Where Guam and Ice Collide

T built a homemade sled for us to use. Converted Dining Room turned DN Sail Loft

Hi everyone,

November was spent getting sails and runners ready and staying consistent with the sprint training. Given Covid restrictions throughout the summer and early fall T and I were pretty consistent working out three days a week. I wrote our 40-yard dash times down each week and in two months some progress was made with slicing off a bit of time. In early November we saw a young woman sprinting at the high school track. She was literally the fastest person I’d ever see run in real life. Her form was perfect, her legs were moving like pistons, and she blew us both away. It was beautiful to watch someone with that much speed.

T and I joked that maybe she’d take us on as students. I was definitely intrigued with the idea so T urged me to talk to her. He said, "Come on. Go talk to her. Ask her. I’ll be your wingman." I finally worked up the nerve to approach her. I said awkwardly and lamely, "Hi, um, you are really fast." She politely said, "Thanks." I then said, "Did you run for your college? She said, "Yes, I ran for the Naval Academy." I then said, "Well, T and I are really old and we are really trying to get better at sprinting."

We told her about ice boating and even broke out the infamous Matt Struble you tube video to show her why we need to learn sprinting technique. She told us she was from Guam and had never heard of ice boating. We have since learned in Guam the average temperature rarely dips below 65F so that makes perfect sense. We then showed her a few of our sprints. She politely said our form was okay. I then said, "Well not sure if you are interested, but if you are at all willing to give us some coaching we will pay you for your time and we’d take it very seriously." I gave her my cell phone and said to please call if she was interested.

Three weeks went by and I didn’t hear from her. What’s the term nowadays…ghosting? I was all bummed out. I’d been ghosted.

Then, having given up hope I got a text from Regine. She said she’d been away, but would enjoy working with us. I was thrilled. We met at the track and got to work last Tuesday night.

At some point in our first session we were talking about Usain Bolt. She described him as a sprinting phenomenon. She pulled out her phone. It was a picture of her standing with Hussien Bolt. I said, "Wow, where was that?" She said Rio de Janeirio. I said, Wait, was that taken at the Olympics? She said, "Yes, he was so nice. Look how tiny I am next to him." I then said, "Wait…you were at Olympics running?" She said, "Yes, I ran for Quam."

Holy smokes. We are being trained by a real OLYMPIC ATHLETE!

We have had three sessions. Already T has shaved over a full second off his sprint time and I have whittled off .40 seconds. Neither sounds like a lot, but with sprinting over a short distance winning is determined by thousandths of a second. It’s huge progress and totally attributable to our Olympic trainer, Regine. We are doing drills I’d never seen or heard of and learning the body positions for starting, powering up, and going full speed.

Sprinting, like most things in life, is a matter of technique, repetition, and a commitment of time. The bad news is Regine is being reassigned for her Naval service in another week so we may just have one or two sessions left. I will keep you posted!

Karen Binder
DN 5630
NEIYA Secretary