Monday, February 11, 2008

Professional

This weekend's trip to Saskatoon was quite the experience. I learned a few good things, one being that Dylan is the most unreliable person when it comes to knowing times to arrive at certain destinations. He is very similar to my Dad, haha. We drove to Kelowna and barely made our first flight. The first flight was a bit bumpy and I was all paranoid but did survive the trip. We landed in Calgary and then immediately flew out of Calgary into Saskatoon. Upon arrival, Saskatoon was windy, cold and it was snowing. The temperature was -45 C with the wind chill and on Saturday it was - 48 C with the wind chill. It was so cold when I went outside I would end up coughing a bit prior to adjusting to the temperatures. It was definitely the coldest I had ever felt.

Jesse and I roomed together and had a nice place and pigged out Friday night. Saturday morning we woke up and all three of us went out for breakfast and then came back to the hotel under the impression that we were throwing at 3. Around 12:35 I was looking at the meet schedule and noticed that we actually were throwing at 1. So, after a few choice words for Dylan we quickly got dressed and got a ride to the track. By the time we got to the track, we warmed up and threw and finished the competition in about 25 minutes.

I threw terribly. I just felt super super flat and had no juice. I also got a bit mental because I had not been throwing well in practice and was still adjusting to things. Jesse threw very well while Dylan was pretty mediocre. Although I threw terrible, I took some good lessons from it. Today Dr. B told me he was worried I would come back and flip out on him for throwing so poorly. I am not too worried and hopefully will get my act together in practice over the next few days and put out a decent mark next month. We will see.

I did get to meet up with the family I stayed with in Saskatoon which was a nice thing. We hung out at their house and then Trent the guy who picked me up, took me out for some wings and drinks at a bar. We had some good talks and then he took me back for the banquet in the evening. I got all dressed up (polo shirts are dressing up for me) and went downstairs to the bar where Dylan and Jesse were. They ended up playing a joke on me and convinced me I had to sign up for the banquet. After about five minutes I found out I was signing up for speed dating, so they enjoyed that prank. We had a few drinks and then went up to the banquet.

The banquet was fun and the food was good and we were recognized for our throwing. After the banquet Jesse and I got to hang out with Dennis Mitchell (Olympic champ) and this guy named Anton who is a linebacker for the Saskatchewan Rough Riders. We hung out until the wee hours of the morning listening to stories and telling stories about our home worlds and how we all ended up in Saskatoon in the bitter cold weather. It was quite entertaining.

We then fell asleep and woke up around 6 and headed back to Kamloops. We got back to Kamloops safely and recovered from our travels. It was a good experience and a fun time. It was also sweet because we all got paid for going to Saskatoon. They paid for the flights, hotels and food and then I made 200 bucks for throwing like crap. I was so amped up to get paid for throwing. So, I am officially a professional athlete, hahahaha. I am not going to lie, I feel pretty cool about that. Anyway, now I am training hard again and hopefully things end up throwing well.

1 comment:

caitlin said...

You wore a polo?! You really must be taking this professional thing seriously