Never too old to learn

Well, Good Morning!  I continue to learn lots of things.  Growing up I never expected to 'stop' learning, but it still surpirses me.  I know I am not THAT old, but nearing 50 makes me think I'm getting there. 
     I was in Track in high school. I was on varisty all 4 years; in the 100 yd dash, shot put and discus.  Discus throwing was my favorite - so much that I bought my own in high school.  I would have really loved to have been in Track in college, but dropped out, moved home and got married.  So much for those dreams.  I had always dreamed of throwing 120'; the farthest I ever threw was 114'11".  Close, but not close enough.  I did hold the school record for a few years, but that's it.   I never really knew how far I COULD have thrown.
     I have two children in track right now.  Spring is always hard for me because I have always missed the spring workouts, the practices and competitions.  Yes, still each year, now almost 30 years later.  Both Scott and Meg are learning to throw discus.  The high school coach, at the intro parent meeting, told us not to coach our children, let them do their jobs and don't confuse the kids.  Well,  I have an issue with that.  For one, they don't take a lot of time to correctly, completely instruct them on any one event.  We don't have enough coaches to train in each event or specialty area.  So the kids are floundering, wondering what to do to improve and get frustrated.   Yesterday, I was throwing the discus with my kids in the front yard.  We went over the basics, the standing throw.  How all the movements work together.  I could still get a nice flat spin on it most of the time.  No one is perfect, but the kids were amazed.
     They wanted to be able to throw smoothly each time.  Then I explained that I had thrown a discus thousands of times and they had only thrown a few times in comparison.  I still had muscle memory.   They will get it, but it takes lots of practice.  Not something very well known amongst the youth today - being good at something takes a lot of practice and hard work.
    Alright, so what did I learn?  I learned that the bulging disc in my neck will bother me when I throw.  I may plan to participate in the Badge State games June 2012, but I won't be able to train to the extreme.  I will have to tone and strengthen less aggresively than what I thought it would require.  Being stronger phycially will help my spine, I will have to be really smart in how I train.  Not sure when the training will begin, but probably this fall and give myself at least 6 months of consistent work-outs to be fit enough to throw without causing more injury.
     I will continue to help my kids learn and may show up at the track to assist the discus throwers.

Have a great day and may we each learn something new every day!
Love ya,
Bren