Author Archives: JerryLukins

Jonny’s Birthday and Red Hawk Rumble

Jonny’s 19th birthday is today and we got to see him on his birthday down in Oxford, OH at the Red Hawk Rumble invitational where Miami University Red Hawks hosted the Kent State University Golden Flashes. It was unusually hot for the end of September as the temps were in the low 80’s and the humidity was 82%, not an ideal day for the runners. They were originally going to race after noon when the temps were going to be approaching 90 degrees but the coaches decided to bump up the schedule almost 2 hours so the kids could compete when it wasn’t going to be as hot. This meant that Nikki and I had to hustle to get there as we were planning on arriving at 11:00 and now they were racing at 10:30. We pulled into the parking lot and made it to the start line as the official was ready to start the race.

This was Jonny’s first 8K race as the last race was reduced to a 5K due to weather up in Akron. After a the first 200 meters he was near the back of the pack, but settled into a good rhythm and started to advance his position shortly after that, Jonny ended up 21st out of the field of 44 runners. Due to the temps and humidity 8 runners were not able to finish the race. Of the 10 Kent State runners Jonny finish 6th with a time of 27:36.4.

After the race it looked like he jumped in a pool with his clothes on! He was a sweaty mess. Just like high school he went around and congratulated everyone for doing well in a tough race in harsh conditions.

We only got to spend about an hour with him before they were preparing to load up the school vans and head back to Kent State on the opposite corner of the state. It was good to see him and watch him compete again and display his sportsmanship after the race.

The official results can be found here at crossroads timing.

Jonny after running an 8K in the heat and humidity at Miami University.

Here is the video I was able to get of the race. You could see most of the course which was great, but when zoomed in so far, I really need a stabilizing stick for my video camera.

The track team took their team photo this last week as well.

2018 Kent State Men’s Track Team

Tommy Evans Invitational (Akron) – September 7, 2017

Jonny ran his first cross country meet for the Golden Flashes today at Silver Creek Metro Park which is the home of the Akron Zips. The weather was cool in the upper 50’s leading up to race time. Just before the girls race started there was thunder and lightning and the race was delayed 30 minutes. The wind really picked up and the rain started coming down harder with more thunder and lightning. We were told the race was cancelled. We met up with Jonny to drop off more provisions for his pantry in the dorm room and started heading home. We got about 20 minutes away and Jonny texted back saying the race was just delayed and they were planning on running. We turned around and headed back and parked the car and waited for the rain to stop. We were checking the live timing site and as we were looking at the site trying to get some information, they changed from girls preparing for the race to boys on deck. We got out and started walking towards the course and within a couple of minutes we heard a gun go off. We talked to some of the Akron volunteers and they decided instead of scrapping the entire evening they were going to run both the boys and girls in a 5K race instead of the boys running a 4 mile race. They started the boys and after they were on the course for 5 minutes they started the girls, so they had boys and girls on the course at the same time, but on different parts of the course.

Because of the change of events, Jonny didn’t get a good long warm up and they walked the course earlier as a 4 mile course. So Jonny wasn’t really sure exactly where he was in the race since the course changed on him. He looked nice and relaxed on the course and after the race he said it was more like a hard workout than an actual race. He didn’t kick until late, but finished very strong with a time of 16:22.4 and finished 34th out of 45 runners.

We were happy we got to see him run instead of them cancelling the entire race after driving 2 and a half hours to get to the meet.

The official results can be found here on the Finish Timing web site.

I took some video of the race.

Jonny is off to Kent State

Today we officially moved Jonny into his dorm room at Fletcher Hall on the Kent State University Campus. It’s about a 2 and a half hour drive to Kent State University from our house. Campus was very crowded with all the students moving in. Luckily there were plenty of student helpers to load up and we were able to get most of his things in one trip. Nikki and I helped him unpack and settle in. He was the first one in his room as his room mate was traveling from Poland and wasn’t expected to get there until the following day. We dropped the Taurus off at long term parking for students over by the football stadium almost 2 miles away. He needed a few more things so we make the short 10 minute to Stowe to Target to pick him up some more things and then over to Giant Eagle to get him some snacks, drinks and other grocery items. When we got back it was still extremely crowded, so I dropped him and Nikki off to run the other items up to his room before we headed out for a bite to eat. When they got back, Jonny had a pleasant surprise in that his room mate came in a day early and was moving in with the help of one of their coaches. Jonny’s room mate is also a freshmen runner for the Flashes. We then grabbed a bite to eat and said our goodbyes and look forward to seeing him the weekend of labor day.

Stephanie has her 21st birthday

Stephanie turned 21 yesterday. Nikki and I took Jonny and Alyssa down to Cincinnati to celebrate Stephanie’s birthday with Marcus and Braxton. They took us out to several parks and we had a wonderful time sightseeing overlooking the Ohio River. We capped off the evening with dinner from one of Stephanie’s favorite Mexican Restaurants before heading back to tbeir apartment to eat and play with Braxton. We ended up getting home very late, but I had planned ahead and took Friday off. It was a nice short visit and we enjoy seeing Stephanie, Marcus and Braxton. They always take us out somewhere different whenever we visit with spectacular views.

Knee Replacement Recovery Status

I am still recovering from knee replacement and surprisingly there is still swelling, mostly on the back side of my knee. There is still pain, but the pain is more mild but almost always there. There are times where the pain level is increased and I have to take 4 Ibuprofen to help relieve the pain.

Physical Therapy is helping me regain my strength and range of motion. There have been a couple of times where I hurt for a day or two afterward. I think mostly from the stretching to help the range of motion. Sometimes icing after helps and sometimes not so much. I am definitely getting stronger and am able to balance better on my left leg. There is still a long way to go though. I think once the swelling goes away, I will regain some range of motion and the pain will subside. I am looking forward to that.

Update on Jonny’s vacation

They made it to Grand Island and camped a single night on the island. The weather was unusually cold, they got lots of rain overnight and a couple of the boys got soaked. But Jonny said the worse part was the mosquitoes. They have never experiences such big mosquitoes and and the relentless attack and volume of the biting bugs in all their lives. One of the boys said it was way worse than camping in the Everglades. They took the first ferry back to the mainland the next morning and tried to warm up and dry out. They camped on the main land for the next several days while battling some of the heaviest rainfall and thunderstorms the area has seen in years every night. They got wet a few more times and where able to find a laundry mat where they could dry out, but they continued camping and Jonny commented they had some very low miserable times as well as some of the greatest best times on this trip. It will definitely be a trip they will all remember and share and have many stories for rest of their lives to share with each other.

Jonny takes a vacation to The Upper Peninsula.

Jonny, Dustin Braden, Thomas Patton and Barry Bait are all taking a vacation to Grand Island located just off the shore in Lake Superior. They are tent camping and hiking in a location where cell service is non existent and we have no way of communicating with him to make sure everything is OK. He has been camping in the scouts before and does have some experience, so he knows how to primitive camp. We are looking forward to hearing from him after he makes it back to civilization.

Recover is slow and painful but progress is definitely being made.

So far the recovery from the total knee replacement is slow and gradual. The swelling has lasted for weeks and the bruising was nothing I have ever experienced before in my life. I am making progress though and the pain has been severe at times but never excruciating and the pain meds seem to take effect in 15-25 minutes so I haven’t had to be in total discomfort for a very long time. I have started home physical therapy and have tried to get up as often as a I can even if it’s just for a couple of minutes. I can feel myself getting stronger every day and recently progressed from using a walker to using a cane after my 2 week post op visit today where they told me I was slightly ahead of where they expected me to be. I am using the pain meds less often and hopefully wont require a refill. Nikki has been good at taking care of me while allowing me to do simple things on my own to help keep me a little active. I have noticed that all the sitting and laying down have made my rear end numb more times in the last couple of weeks that in the last year!

I have my knee replaced.

After our trip to San Francisco in February and me being unable to explore the city on footafter walking a short bit the first day, I decided it was time for me to get a total knee replacement in my left knee. I set up an appointment back in March to get the ball rolling. We are finally here after surgery was just completed on June 7, 2017. They have me on pretty good pain meds and they are taking pretty good care of me so far. This time through I didn’t wake up in the recovery room with immediate dry heaves like my back surgery last year, so that was a major improvement over my last surgery.

Jonny’s graduation party

We held Jonny’s graduation party over at the Price’s house for both him and Natalie. We had the Pizza Cottage truck serving fresh pizza. The party was well attended and everyone enjoyed the live band, drinks, cake and conversation even though it rained on and off several times.