Bigger & Bigger

Last night I went to Pittsburgh to accept the Second Wind Award from the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame. The Pittsburgh chapter was started by DDan Marin, Sr., and this was it's 25th year of having a scholarship/awards banquet. Igot my picture taken with Dan Marino (the Miami Dolphins Dan Marino), Bruno SanMartino (the wrestler) & John Rosato (a football coach for 25 years at Duquesne). It was really an awesome night. I made a lot of great connections of people who are willing to help out with supporting my training needs. The dinner was wonderful. Everyone was very cordial and pleased to meet me.

This dream of mine just keeps expanding and getting bigger and bigger.

Bruno was a super fantastic guy. He said to me "I set a world record in bench press in the 1950's, benching 565 lbs. with a two-second pause." This guy is my hero for specifying the two-second pause. I'm the only one I know that does that. I think it's fantastic that he was so strict in his sport to be able to become that strong.

Today's Numbers:
Cambered Bar Rows - 65 lbs., 12. 85 lbs., 95 lbs., 85 lbs., sets of 8.
Single-Arm Dumbbell Rows - 35 lbs., 40 lbs., 45 lbs., sets of 8, each arm.
Pullovers - 35 lbs., 40 lbs., 45 lbs., setse of 12.

<3 Stretching <3

I'm not sure if I made note of it in my blog when we started to stretch differently but I've been laying over a decline bench and hanging my legs for Brian to stretch me. We started that a few months back. When I came home from my meet, I didn't have near the trouble with spasms that I normally do when I'm away for that long, not being stretched. I had spasms that woke me up pretty early in the morning, but they weren't continuous all night. I've had less and less spasms since then. I didn't have any trouble when I went to Cincinatti last weekend. I felt pretty tight when I came back but no spasms. And the last couple of weeks, there hasn't been but maybe a twinge of pain in my hip when Brian stretches me. Certain positions will cause a couple of spasms here and there, but, not anything close to what they used to be. I think the traction must have done some serious good for something that maybe was pinched or not in place or something. There's a spot on my lower back that was hurting quite a bit for some time, but even that isn't as bad as it was. It's still awfully tight, and when Brian twists far enough, he can get a reaction from me, but it's taking him twisting farther before the reaction. The only thing left is the hump by the right side of my rib cage, because I've sat crooked due to my scoliosis. But, we've been working on that, and I really believe that it will get better too :) We just keep coming up with bigger and better ideas and ways...just like the rest of my journey!