{"id":1448,"date":"2015-12-27T18:25:10","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T00:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcthrows.com\/?p=1448"},"modified":"2016-01-03T18:32:52","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T00:32:52","slug":"a-trip-to-houston-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mcthrows.com\/?p=1448","title":{"rendered":"A Trip to Houston: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"download\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to lie, the prospect of a return trip to Texas did not thrill me. I once spent the longest eight months of my life living in Dallas, and I left there with no intention of returning to that state. \u00a0Ever.<\/span><\/p>\n

You know how, every once in awhile, some loudmouth in the Texas legislature will threaten secession if the federal government tries to deny their right to arm kindergartners or make the teaching of evolution a capital offense? Every time I read something like that, all I can think is \u201cDon\u2019t let the door hit you on the way out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But, this year\u2019s International Weightlifting Federation World Championships were being held in Houston, and I love the sport of Olympic lifting and the Worlds had not been held on American soil since 1978 and Lord knows when they\u2019d be back here again and Schleizer would be there to protect me and\u2026so\u2026a few days before this past Thanksgiving, I headed to Texas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scheizer, by the way, is my friend who was an all-American shot putter at the University of Illinois and is now a school district administrator and so is used to beating people\u2019s asses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The trip began on Sunday, November 22nd, \u00a0with a remarkably pleasant flight from Chicago. I had a window seat, and not long after I\u2019d occupied it a friendly, earth-motherish sort of woman plopped down in the aisle seat of my row holding a baby boy maybe ten months old. She apologized in advance for any trouble he might cause, but he and I got along fine. He had big blue eyes and one of those enormous baby heads and all you had to do was wave at him once in awhile and let him squeeze your finger and he was happy as hell. We were best buds in about half a minute.<\/span><\/p>\n

His seven-year-old sister set up shop in the middle seat, and we hit it off too. \u00a0She was wearing one of those funny winter hats that little girls love so much\u2014furry, with bunny ears. I complimented her on it and that broke the ice. Before long she was telling me about her favorite dinosaur and how a cobra could defeat a komodo dragon in a one-on-one battle and what strategy she would use to try to make a good showing in her family\u2019s annual pie-eating contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

So it was a fun flight, and when was the last time you heard anybody utter <\/span>those<\/span><\/i> words?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"download\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My incredibly patient, supportive wife had booked me a room at the Hilton, which was connected to the convention hall where the competition was being held. Upon landing, I shuttled over there from the airport, dumped my bag in my room and headed to the Eleiko Barbell display just outside the competition arena.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"images\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fifteen years ago, Schleizer coached the throws at New Trier High School just north of Chicago, and one of his athletes was a young lady named Anna Swisher. At eighteen, Anna was probably mature enough to be a senator, but she enrolled at Williams College instead and after graduating went to work on a PhD in exercise science. She recently helped Eleiko develop a coaching education course, and was scheduled to arrive in town Monday to help out at their booth. She had called ahead, though, and asked the Eleiko folks to hook me up with a ticket to Sunday\u2019s competition sessions, which they very cordially did.<\/p>\n

I had about an hour to kill before those \u00a0competition sessions began, and I knew exactly where I wanted to kill it: the training hall, also known as, \u201cNirvana for weightlifting dorks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"images<\/a><\/p>\n

At every big-time lifting competition, the host provides a training area where the lifters get in their final workouts prior to competing. Quite simply, these are large rooms full of dozens of lifting platforms occupied by the best lifters in the world. I\u2019d seen videos of various training halls over the years, but…it\u2019s kinda like with a Sasquatch or a supermodel. What you really want is to see one in person.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I was highly jacked about the prospect of spending some time in the Houston training area, which was located down a hallway from the competition arena in a room big enough to house giant exhibitions like auto shows or home artillery displays.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wasn’t sure whether or not my Eleiko pass would get me into the training hall, but I figured the way to find out, this being Texas, was to just \u00a0take a shot at it.<\/p>\n

When I reached the entrance to the training hall, I put my head down and flashed \u00a0my pass (actually a wrist band) at the security guard. I was a couple of steps past him when he called me back and informed me that I did not have the right credentials to enter the hall.<\/p>\n

This was, to put it delicately, very disappointing. The training area was blocked off by a set of bleachers and a wall of curtains so I couldn’t see \u00a0any of the lifters, but I could hear the slam of lifting shoes on wood and the “bu-bu-bump-bump” of plates hitting platforms. So near, and yet…<\/p>\n

Dejected, I headed back towards the competition arena and puttered around for a few minutes looking over the display booths full of lifting equipment and t-shirts. Out of nowhere, a nice-looking young lady came up from behind and attached a tendo unit to my right trapezius muscle. \u201cWhere do you hurt?\u201d she asked in a throaty voice tinged with just a hint of sexiness. I started to tell her about my training hall rejection, but right away she flipped on the tendo unit and launched into her sales pitch. As she spoke, she gradually turned up the intensity of the electric shock which, in hindsight, makes me wonder if the implied message was that she was going to keep cranking that thing up until either I handed over my credit card or my trapezius exploded. \u00a0I told her I couldn\u2019t possibly spend $250 on a portable tendo unit without first asking my wife, and that seemed to ruin the moment for her. She cut the juice, handed me a business card and went in search of likelier prey.<\/p>\n

It was time anyway for me to enter the competition hall to see the women\u2019s 53k lifters battle it out. The competition sessions were held in what appeared to be a mid-size concert venue with about 3,000 seats. My Eleiko pass required me to sit in the upper tier of seats, the lower tier being reserved for coaches, athletes, and VIPs. Here was my view from up there:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"comp<\/a><\/p>\n

The venue was intimate enough that I was able to shoot some pretty good vids \u00a0to take home and show my athletes. Here are a few lifts from the snatch portion of the competition:<\/p>\n