immediately to see if I could get in the following day. Why me why now. Lets see what the chiro says.

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With all of the stuff that I have taken on this year, jobs and training included, I tried to see where I was from a training perspective in January. So I decided to jump in one of the meets at Carthage from a short approach (8 steps total). I went out with no expectations because I had only been training for 1 ½ months and my training was so inconsistent I probably shouldn’t have been out there in the first place, but hey why not I love to jump. Long story short it wasn’t a good day, but it wasn’t bad either I walked away injury free and jumped 47 feet from 8 steps not bad for a guy who hasn’t really been training, but I knew I could do better than that with time and effort.

But instead of time and effort I tried to jump again 2 weeks later and realized that I was still weak and not ready to jump at a high level I jumped 46 feet from the same 8 step approach, but I just didn’t have the pop needed to get through the day, so I shut it down and said that I would just get ready for the outdoor season.

written by lamontdagen

HELLO EVERYONE!!!!!! Well I know it’s been a while since I last wrote here and everyone who actually checks the site has been hounding me on my promise from late 08. Well Obama has been through his first 100 days as President and in between that time my life has been one hell of a roller coaster ride, so this entry will come to you all in parts.

At the end of the Olympic Trials I had a discussion HPC Director Mike Young about becoming an agent for the track club. At first I took the conversation as a “forced” retirement because of my performance at the trials, just kidding (retirement did come up though), but after thinking about it clearly I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to expand on life after track and field once I was done, so I accepted the responsibility officially at the end of November. The only problem was I had too much on my plate. I have a full time job as a teacher, I’m the new AD at the school district I work for, I coach at Carthage College and I’m still trying to train along with spend time with my family. WOW!!! What the heck was I thinking? I feel like a Jamaican with 10 ten jobs. Why do I put all of this stuff on myself? Suicidal????????? The day is already short with all that I do I need more than 24 hrs, or a clone to help me with some of this stuff. Either way I’m dedicated to make it all work.

written by lamontdagen

Well unless you were sitting in a cave or hiding under a rock yesterday you would know that we have the first black president of the United States……. Barack Obama. This is something that many thought would never happen in their lifetime including myself because of the hate that this country stems on at times, but boy was I wrong. The most exciting thing about it, is that I had a hand in it. I was able to cast a vote and actually have it heard.  Now most would say…. “oh your only voting for him because he’s black” No I voted for Gore (00′) and Kerry (04′) when they ran too and both times the election was stolen from them, but that’s another issues, but I voted because of the issues and the change that we oh so need right now. I’m just proud that a day of this caliber has come to our nation, and that is wasn’t about color mostly, but about issues of the people. Everyone who wants to parade around and say well all of the blacks voted for him that’s why he won….WELL black people only make up about 14-15% of the population in the United States so he had more than just the black vote. And the margin of victory proved that….. now that was a statement within itself. 

Positive or negative we’ve been apart of history our whole lives, we even make our own history everyday. Some things people see/hear about and others you never will. In regards to President Elect Obama whether you love him hate him, history was made and we were all apart of it and able to see/hear it.

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I know when I first started updating my blog again I said that I would be putting up some pics of me with my new look (BALD!!) Well here is one of the pics along with my Twin (LJ), Please don’t pay attention to my smile in this pic I was just trying to get him to smile. Enjoy

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I know some of you have heard or read about this already, but this is just another sad case of wasted talent. This guy had no clue of what he had in front of him if he just worked, but he continued to take the easy way out. He went from being an Olympian/world class athlete to common perp in a matter of 2 years. A hard and wicked spirial for anyone to deal with. BALCO, check cashing scheme then heroin charges all for what, an easy way out. Kids need to look at him and learn what mistakes not to make. Check out this article on him.

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=3635672

written by lamontdagen

It’s sad to say, but I will share this information with you all. I am somewhat illiterate when it comes to updating my own website. I normally send the information to my coach who also acts as web designer and makes the updates for me. As comical as it may sound I do not know all of the functionalities of the site that will allow me to make the necessary updates, i.e. pics & videos ect. I do enter the blog updates, but that’s about as good is it got until today. I was able to figure out how to add pictures to the site. Yeaaaaaaa!!!!!! for me Well I know some of you will ask, shouldn’t that be easy as uploading the files? Yes and no there are a few additional steps after the pics are uploaded that need to be taken prior to the pics being able to be seen……. Which took me almost an hour or so to figure out, but I got it done so am getting better. Now if I can only remember the steps so I can do it again

written by lamontdagen

Well I got my first weeks workout from my coach, and I must admit it did not go as planned. Don’t get me wrong it’s not what you think and if my coach reads this it will be the first time he’ll hear this because I haven’t talked to him this week ……………….. I have not worked out all week. It’s  not like I didn’t want to or haven’t tried to, but with my new found responsibility as Athletic Director along with my job I’ve yet to figure out the time management between work and working out. I am trying to find a balance and I think that I will have it all figured out by next week. So I will be repeating what I was supposed to do this week next week. Hopefully with better results.

written by lamontdagen