This past week has been a roller coaster…
Like I wrote in last week’s post, I went out to the Olympic
Training Center for a couple weeks. I
flew back Friday, 6/7, into Chicago Midway International Airport on a NON-STOP
Southwest Airlines flight from San Diego.
As I’m waiting at baggage claim, I had this odd feeling that my poles
didn't make it. Needless to say…they did
NOT make it…sigh. You would think that
with a direct flight all of your bags would make it right? Wrong…Oh the life of a pole vaulter. So I went to the baggage claim office and
they told me they would Fed-Ex them to me once they landed in Chicago and would
get to Terre Haute (which is 3.5 hours away) no later than Monday morning(6/10).
Monday morning comes around and the tracking
number they gave me still said the poles were in Chicago…great. I call the Southwest Chicago Midway Baggage
Claim and they said they landed at Indianapolis International Airport at 8am
and should be shipped to me by Tuesday morning(6/11).
Tuesday morning comes around, no poles, so I
call them back. They told me that my
poles were never in Indianapolis and have been in Chicago since late Friday
night. They were supposed to be picked
up by Fed-Ex, but apparently they forgot my poles. So now they said my poles would for sure be
picked up that day and overnight-ed to arrive by Wednesday morning(6/12).
Wednesday morning comes around…no sign of my
poles and the tracking number still said they were in Chicago. I call Southwest Chicago Midway Baggage Claim
again, and they said they were very sorry Fed-Ex didn't pick them up because
they won’t fit on the truck. Now they
had to order a special freight truck. I
asked multiple times if they were sure they would be picked up and to please
notify me when they did. I was reassured
over and over again that they would be picked up that day. I called an hour after they were supposed to
be picked up and guess what? Fed-Ex didn't
make it for the pick-up time that day…awesome.
Apparently they were going to come back later in the evening and get
them to me by Thursday morning(6/13).
Every day I told them that Pole Vaulting was my job, and I really needed
my poles for training, plus I had a competition on Saturday that I couldn't
jump in without my poles. I was
desperate.
Well…Thursday rolls around…again…no
poles. I tried to call all day with no
answer, and their answering message service was full! This time I called the main Southwest Baggage
Claim number and they couldn't contact Chicago Midway either. At this point I was extremely frustrated and
getting ready for the reality that my poles weren't going to get to me by my
competition on Saturday.
On Friday(6/14)
I called Chicago Midway again with no answer, but this time I was able to leave
3 messages saying it was urgent that I talk to someone, to please call me
back! I never received a call back, so I
called the main Southwest Baggage Claim number again. They finally got in contact with Midway and they
said the poles were going to get to Terre Haute by 8pm Friday night. That evening my coach, Jeff Martin calls
Southwest and talks with them for an hour, and finally decides that my poles
were definitely not going to get to Terre Haute by the start of the competition. He asked Southwest that if he drove up there
tonight would my poles be there and would he be able to pick them up? Finally, they said yes. What a disappointing week dealing with
Southwest Airlines.
So Jeff drove 7 hours round trip Friday night to get my
poles. He got back at 4am. Keep in mind that he had been working on
setting up for Saturdays’ Sycamore PV Open out in the hot sun ever since
Wednesday. Plus he was at the track
early the next morning to finish setting up for the competition, and was there
all day to run the meet and to move the pit back to where it normally is after
the meet finished. I am extremely lucky
to have such a good coach, friend, and mentor on my team. I can’t thank him enough for all of the big
and little things he has done for me. So
a HUGE thank you goes out to Jeff Martin!
What a relief it was to know my poles were going to be here
for my competition, the Sycamore PV Open!
I could finally relax after hours on the phone that week. But now the pressure was on to have a great
day after all that work Jeff had done.
Turns out, the weather wasn't going to cooperate. It rained on us at the beginning of warm ups and
we had a nice little headwind! But I
didn't care. I was bound and determined
to jump well that day. I came in and
cleared 4.40m(14’5”), 4.50m(14’9”), 4.60m(15’1”), then put the bar up to
4.70m(15’5”). I missed my first 2
attempts and was down to my last attempt…I wanted to clear that bar so bad! I visualized myself clearing it at the back
of the runway. With a deep breath I was
running down the runway saying to myself, “be tall, move your arms, and swing
fast”. Next thing I knew I was on the
mat celebrating with a new outdoor Personal Best of 4.70m(15’5”)! I love the feeling I get after clearing a
personal best. You couldn't get me to
stop smiling for anything! The great
part about it was that most of my family and friends were there to watch! Thank you to everyone for coming out to
support! That means the absolute world
to me! :)
Also, a special Congrats to Vera Schmitz for clearing a PB of 4.45m(14'7") to get the "A" standard for USA Nationals next week! You go girl! :)
My next adventure is to Des Moines, IA for the USA National
Championships! The competition is on Sunday, June 23, 2013 at 1:30pm CST. I have to place in the top 3 in order to
qualify for the World Championships in Moscow, Russia. Wish me luck! :)
Thanks for Reading!
Kylie
@ratherBvaulting
www.facebook.com/pv.kylie
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