Friday, November 14, 2008

Bang Bang Bang

Tuesday morning my mom came down to Texas to visit me for a few days.

Thursday morning I'm sleeping in my bed, all of a sudden I hear Bang Bang Bang. I was half asleep when I heard the noise, I didn't really think anything of it. The next thing I know my Mom comes in my room and says, "Garrett, wake up, there are two guys from USADA (the US Anti-Doping Association) downstairs that are here to drug test you." I barely believe her. I look over at my clock and it shows 6:34am. I throw on some shorts and a shirt and go downstairs to greet two guys with bright smiles on their faces ready to take a urine sample from me... To say the least, I was not too enthused that on my morning to sleep in I was woken up at 6:34am to drug test. However, these guys are just doing their job and I appreciate the work they do, so I was very friendly!

It turns out these guys drove in from Houston just to drug test me...can you believe that? About 20 minutes after they arrived, they were gone. My mom had gone out walking and I was sitting at my dining room table by myself. I was wishing they had come an hour earlier so I could have at least gone to practice. Oh well, I guess this is the life of an Olympic Athlete...

The second Bang of the day was after practice in the evening. This one actually hurt... I ride my bike to practice everyday and was on my way home when I found myself in the air over my handlebars. I have absolutely no idea what happened...I just remember flying over the handlebars and in mid-air I locked in on the ground I was about to hit and yelled, "Oh #$%@." Luckily I was wearing my helmet. I scraped up my hands and knee but otherwise walked away without serious injury.

This day had a bit too much Bang in it for me.

38 comments:

Nicole said...

That sounds like an exciting day...
Maybe not enjoyable but exciting.

Anonymous said...

i'm sorry. 6:34 is wayyyy too early. but then again, like you said, they're just doing their job. and i'm glad you were friendly towards them :) and they drove from houston to austin for a sample? that's quite a drive !

and that's good that you didn't get seriously injured. i don't remember the last time i flew off a bike, but i'm sure i was being chased by my brother and feared certain death. lol. oh, memories.

in other news, how pumped for the GGs are you? i think it's gonna be streaming live, somewhere on the internets.. and i'm gonna try to catch it. see if you can track down mel (stewart), i'm pretty sure he has a few good questions for you :)

*also* one of my friends sent me the michael phelps beijing dvd for my birthday, and i watched it this morning after work. i swear, it was like watching it for the first time - all over again. i flipped my shit on the 4x100 free. i can't believe how close it was. that race was so epic.

Lauren Brent said...

More than enough bang than you wanted, huh?? As far as the drug testing goes, that's a total bummer... I would have been REAL mad. The bike thing?? I'm just glad you walked away without serious injury!! :)

I was always clumsy on my bike - used to run into parked cars all the time!!

But I think the most unnerving BANG I've ever had to deal with was when some hooligans used dry ice to blow up a mailbox on my street... at 3 in the morning. I was sleeping and my room faces the street, so it was REAL loud - sounded like a gun shot, and it freaked me out so bad I couldn't get back to sleep... I didn't know it was a mailbox till later in the afternoon... needless to say, I was not happy, and REALLY tired.

Garrett said...

It was an eventful day, not too exciting for me...

I'm glad I didn't get seriously injured, good thing for the helmet!

I am very excited for Golden Goggles...My entire family will be there:)

Delia said...

wow woken up so early for that??? hmmm i'm not a morning person so yeah that would not go over well with me but like you said, they are doing their job and i'm glad there is that big effort to keep the sport of swimming clean.

Thank God you were using your helmet ( and very responsible of your part too .... ) Sorry to hear about your fall, wonder wth happened? lol but i'm very happy that it was not serious.

Delia said...

awwwww your family for real??? that is awesome!!!

Garrett said...

I'm really happy they are working hard to keep the sport clean!

I am going to always wear my helmet from now on.

It will be awesome being with my family this weekend:)

Delia said...

yes you should always wear your helmet man..... and are we getting to see any pics from ny? is going to be a bad day here tomorrow... cold and rainy :(

awww sweetie have fun with your family!! any plans??

Lauren Brent said...

You should do a public service announcement about wearing your helmet now!! :)

That's great that your family is going to be at the golden goggles!!! :)

LUCY said...

I'm glad it was not a serious injury. But have fun this weekend in NYC. GOOD LUCK Monday night at the Golden Goggles!!!

Melanie L said...

Maybe they need to have a Golden Helmet awards now... *smirk*

NYC on a cold rainy day is better than any other city on a sunny day... So have fun, and BE CAREFUL!!

Lauren Brent said...

"Maybe they need to have a Golden Helmet awards now... *smirk*"

XD too true... lol.

Garrett said...

Haha I don't know about the golden helmet awards...

It would be unbelievable to win a golden goggle!

I'm definitely going ice-skating in the park;)

Melanie L said...

Be careful on the ice, twinkle toes!

Anonymous said...

Dang. Crazy stories. Glad you are ok after the bike crash. Thanks for sharing insights from your life!

Anonymous said...

Well, that was an eventful day!!!! Rather hysterical if I don't say so myself. On the other note, that sucks have to be woken up at 6:34am in the morn, but it's part of the job they do and I am glad they do it because I believe all sports need to say clean. So I did something I thought I'd never do in my life..I pole vaulted....wow um I injured myself..pulled a muscle and stuff not fun..I think the pole vaulting annihilated me.....lol...but I found it thrilling. O and I am being even more of a daredevil and going skydiving in a couple weeks.!! Thanks for always keeping in touch with us through your blogs they are always enjoyable to read and thrilling.

Lauren Brent said...

I agree with Melanie - be careful on the ice... we don't want another bang bang update! :)

GOOD LUCK AT THE GGs!!!

Garrett said...

Oh I'm gunna skate as fast as possible and do spins too:)

I've always wanted to pole vault...I'm sure it is a thrilling experience...one that I won't experience for a good while:(

Anonymous said...

yes yes yes. be careful on the ice... but have fun!! :) take lots of pics !

(that's my theme this weekend... i keep telling people to take pics, especially the ones i know who are going to mels party and the GGs... lmao)

Anonymous said...

Let me tell ya it was thrilling....It was fun not gonna lie and I have to do it again...Coach is determined to get me in this event....More power to him I say. I spoke too soon when I said I just throw.

Can you do a Triple Sawcow!!!....lol..Have fun though

Kait said...

6:34 is early for a day to sleep in!

Glad you are okay.

Good luck at the Golden Goggles!!

Melanie L said...

I did a cartwheel off a balance beam when I was 11...Still can't believe I did that.

Last time I went skating, I invented a move I call the hipruz. I fell, landed on my hip, and got a bruise!

When I was little, I of course dreamed of being a figure skater like Dorothy Hamill. I got the bad haircut, and went through a phase where I would not wear a coat in winter because she didn't wear a coat on the ice. DUH

Garrett said...

I don't think I will be pullin any crazy moves on the ice...

Thanks for all the support for GG!

Anonymous said...

Well if you do make sure you don't hurt yourself. Get this so much swimmer friend challenged me to train with her tomorrow....hahahaha so ya I am officially worried because I have no clue what I am doing. She does like 50 and 100 freestyle 100 IM 200 IM...I'm like I know all about this stuff....but I was like say what....lol...So ya tomorrow I am training for my stuff and then her challenge!!!.

Anonymous said...

Oh man G...sorry you had such a day Friday. Hope everything's ok today.

Garrett said...

Wow good luck training with your friend in the pool...

Melanie L said...

Where did you end up having dinner last night? I'm always looking for a good place to go on my travels to NYC.

Anonymous said...

LOL...Shocked are we??? Her challenge was definitely brutal. I told I could do anything that she does, but I didn't know she'd challenge me. Hahahahah!!! I embarrassed myself today. It was horrible. My turns were crap...my technique was off. I was like never again am I even gonna swim like this again. It was fun though I will say that.

Garrett said...

I went to Babbo in NYC. I will have a new post about it later on today!

Sorry about the swimming experience>>>

Melanie L said...

Will be interesting to hear your comments on Babbo. I ate there a few years ago, with mixed results. I'll post my comments after you post about it.

Melanie L said...

P.S. - New York Magazine's annual food issue comes out today. Would make good airplane reading material.

And just read our President Elect does not like beets. Beets are awesome!

Anonymous said...

Aw it's alright....I wasn't expecting it to be a perfect day. I did learn a lot believe it or not. I just didn't pick up well on it....which I never done those types of strokes I guess you'd say...please correct me if I am wrong. At least I tried it out and that's better than not trying at all.

Oh Have a fun time tonight at the Golden Goggle!!!!

Anonymous said...

I read this post and had a flashback to the time i ran my out of control bike down a hugh hill into a telephone poll at the end. Hit the handlebars into my tummy lost my breath and scared the crap out of myself. Of course now i can laugh about it but next time i went down the hill it was on rollerblades and it went much better. Also went down on the other side of the street so that helped. Its never the fall that hurts its the sudden stop.

Anonymous said...

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THE HILL Lansing, MI

Anonymous said...

Wow you get optional practices at Texas and they really are optional?! I don't know how it works at Texas, but my coach when I was in high school stated optional doesn't actually mean optional; they believe it's a slap in the face to them if you choose not to attend/"why would you not want to get better/faster when I'm giving you an opportunity to?"

And oh yeah, bad days are just bad days and I personally just try to go to sleep asap on those day:p. I read a quote by dave denniston a couple years ago stating "it could be worse" or something like that so that usually cheers me up

Garrett said...

It's always better to try than to not try...good work

I would have to say it is the impact that hurts not the sudden stop.

At Texas we are required to go to three morning practices per week. Morning practice is offered everyday at either 6:00 or 6:30am. Everyone has to go Monday morning, after that it is up to you. We are all very fortunate Ed and Kris give us this option!

Anonymous said...

oh that's nice! Kind of like part (only 2 morning practices) of the program is respondant to the individuals instead of just "adapt or die"

Anonymous said...

Yes very true and I tried....who knows maybe I'll try it again some time....but I had a laugh with the coach who was training my friends for the Olympics I am like hey can u train me and then i was like ah no i don't think so I'd be a disgrace....lol..he just laughed he's like ah Idk but sticking to Track is for the best I am like ya no joke!!...But this was a price I paid for losing a beat....lol...


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