Training, Sacrifice, and Merry Christmas.

Its that time of year when we all look forward to our Christmas breaks.  Students get a couple weeks off or nearly a month for you college students.  Teachers, like my wife, look forward to some much needed rest from the students.  For us athletes like myself who have been training for about 4 months straight I sure wish I had a few weeks off!  The truth is I'm beat up, physically my body just hurts, I have plantar fasciitis in my feet and limp around for an hour every morning until it loosens up.  My shoulder aches at night and keeps me from sleeping, my toes kill every workout from my bunion, my body just aches all over.  This is the hardest Ive ever worked for the longest prolonged period.

When most people think of the sacrifices I make they think of this pain, the physical pain of pushing my body to the limit every day to strive toward a goal that most can barely comprehend.  Its true, I sacrifice my body and push it through pain greater than most would ever endure voluntarily and for free!  I'm used to the pain, I know that the pain I endure is necessary, because the rewards in the future will be worth it.

There are other sacrifices that most don't think about.  My parents retired this year, finally!  My dad retired from being a full time minister and my mom as a kindergarten teacher at a private christian school.  They have lived in Freeport, Illinois where I grew up for the past 37 years and decided to move closer to family.  A month before they moved to northern Indiana about 5 miles from where I lived at the time, Amanda and I moved to Knoxville!  Rather than being 15 minutes away we are now 8 hours away.  I knew that If I was serious about continuing my vault career this move had to happen but talk about sacrifice!  I sacrificed some great time with my parents, helping them move and fix up their new place, which was greatly needed.  I will be able to spend a total of 2 days with them for Christmas this year before travelling to western New York to be with Amanda's family for 3 days before meeting the training group in Cleveland, Ohio for a week long training camp.

This sacrifice has been felt the hardest as the holiday approaches, not only the stress of travel but knowing the time spent together will be minimal, its times like these that make me want that break right about now.  But there is a light at the end of the tunnel!  Indoor season is less than a month away!  The thrill of competition reignites the fire under my butt to stay strong!  To keep at it, and remember whats its all for!  I have so much confidence that this year is my year!  The sacrifices are finally going to pay off!  But you know what, even if they don't,  I'm injured and don't get to see my work pay off fully.  I know that I have done what most wont just so I could have the chance to achieve what most cant and I guess that whats its all about, the journey.  I'm thanking God for the sacrifices this holiday season. The sacrifices are what set us apart, taking the high road, not taking the easy way out, its what makes you strong.  Be thankful for the sacrifices you've had to make this year, it makes the good times that much better.

I can only imagine its what Jesus was thinking when he left his place in heaven to come to earth as a baby born in a barn, all to save us!  Now that's sacrifice!


" Well you only need the light when its burning low
Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
Only know you love her when you let her go
Only know you've been high when your feeling low
Only hate the road when your missing home"
-Passenger- " Let Her Go"


So here's to the heartache, the pain and struggle!  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Always Pursuing -Mark-

2013 Summed up?

Hmm, nearly 7 months since my last post?  If you remember around that time I announced I would be taking some time off social networks to attempt to focus better on my training.  I stopped posting updates here, Facebook, and Twitter, well my season is over and so here is a hopefully short summation of my year.

My last post was written in January, at the time I was right in the middle of overcoming a fear that I wouldnt be able to hold on to the pole.  I can tell you now that I still havent totally overcome this fear.  This sport is unlike anything ive ever experienced, absolutely every part of the event is tied into the previous action and the next action.  For me it started as soon as I picked up the pole, if the pole didnt feel perfect in my hand it affected my first step which then affected every step after that.  When your confident in your jump, you run differently, you attack the box knowing your safe, and you have total confidence in the pole your jumping on, this changes only when something goes wrong and you adjust to it.  Most of the year I have been expecting something to go wrong, such as not being able to hold on to the pole, getting stood up over the box, the pole being too big, or holding too high.  This affected every meet of my season.  I can tell you that I am so close to being at 100% but it has taken the entire year and Im not there yet!

I learned to accept very small improvements because I went from one practice where things were great, to the next practice and running through 70% of practice.  Now if I had a bunch of money I probably would have stayed home all year and worked through it, but I needed to travel to compete, with the hope that things would turn around and I would jump high enough to make some money or make a qualifying mark.  I am pretty sick of people talking about post collegiate vaulters like we arent working hard enough or focusing on jumping high.  Most of us are PROFESSIONAL pole vaulters meaning its how we make a living.  So either we stop being professional pole vaulters to make money and lose training time or we compete and attempt to improve throughout the year.  Do people think we are just drowning in money and are partying every day, taking our training and vault technique for granted?  If youve been where I am then feel free to criticize, otherwise PLEASE keep it as constructive as possible.  Thats the end of my rant...for now.

June 1st Amanda and I moved to Knoxville, Tennessee so that I could train full time with Olympic gold medalist Tim Mack.  I have been considering moving to train with a renowned coach for about 3 years now.  Every time I thought I had found the right fit something would fall through.  Now I know that was God closing the doors to lead me where He wanted me to go.  I completely believe that God has called me, made me to be a professional pole vaulter, and until He tells me to go in a different direction Im going to continue along this path.  The atmosphere here has been awesome!  Tim expects the very best from each of his athletes, the same way he did of himself.  Its been great to have a group to train with and a coach who is knowledgeable and that I can talk to when I have questions or concerns.  If you have the chance get down here for one of Tim's camps, you will get your moneys worth.

Its hard to look at this year as a good one, I jumped a season best of 18' twice, most of my meets were around 17'6".  My worst season since college, I placed 5th at indoor nationals and 8th at outdoor nationals.  Its tough to be positive, to think things will turn around and Ill be better than ever next year.
But I have to.  I have to get back to work, to focus and make every day count.  To be the best I can be, because if I dont, I might as well give up.  I moved my family 480 miles because I wont give up, I refuse.  Its not a part of me.  I take great pride in my work and things I have accomplished and to give anything but my best just isnt going to happen.

Ill be back here more often, updating periodically on my fall training.  On a side note please check out my new business venture at www.smokymtncaseco.etsy.com and get your very own personalized iphone 5 case.

You can also follow us on Twitter @Smokymtncaseco
and Instagram Smokymtncaseco




Always Pursuing -Mark-

Summit Time!

Whew, in the months since my last post have been truthfully the hardest of my career.  Ive always known the impact the mind can have both positive and negative on anything you do but especially vaulting.  Starting mid-November I began having doubts about my grip on the pole, first it was the chalk or the tape just didnt feel right which forced me to jump on smaller and smaller poles.

 At the time I was still only jumping from 5 lefts so it wasnt like I was practicing from my full approach.  So I did what I thought i should and I fought it, I thought that if I tried harder or stopped being a baby I would snap out of it, but that just made it worse.  It got to the point where I would pick up the pole and not think I would be able to hold on...from 3 lefts.  Ive always been the fearless one that was on the big poles and this was so unlike me.  I had probably 4 practices where it would start good, I was starting small trying to gain confidence and I would get to 4 lefts and just be paralyzed with fear that I wasnt going to be able to hold on to the pole.

  Most of those times I would leave practice in tears, not knowing how i was going to be able to get over it or if i would ever be able to pole vault from a long run again.  I have never really put a date to when I will finish my professional vault career but I know Im not ready to be done yet, and the possibility that which has defined me for the past 15 years could be taken away from me was very hard.  I tried to get my mind off it, I was able to go to California and help coach a camp with my buddy Paul Litchfield which was a great time but when I came back the problem was still there.  Shortly after that it was time for the holidays and even with all the hustle and bustle pole vault was still on my mind.

 Out of necessity I began using sticky spray on my hands rather than chalk, and little by little I am learning to use it.  Im not pushing it, Im only back to 6 lefts right now but Im taking off and ive jumped in 2 meets.  Right now Im not worrying myself with results but rather progress is my goal.  Im gaining confidence with every jump and enjoying every time I leave the ground and fly through the air. I hope I never take for granted again the awesome ability I have been given.

Heading to the Reno Pole Vault Summit tomorrow with Amanda, really excited she is able to join me this year.  Love the chance to get together with old friends and make tons of new ones.  Make sure you come say hi and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

I think the reason it took me so long to write about this issue is that Ive been embarrassed.  Ive never heard of anyone having this problem and I really thought that I could just snap out of it, but the reason I write this blog is so that you know the problems we sometimes go through.   If you know that I Mark Hollis 2x National champ couldnt even leave the ground because I didnt think i could hold on to the pole, maybe it will help you to face your demons head on and overcome them.  I plan on using this to be stronger and more confident than I ever have before.

Always Pursuing -Mark-

Its Time!

Its been a month and a week since my last meet and I can tell you the rest has been good!  The first few weeks I ate a lot of junk food and did a lot of sitting around. The next few weeks I started getting a little antsy and started doing some body weight workouts and I found this awesome park in South Bend with about 6 miles of mountain biking trails which I have ridden several times.  Also doing some trail running, enjoying the changing of the seasons with the warm days and cool nights.  I finished my time of rest with a 22 mile kayak/fishing trip which lasted 2 nights and the better part of 2 days, and I can tell you 22 miles is a long way in a kayak, Im still sore!  

Here I am at the start of another year of training, excited to pole vault again and excited to learn and improve.  As I look back at the past year I examine the pros and cons, what I liked and didnt like and how to change the things that are holding me back.  This past year I took major steps in the direction I want to go.  Its easy to look at the year as failure because I failed to jump the A standard and I failed to make the Olympic team and that is the way I viewed it for a few months after the trials.  Its hard to look forward to 4 years from now after looking at where I was 4 years ago, fresh out of college totally in awe of the people I was around,enjoying every minute. and most of all I was jumping at personal bests most of the year.  So its time for a fresh start, how to I get back to the things I was doing well back then and how to integrate the things I have learned and experienced.  I stepped out on a ledge this past year leaving my coach, and really going at it on my own.  I believe it forced me to take full ownership of every part of my life, training, jumping, diet, and competing which maybe I had become relaxed with in the past few years.  I did some things this year that I never thought I could do, I jumped on 17ft poles regularly and I was taking off from outside 14ft regularly.  These things were way out of my comfort zone a year ago and to have pushed myself to make these advances I know they will pay huge benefits in the future.

Once again it comes back to putting the pieces together, I have the speed, strength, and work ethic to be among the best in the world so what is missing?  This past year I spent a lot of time listening to many different coaches, traveling around the country trying to take the bits and pieces from many sources and make them into the perfect technique for me.  That was great in a way because it helped me to see what works and what doesnt, the difference between doing something just because it looks good or because it makes a difference in my jump.  On the other hand its hard to focus on one thing for very long when your taking in so much information.  This year Im going to focus on being consistent the whole year because as long as Im confident in what Im doing I know the results will show.

I feel refreshed, I havent rested this long since college and come Monday Im starting my 2013 season. Is there anything you all would like me to talk more about on my blog?  Questions you have for me? If so leave a comment or tweet me and let me know.  I have a feeling this will be my best year yet!

Always Pursuing -Mark-

Euro 2012...ups and downs thus far

Its the trips like this make me want to. hang it all up, at least then I wouldn't have to carry these damn poles everywhere. I'm often asked for horror stories involving traveling with poles, most people are expecting that my poles were strapped to the side of the plane and fell into the atlantic ocean somewhere or the ever popular my poles were cut in half while traveling story. The worst of my stories always involve airports and I'm pretty sure I have a couple more to add to my top five bad experiences traveling with poles from this trip so far.

I guess the best place to start is always the beginning, so here it is my trip thus far. I live right smack in the middle of 3 major airports, Ohare in Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis. This is good because I always have a choice but its very bad because each one is a 3 hour drive, so you can imagine that each time I travel I need to make special arrangements to be dropped off, and I fly around 20 times a year! But on this trip Amanda was on summer break so she was able to drive me to Detroit. I've actually had really good luck flying with Delta, as long as your on a large enough plane they will take the poles and I've had several trips this year that I haven't been charged for the poles, which can cost up to $300 one way! This time I walk up to the counter and there is always a look of alarm from the person behind the counter, "oh my" or "what are you doing with those here?" This time was pretty good I was charged 150 for the poles and sent on my way.

I arrived in Amsterdam and had one of the longest walks to my next gate to catch my flight, first I get slowed at passport control costing me an extra 5 min then again going through security, they for sure thought the 2 tennis balls I had taped together, a simple tool for therapy, was a bomb! This cost me a good 10 min and even tho I was running they had closed the door to my flight about a minute before I got there, ugh. I've done this enough to just shrug it off and proceed to the desk to get a re booking, I wait about 2 hours and catch the next flight to Berlin. Now I'm wondering about my bags and if they made it on my first flight or second, I had no doubt they made it because I ended up having that long layover in Amsterdam. Arriving in Berlin and I wait and wait for both my bags, neither are coming which I'm thinking is fine, they must have just sent them on the earlier flight so I proceed to find where they are stashed. The guy tells me to go to another part of the airport for lost baggage. Now european airports aren't quite like in the states, things are never where they're supposed to be! I get lost trying to find the counter, oh also I'm supposed to be meeting my chauffeur for my meet in Hof who I didn't see as I came off the plane. I finally find the counter and realize that I have somehow lost my bag tags! So now my bags are somewhere and the only way to identify them is the black one with wheels and the huge tube, joy! The next 48 hours are just pure anxiety and phone calls that are going nowhere. Not only do they not know when my suitcase will arrive they haven't even located my poles! How is that even possible? I mean how many 17ft long tubes you got floating around that you can't locate mine? Well with thanks to my wife and brother steve getting a hold of the right people my suitcase arrives the morning of my comp, which is very good because I've been wearing the same underwear for over 3 days uhhhh, sorry for that mental picture but that's what I'm dealing with. Still no poles but at least I can compete, pole vaulters are always looking out for each other and its usually just a matter of finding someone with around the same size poles as you to borrow them. Day of the meet is very windy and on and off rain, I decide to run from a shorter run of 6 lefts because of the conditions and the poles I was borrowing were perfect for that run. Start the comp and I jump 17', 17'4, 17'9, and then I put together a great jump on my first att at 18' and made it! I was super pumped, one of the toughest things to learn in the vault is how to know if your doing something right or wrong and being able to reproduce it. I think that I'm pretty good at that so I'm excited for my meet tomorrow to try it on longer poles

So after the meet I checked with KLM for an update on my poles, now they know they are in Amsterdam,I'm thinking at least were on the same continent. I told them to send them to Cologne since that is where I was heading the next day. I wake up the next morning, get my rental car and find out the poles are in berlin and they can't deliver them so I need to pick them up. Berlin is 3 hours in the wrong direction for me but I had to get my poles. So I drive to berlin get the poles and drive another 6 hours to Cologne, finally arriving at an apartment 2 american pole vaulters are renting before the olympics. Hung out there for a day and then I was scheduled to fly out on air berlin to stockholm at 6am so I was up at 4am heading to the airport. I've flown on air berlin before and really didn't think I would have any trouble checking in the poles, oh was I wrong. I walked up to the counter and started to check in, the lady saw my poles and said "oh that will be an extra charge" I was pretty happy that that was the biggest concern here and thought I was going to be good to go. Well the lady started talking on the phone which is normal, then the manager comes over and they're talking, after about 40 minutes of this the manager tells me it is not possible, my favorite european expression. I plead and basically beg, ask them to just try it but to no avail. So now I don't know what to do, of course I don't want to go to the meet without my poles but if I have to I will. So I'm on the phone with my manager and he's going to come and pick up the poles, I ask air berlin if I can leave the poles there for 20 min until someone picks them up but of course they aren't going for that. They are reallyu going out of their way to not help me in any way. I'm down to about 30 min until my flight, so I take the poles and go down to baggage storage but I have to wait 10 min for them to even open, its only 6am. Finally they open and tell me I must wait for security to come and scan the poles. Another 10 min passes and by now I'm sure I've missed my flight, go through security and sure enough doors are closed. I go back out and tell them I need to be re booked and this lady starts literally yelling at me for thinking I can walk in here with my large luggage and expect to get it on the plane and to have the nerve to think I could get re booked because I was made to miss my flight. She went on to tell me it would be an extra 300 euros for another flight with no poles. I really was just in awe, I had kept calm thru this whole ordeal but I just couldn't take it anymore, I think I was just so overwhelmed with all the stress this early in the morning, remember its only 630am and I'm still very jet lagged. I was totally defeated, emotionally spent, and just wanted to go home.

Well I finally made it to Sweden, wow what a beautiful country! This is definitely a place I would visit on vacation. My poles are also here which I thought was a good thing. I attempted to jump yesterday and every one of us except for one person didn't make a height. Right now I just can't believe the string of events that this trip has produced. I'm on my way to my final meet of this trip in Poland, its going to be a great meet, all the top guys in the world will be there. Hoping to redeem this trip and put on a good showing.

Always Pursuing,
Mark
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry