It's kind of funny how life is nothing like the movies. This is an interesting mix of good and bad.
A while back, I wrote in a node titled February 12, 2008 that I was near to getting cut from the track team. If life were the movies, I would have not only proceeded to make the track team, but I would have also somehow went on to make the Olympic team in the past 2 weeks too. Anyways, I digress. Fast forward to now: I got cut. Actually, it happened almost two weeks ago. My coach came up to me in the middle of practice and said something you never want to hear:
"Frank, we need to talk."
The conversation went downhill from there. A few days ago, I went and had a meeting with my coach and the head track coach (the Stanford track team has multiple specialized coaches for the different athletics events and then a head coach. It's similar to baseball with a pitching coach and a batting coach and et cetera) and found out what I'm allowed to do from here. Since I'm just a freshman (they had the balls to cut someone they lured from 4 other schools as a freshman), they'll let me try-out again next year. They kept on saying: "Frank, there is a miniscule chance of you making the team next year. You might want to save your energy and try something else," but I told them that I knew I was good at track, and I would make the team next year anyways. However, we came to the realization that the only place for me to train right now, is Moffet Field, which is 9 miles away. That is a trivial distance if you have a car. However, I lack a car.
Anyways, today I went to a hammer throw clinic at Moffet Field, so I got to test out the nice bike ride on over there. Turns out, never trust Google for maps if you're riding on a bike. They told me to go on multiple streets that turned out to not be bicycle-capable, which lead me to make up my route on the fly, which led to me going down many dead-ends, and turned 9 miles into 15 miles. I also set my alarm clock wrong, thanks to daylight savings time, which lead me to be even more late to the clinic. Thankfully though, I hadn't missed much by that time.
The clinic went pretty well. I threw pretty well after I got warmed up, and I got some good advice. I talked to many people, told many of them my story, and got a few comments along the lines of: "Dude, that sucks, but I hope you make the team, and I'm going to watch out for you!" which was encouraging.
The bike ride back was nice. After the odyssey that was the first bike ride, I figured out a coherent route back, and actually had a really nice ride on the way back, all the way up to the Stanford campus. It gave me a bit of time to think, and to realize how motivated I will need to be to do what I'm hoping to do. Thankfully, I think I'm pretty motivated right now. I've got a pretty major chip on my shoulder and I have a lot of drive in the first place. As I would say, if you are going to put the time into doing something, you might as well do it right, and I want to do my damnedest to not just do this right, but to do this better then anyone else.
While attitude itself will not accomplish a task, I do think that there is something to be said for having a good attitude, even in a shitty situation.
Anyways, back to the bike ride.
So, to wrap things up, I was cruising through the Stanford campus on a path for both pedestrians and bikes, and I come up behind a couple who are walking rather slowly. Instead of being like "Excuse me, could I please pass?" I decided to save the trouble and just bike off the road and around them.
Bad idea. Going back on the road, I hit a 6 inch deep pit that was hidden by grass, causing my bike's wheel to turn 90 degrees, and me to fly over the handlebars. Even better, I catch the handlebars right in the middle of the gut, 2 inches away from the navel. Immediately, I think, "Am I ok?" Good thing I was wearing a helmet. I got a bad bruise and a few scrapes, but nothing bad. Lesson du jour: wear a helmet when biking.
As soon as I got home, I realized that life is not the movies, but thats ok. If life was the movies, that bike crash would've given me a bad concussion, or broken skull/neck or something. I would've been rushed to the emergency room, and would nearly die. That is something I can do without.
Hopefully, however, life will trend towards the movies. With a major amount of luck, I can put in the hard work and make the team next year. Maybe after that, I'll go on to do something really incredible.
I guess making the team would be incredible, but I don't see it as such. I know my talents, and I know that I am more then good enough to make the team. I know that I'm going to work my ass off, and I know that I will be back on the team come next September.
Now, I'm off to do a combination of schoolwork, and planning my upcoming training.
I will make that team next year. | 
