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At my age (46), we think of PR's in terms calendar years. Tonight I set a 2003 PR of 9-6 ath the Brown University All Comers Meet. I'm hoping that there is still time to get into double digits before year's end. My real PR is 13-10 (Summer 1975) so that's safe for the foreseeable future.

Vault'n Gus, thanks for your help and encouragement. I agree, I definitely need bigger sticks for the next meet.

Maybe you will compete against my dad in the master meets, hes 46 and hes jumping and he does the pole vault and decath.

Kyle,

That'd be neat. If I can avoid injury (a big IF), I hope to vault in the National Masters Indorr Meet in Boston in March. Will he be there?

Most likely, he has went there in the past. He really gears up for the world masters competions. They have them in different countries, its pretty cool. Do you plan on going to any world masters meets? He enjoys them alot, especially the traveling part. His name is Ken Ellis, so if you see him you can tell him that you met his son on the internet.

I don't plan any foreign travel this year (unless you consider California and Illinois "foreign travel" - I'll be at the Skyjumpers camp right after Christmas, and I'll be in Chicago for the Jan Johnson's Safety Conference in Feb.). Otherwise, I plan to stay in the New England region. I suppose that there is a possibility that I'll be in the Southeastern US sometime (my daughter is applying to colleges in NC, SC, and GA.

Thanks for the heads up, if I meet your Dad, I'll make the polevaultpower connection.

Best regards

KYLE ELLIS wrote:Most likely, he has went there in the past. He really gears up for the world masters competions. They have them in different countries, its pretty cool. Do you plan on going to any world masters meets? He enjoys them alot, especially the traveling part. His name is Ken Ellis, so if you see him you can tell him that you met his son on the internet.

Russ,

Ken's one serious hoss. And one of the nicest guys on the planet. Fortunately for us vaulters he still splits his time with other events; otherwise, he'd be smoking a lot of great vaulters on a regular basis. I believe he has at least one hotly contested world championship under his belt.

I hope to be in Boston. My rehab is progressing nicely. A few days ago I was doing standing one-legged jumps from the ground onto a 31" box with my bad leg. Felt fine the next day.

Vaultmd,

Lol..."standing one-legged jumps". I assume that you don't mean with a pole . Glad to hear that you are recovering.

Do you remember in Florida you told me that I should take a month off (on the theory that since I had just had a sound one month of training, it was best at my age not to push the envelope)? Well, the day after I got home (it was about 60 degrees and sunny - Indian Summer in New England), I rolled out the runway and decided to vault in the back yard. Sure thing, on about the #6 or 7 vault, I strained a hamstring and had to relegate my training to the Nordictrack and stationary bike for 2 weeks! I suppose that I should have listed to the doctor.

Hope to see you in Boston.

Take care,

My dad has three master division world championships in the vault, and now one in the decath. He jumped 14ft at a meet the other day so is training is going well this year. My dad didn't start vaulting until out of college, cleared 16+at 40 years old. He stole all of the talent because hes 3 inches taller, about .8s faster in the 100m (in his prime) and an overall better track athlete than I will ever be! Ok Im done bragging about him.

Kyle, your dad is one of the greatest athletes out there, go ahead and brag on him, he kicked my butt up in Shawnee Ok, one winter.

Russ wrote:At my age (46), we think of PR's in terms calendar years. Tonight I set a 2003 PR of 9-6 ath the Brown University All Comers Meet. I'm hoping that there is still time to get into double digits before year's end. My real PR is 13-10 (Summer 1975) so that's safe for the foreseeable future.

Vault'n Gus, thanks for your help and encouragement. I agree, I definitely need bigger sticks for the next meet.

Russ, Do you know anything about a development meet next Tues evening at Brown?

Yes.

The meet itself officially begins at 6:30. This week they ran 3 flights of vaulters (it was very screwy - I vaulted in the 1st flight).

On the 23rd, they plan to have 2 flights: #1 will begin at 6:45. That'll be for they baby-jumpers like me, I think some high schoolers will begin around 7 or 8 feet (heck I started this week at 9-0). Fight #2 will begin after Flight #1, probably around 8 o'clock or so. That flight will be for folks jumping considerably higher (probably 12-0 plus). Some guys this week were in the 14-16 range I think.

The meets are really low-key and friendly. Vault'n Gus brings a crew and we all help each other out.

Entry fee is $5 for as many events as you want to enter! Hope this doesn't break your piggy bank.

I believe that there are at least 2 more Tuesday night meets over the next few weeks too. I have more info at home (I'm at the office today), and if you want I'll post/pm/e-mail you additional details tonight. Or, you can get the info from the Brown Univ. T&F website.

Also, you do know about the Weekend meets at Boston Univ. right? If not, visit the BU T&F page for a description. I'll be out of town for most of those.

If you come to Brown next Tues., say "hi": I'll be the old guy w/a beard and a "Skyjumpers" purple & white singlet.

Hey you should enter the info on those meets into the Pole Vault Power Database!