Sunday, May 31, 2009
Countdown to training camp -7
As training camp approaches, a strange feeling has come over me. A feeling of mixed emotions... After being passive for all of last year, I wonder if I still got it? Do I still have that juice that I've always played with? I wonder how training camp is going to go? I wonder how my body will feel when I get that first hit?.... I guess only time will tell. Just 7 days to camp, but Rookie Camp is around the corner, and yesss I'm going to that too!
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Countdown to training camp -10
10 days away, I just finished the Molson Bar Blitz with the Eskimos. It was really nice meeting the fans, letting them know how great this season is going to be. That aside, I'm really anxious to get things going. It has been a long wait. Despite all the changes, I'm still here. Getting ready to help this team win and bring the grey cup back to E-town.
Friday, May 22, 2009
OFF-SEASON part III
Back in E-town I was hit with a feeling similar to jetlag. I didn’t fly so let’s call it roadlag. After driving Debo to the Airport for 6am I stayed up the rest of the day feeling weird that I was not on the road. I sat back and really thought of what we just did…. AMAZING! We actually made it across the country on a winter weekend. If we can do that then anything is possible. Gazing out the balcony I wondered why it couldn’t be June already? Reality started setting in, back to Grind Season.
Grind Season part II
You’re probably wondering now why Grind Season and not off season? It’s Grind Season because if you’re really serious about the game, then there is nothing off about it. As a matter of fact off-season is my least favorite time off year, but the work has to be done. Grinding to get it. Grinding because I want it. I’m grinding because it’s what you have to do. Nothing happens over night. I’m still left with the bitter taste from last year. It’s GRIND SEASON!
Life during the grind season was much easier now that we had a car. Instead of arriving at the gym after work by 8pm, I was now leaving at that time. Though the days were still long it was much easier than riding the bike. The regimen was running smoothly but at work I was frustrated because I wanted to get my training done first thing in the morning, with work coming in second. Working at Totem was a great experience. I met a lot of Eskimo fans and other wonderful people. I explained my plan to some of them and they gave me encouragement and wished me good luck along the way. Despite enjoying working there, something had to be done to alleviate some time in the mornings so I could train more effectively. With the help of the Eskimos front office I was able to score a more flexible job. They lined me up with a job as a security guard. At first I was a little hesitant. Thinking back to Montreal, it was usually a work gig where you really had to secure. I took the job anyways.
I was given two permanent sites; Independent Jewellery and Icon Omega II. Icon Omega was a new condo building being constructed. During the weeknights I would work at the Jewelry store and on weekends Icon Omega. The first shift at Icon was long with not much to do. The building was empty except for the first 3 hours of my shift. Working 12hr shift on the weekend left me with plenty of time alone. Only a routine hourly check pulled me away. With so much free time on my hands I couldn’t possibly sit and do nothing all day.
At this point, reading came back into my life. I needed to escape the cold winter feeling in the empty construction building, so I escaped with my mind. I took a friends advice and purchased a book, The Secret. Reading it over and over again throughout the month of February I let the words sink into my head. The book had a very powerful message and gave me a whole new perspective on life. If you haven’t heard or read this book I urge you to go get it now. I PROMISE YOU WILL NO BE DISSAPOINTED. This book reinforced a way of thinking that I had already practiced, but never to its fullest potential
The book suggested putting things down on paper, creating a “vision book”. With nothing to do but sit down all weekend I said yes to the vision book. The first day with the book was quite slow. I had a couple of goals and dreams down but it didn’t take much time. Pen in hand, looking at the notebook pages I felt I had nothing to put down. Last season I had started writing my experiences as a rookie for an online football site. After not finishing my entries, Pat, the owner of the site let me know that some of the readers were disappointed. Remembering how terrible I felt that I didn’t finish, I decided to complete what I had started in my vision book. As I relived the experiences in my mind I put everything down as vividly as I could. The flood gates opened and I began writing non-stop. Sitting in that empty building it was my only form of entertainment. I told my friend H about what I was doing and he urged me to create a blogspot. The first two blogs I posted received so much feedback that creating the blogspot became the best thing I had ever done. I would re-live each week from the last season and capture the memories in writing. March and April flew by as I wrote and put in the work, making preparations for the next season. Grind Season had come to an end and I no longer hated it. I was back in shape, on a steady schedule, and feeling good about myself. With football season on the horizon, this is what I’ve been waiting for.
So now that we’re caught up to speed, LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
Countdown to Training Camp 10….
SAM-I-AM
Sunday, May 10, 2009
OFF-SEASON part II
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
The saying “Home for the Holidays” never had much meaning for me, for the simple fact that I had always been home. It added another first experience to the year for me. As soon as I got off the airplane I felt much better. A feeling of familiarity hit me, something I was used to. I started wondering if I had made the right decision to stay out in Edmonton? Only time will tell. For the time being I was happy to be home.
My second night back marked the first night out on the town. I reunited with close friends Ceddy Rock and T-Time. The first thing both of them said was, “Dam you look small!” Still not knowing how much I weighed, I replied thanks with a smile. The night out was great. It brought back many memories from my university years. While standing around, I noticed that I did not miss the Montreal night life anymore. Something that seemed so appealing to me 8 months ago was not as enjoyable as before. Did I change? Mature?? Or did I just have different priorities? I think it was a combination of all three.
Being home for a couple of days now, I started feeling like myself again. Reminded that I did have friends and family that I could talk to helped. Despite my struggles last year, I was in a great position. The news came in that the new coach of the Edmonton Eskimos was Richie Hall. The excitement started brewing that day. Now, inspired I put Young Cal’s advice to work. Finally stepping on the scale, I tipped in at 187 lbs. I was in shock of how much I had lost in 3 weeks. I had accomplished my goal already. My next goal was to become more flexible. I’ve always stretched but always felt that my muscles were very tight. I needed to find a way to drastically improve my flexibility.
YOGA
Never in a million years did I think I would join a yoga class. How did this ever come about? Well long story short, I met an old friend when I was down. I was talking about how I needed to increase my flexibility. She urged me that Yoga would be great for me. Still skeptical, I declined at first. She began taunting me, asking me if I was too scared. After some thought, I decided to give it a try. After all, it could be another first to add to the list.
First class, I was ready to go! We drove downtown to St-Laurent street where it was located. The sign read Moksha Hot yoga. Hot yoga? I had no clue what regular yoga was and here I am being dragged to hot yoga. Entering the yoga room, I was slapped in the face by this heat and fans blowing hot air at me. It was a little uncomfortable, but being in Dubai before the season prepared me somewhat for this type of heat. Sitting on the floor of the hot room, Ashley told that it was an advanced class. She explained that I shouldn’t feel bad if I couldn’t do all the positions. “Piece of cake” I felt I was in great shape. Bring it on! At first it was simple. As the class wore on, however, it started to speed up. It was quite hard to breathe and I found myself dizzy. My competitive edge didn’t want to stop because she was so much better than me. Midway through the class I was done. I could barely do any of the moves. I was in way over my head. I forced myself to try to do as much I could. I couldn’t wait to get out of that hot room. Following the class I was dead tired. How could a little stretching be so hard? I had found new respect for yoga. It was much harder than it looked.
The next day I woke up feeling muscles I had never felt before. It was a great feeling, my body had never felt so relaxed. I made a decision to keep yoga as part of the training regimen.
NEW YEARS
On a normal occasion I would be going out with friends and drinking the night away. It was different for me this new years. No longer did I want to go out and party like I used to in Montreal. I was enjoying Montreal in a different way. Just being around my friends was enough for me. I spent the night at H’s place with a couple of other close friends. Pleased with my lighter physique, I splurged on some fast food for once. I only spent $20 and had the best new years to date.
ROAD TRIP
As days passed I knew the vacation was coming to an end. Thinking ahead 5 months, I knew there was still a lot of work to be done. It was going to be back to the grind to prepare for next season. I truly enjoyed my time in Montreal. Being around friends and family was something I really needed. Driving away from downtown I looked through my rear view and promised myself the next time I would return to Montreal it was with my pads and the Nasty Eskimos.
Originally I was supposed to fly back, but I decided not to. A buddy of mine, Chad, had made a big decision to come out west and get his life started. He too had felt he was not doing anything very productive in Montreal and needed a change. I explained to him how it was quite time consuming to not have a car in Edmonton, so he decided to bring his car down. Chad had his buddy Debo checked the mechanics of the car to make sure it was fit to drive. After a couple of minor repairs, it was ready to go. Now, Debo has always been a fan of driving. He is known for taking trips for no reason so he wanted in on this one. Adding an extra driver made things easier on us so his company was welcomed. Debo had booked a return flight to Montreal so we had to push to arrive in Edmonton in 60hours. The plan was to drive straight, stopping only for food, gas, and to give the car break. When I told my mother the plan she looked at me as if I was crazy. She said, “In the winter there is no way you’re going to get there in time to make that flight!” I smiled and told her, when there’s a will there’s a way. Even if we didn’t make it, it wasn’t the end of the world. But, after Debo had invested $600 in a ticket we did not want his money to go to waste.
After a short delay we hit the road. Leaving Quebec was a piece of cake. Riding high in the province of Ontario our first nightfall hit. Somewhere around midnight it felt like the temperature in the car had dipped, my toes were starting to get cold. I asked what was going on…? Chad replied, “ I think we lost heat?” Right then, it truly felt as if we were in a scary movie. We stopped at Mc Donald’s to regroup, throw some more clothes on, and discuss what our next move was. Our only option was to keep going. We were too far in now, approaching the great lakes. The U.S was in sight and we just had to make it through the night. Chad had just put in an 8 hour shift of driving. Debo was up next. Rolling along it was terribly cold in the car. We only managed to get part of the heat working which only allowed us to semi defrost the front window. It was incredibly hard to see out the front and all the side windows were frosted inside. Driving across Canada during the winter was no joke. I prayed to god to watch over us as we might be in over our heads.
I awakened with relief that Debo had got us through the first night. He clocked in a 10hr shift all while getting us through the U.S border. It warmed up considerably in the morning, the heat was working better, and things didn’t look as bad anymore. After being on the road for 18hrs we had weathered the first storm. Now arriving in Wisconsin, Chad hit the wheel again, while I was on the passenger side navigating the GPS. The weather was much nicer in the U.S. and we enjoyed the whole day with no worries. Just us on the road, rolling along.
The saying “Home for the Holidays” never had much meaning for me, for the simple fact that I had always been home. It added another first experience to the year for me. As soon as I got off the airplane I felt much better. A feeling of familiarity hit me, something I was used to. I started wondering if I had made the right decision to stay out in Edmonton? Only time will tell. For the time being I was happy to be home.
My second night back marked the first night out on the town. I reunited with close friends Ceddy Rock and T-Time. The first thing both of them said was, “Dam you look small!” Still not knowing how much I weighed, I replied thanks with a smile. The night out was great. It brought back many memories from my university years. While standing around, I noticed that I did not miss the Montreal night life anymore. Something that seemed so appealing to me 8 months ago was not as enjoyable as before. Did I change? Mature?? Or did I just have different priorities? I think it was a combination of all three.Being home for a couple of days now, I started feeling like myself again. Reminded that I did have friends and family that I could talk to helped. Despite my struggles last year, I was in a great position. The news came in that the new coach of the Edmonton Eskimos was Richie Hall. The excitement started brewing that day. Now, inspired I put Young Cal’s advice to work. Finally stepping on the scale, I tipped in at 187 lbs. I was in shock of how much I had lost in 3 weeks. I had accomplished my goal already. My next goal was to become more flexible. I’ve always stretched but always felt that my muscles were very tight. I needed to find a way to drastically improve my flexibility.
YOGA
Never in a million years did I think I would join a yoga class. How did this ever come about? Well long story short, I met an old friend when I was down. I was talking about how I needed to increase my flexibility. She urged me that Yoga would be great for me. Still skeptical, I declined at first. She began taunting me, asking me if I was too scared. After some thought, I decided to give it a try. After all, it could be another first to add to the list.
First class, I was ready to go! We drove downtown to St-Laurent street where it was located. The sign read Moksha Hot yoga. Hot yoga? I had no clue what regular yoga was and here I am being dragged to hot yoga. Entering the yoga room, I was slapped in the face by this heat and fans blowing hot air at me. It was a little uncomfortable, but being in Dubai before the season prepared me somewhat for this type of heat. Sitting on the floor of the hot room, Ashley told that it was an advanced class. She explained that I shouldn’t feel bad if I couldn’t do all the positions. “Piece of cake” I felt I was in great shape. Bring it on! At first it was simple. As the class wore on, however, it started to speed up. It was quite hard to breathe and I found myself dizzy. My competitive edge didn’t want to stop because she was so much better than me. Midway through the class I was done. I could barely do any of the moves. I was in way over my head. I forced myself to try to do as much I could. I couldn’t wait to get out of that hot room. Following the class I was dead tired. How could a little stretching be so hard? I had found new respect for yoga. It was much harder than it looked.
The next day I woke up feeling muscles I had never felt before. It was a great feeling, my body had never felt so relaxed. I made a decision to keep yoga as part of the training regimen.
NEW YEARS
On a normal occasion I would be going out with friends and drinking the night away. It was different for me this new years. No longer did I want to go out and party like I used to in Montreal. I was enjoying Montreal in a different way. Just being around my friends was enough for me. I spent the night at H’s place with a couple of other close friends. Pleased with my lighter physique, I splurged on some fast food for once. I only spent $20 and had the best new years to date.
ROAD TRIP
As days passed I knew the vacation was coming to an end. Thinking ahead 5 months, I knew there was still a lot of work to be done. It was going to be back to the grind to prepare for next season. I truly enjoyed my time in Montreal. Being around friends and family was something I really needed. Driving away from downtown I looked through my rear view and promised myself the next time I would return to Montreal it was with my pads and the Nasty Eskimos.
Originally I was supposed to fly back, but I decided not to. A buddy of mine, Chad, had made a big decision to come out west and get his life started. He too had felt he was not doing anything very productive in Montreal and needed a change. I explained to him how it was quite time consuming to not have a car in Edmonton, so he decided to bring his car down. Chad had his buddy Debo checked the mechanics of the car to make sure it was fit to drive. After a couple of minor repairs, it was ready to go. Now, Debo has always been a fan of driving. He is known for taking trips for no reason so he wanted in on this one. Adding an extra driver made things easier on us so his company was welcomed. Debo had booked a return flight to Montreal so we had to push to arrive in Edmonton in 60hours. The plan was to drive straight, stopping only for food, gas, and to give the car break. When I told my mother the plan she looked at me as if I was crazy. She said, “In the winter there is no way you’re going to get there in time to make that flight!” I smiled and told her, when there’s a will there’s a way. Even if we didn’t make it, it wasn’t the end of the world. But, after Debo had invested $600 in a ticket we did not want his money to go to waste.
After a short delay we hit the road. Leaving Quebec was a piece of cake. Riding high in the province of Ontario our first nightfall hit. Somewhere around midnight it felt like the temperature in the car had dipped, my toes were starting to get cold. I asked what was going on…? Chad replied, “ I think we lost heat?” Right then, it truly felt as if we were in a scary movie. We stopped at Mc Donald’s to regroup, throw some more clothes on, and discuss what our next move was. Our only option was to keep going. We were too far in now, approaching the great lakes. The U.S was in sight and we just had to make it through the night. Chad had just put in an 8 hour shift of driving. Debo was up next. Rolling along it was terribly cold in the car. We only managed to get part of the heat working which only allowed us to semi defrost the front window. It was incredibly hard to see out the front and all the side windows were frosted inside. Driving across Canada during the winter was no joke. I prayed to god to watch over us as we might be in over our heads.
I awakened with relief that Debo had got us through the first night. He clocked in a 10hr shift all while getting us through the U.S border. It warmed up considerably in the morning, the heat was working better, and things didn’t look as bad anymore. After being on the road for 18hrs we had weathered the first storm. Now arriving in Wisconsin, Chad hit the wheel again, while I was on the passenger side navigating the GPS. The weather was much nicer in the U.S. and we enjoyed the whole day with no worries. Just us on the road, rolling along.
As we rolled into the prairies the scenery was beautiful. As miles wore on, I passed most of the time thinking.
The scenic part of the trip was done. We had half the trip behind us and it was now time for me to hit the wheel. This night was much better than last night better visibility, and a warmer car. I drove through the night into the morning. Once again it was a nice day as we passed through Minnesota. The worst was still yet to come. The third night it was terribly foggy and we could only see about 15yards ahead of us. Thank god for the GPS system we would have never made it without it.
The final push put us through the flats of Saskatchewan. We arrived at the Edmonton International Airport 17 minutes before his flight was boarding. Mission accomplished! Montreal to Edmonton in less than 60 hours.
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