Previous medals and trophies. My best Martial Arts trophies are not in my possesion. I won a huge trophy in sparring which I left with my master. There are a few other good sized trophies that I left with my mother. I competed two years vurtally undefeated. I studied for four years. I lost interest after moving to Dallas in 2000 and hurting my back. Serious competion for me started in high school. I started running cross country as a freshman. I played basketball that year too. I wasn't able to run track because I got lazy around track season. I ran cross country again as a sophmore and received my varsity letter. The best race I had during high school ended 50 yards from the finish line. I was about 4th place feeling good. Then somehow I fell while passing a guy (he tripped me). It took me only a few seconds to get up, but a good number of runners had passed me by then. I thought about playing basketball, but it was too tough being on the team with all the football players when I chose to run instead of play football. Junior year I started to run, but I had a car and other things on my mind.
I didn't start running again until I was 24. By then I had gained a lot of weight. I started running 4 to 5 times a week to get in shape. I lost the weight and started to enter races. In KC, running races were the only races offered and they were big. I would do good in my age group, but wasn't getting any medals. I never started on the line because the race had pace markers and I was honest. I would go to Garry Gribble's running store at Ward Pkwy shopping center and register early in the race pampletes I found there. I would go to the race courses and plan strategy. Finally, one race I was frustrated and started on the line. I took off as fast as I could and was actually leading the race!!! I heard the announcer call my number and say that he didn't know how long I could keep that pace. NOT LONG, but I was able to hang on and get my first medal. That was the KC JayCee 5k Tax releif run held on March 15, 1995 at the Liberty Memorial around Crown Center. That medal meant the most to me. It was the first madal I had earned. Those were the days before the internet, so I have no idea how I really did, but I do know I won a medal. In 1996 I was rear-ended by an uninsured motorist who left me with back pain. My running came to an end. I rebounded in 1997 after graduating finally with a Bacholars degree. I took up martial arts and enrolled my son(Deron) into it also. I competed the first year behind my masters back. I won a few and lost a few. The next year I got serious and never lost a fight, but I did loose matches due to extreme violence. The rule in Tae Kwon Do was, if you draw blood, you are DQ'd. Japanese fighting was different. Every thing was legal as a black belt, but the colored belts couldn't kick to the face or punch in the face. You were DQ'd, but the point didn't count and the opponent was given time to recover. I went to a japanese tournament one time, and even though I won, I couldn't walk or train for a week. I hurt my toes, shins, and hands. You DON'T wear pads at japanese tournaments. After winning on a regular basis, I lost interest in paying $40 for one trophy and causing a nice guy a lot of pain. I noticed that guys were really getting hurt at these matches and I didn't want to be one of them. I stopped fighting and started teaching classes. A year later I landed in Dallas and continued to drive to KC to train on the weekends as well as train here. In February 2000, I hurt my back again either doing jump roll falls or trying to through someone over my shoulder the wrong way. I again had to stop all activity.
A doctor at Baylor told me that I could ride a bike, but nothing that caused any jarring to my back. I began riding in April of 2000 and have rode pretty much every since, exept for the 9 months in 2001 where I did NOTHING but lift weights. October 2001 I entered the Columbus Day Du, my first multi-sport race.
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