Diving for the line

Here is a dive toward the finish line at West Virginia AAA 880 a week ago. Burcham (in red) wins, 1:54.01, to Brandon Doughty's attempt at being Superman in 1:54.03.

 You can see the drive and dive towards the finish line in the race video here (at about 1:50).

 Here is another diving finish at the Footlocker XC national Championship: Zachary Torres dives to tie for 15th with Dylan Sorensen earning both athletes an All-American (top 15) award.

I think the all-time greatest dive was the one Christian Smith made to take third place in the 800m in the 2008 Olympic Trials. 

This is one of the most exciting racers ever, and it is hard to get tired of watching the finish and the celebrations after the finish.

Here are some other finish line dives:

Arizona State's Lewis Banda, nips a diving Jeremy Wariner from Baylor by 1/100th of a second in the Drake Relays final event of the day, the 4 X 400 University Men's relay in 2003 in Des Moines, Iowa. Wariner, a Baylor freshman, went on to win an Olympic Gold Medal the following year in the 400 meters at the summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Superman Adriel Tay lands 1500m A Division win in third Raffles Institution podium sweep.

I am not even sure what is going on here, but it looks like fun!

Triathletes crawl or dive all the time.

Similar things happen when women race in stilettos.

 Another dive.

Not just a dive, but a somersault for the relay win (quick view- start at 3:00)!

 This dive earned David Neville a bronze in the 400m at the 2008 Olympics. 

Here is a new addition to this post on finish line dives. If you are going to take a header at the end of the race then you should at least add some style to it to entertain the fans!



Inspiration for this post came from Letsrun.

Finally, this race video from Japan has to be one of the greatest race finish line dives ever recorded!

Surgery has been Scheduled

August 8 is the scheduled day for my hip surgery. I am very much looking forward to seeing if this surgery will fix things and I wish that August would get here quickly. Dr. Joseph McCarthy will be the surgeon and he is one of the most well-regarded surgeons for hip arthroscopicy in the the nation.
 

Here is another doctor explaining what he did during surgery for a labral tear. They don't know exactly what damage is in there until the surgery, but besides a torn labrum, I am hoping they find something they can do to fix the way my femur sits in the socket by shaving an impingement down. There has always been something wrong with that hip, even before I started running in ninth grade. I did learn at the last appointment that I have a shallow hip socket and that I have very minimal arthritis, which is good.



However, before I have surgery, I have to finish out the school year and then I will be going on a trip to Kenya. I will be working with with a group of people from my church in the Mathare Slums of Nairobi. My primary job will be working with Kenyan teachers who teach in a school in the slum. I am very excited about this trip and to see what I can learn and do. The only negative is that I am going to Kenya and I can't run! It will be a very life-changing summer indeed: a trip to Kenya and surgery to make my body work again.

Here is another interesting video by Kelly Starrett over at MobilityWod. File this under things I wish I knew and did a few years ago. He gives a simple visual tutorial of how the femur and hip fit together with the hip capsule. He shows how to create stability in the hip and to keep away from having an impinged hip. Great stuff....I highly recommend following his blog.






Update:
This new book from the author of The Entrepreneurial Patient blog is a must read book for anyone with hip problems and is thinking about about arthroscopic hip surgery or has had arthroscopic hip surgery for a labral tear or FAI.