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The Road Less Traveled Gets Him There

May 02, 2025 3 min read 6 Comments

The Road Less Traveled Gets Him There

Roger Parnell in the preliminaries of the 60-meter hurdles at the World Masters Athletics championships. He qualified for the finals and won the gold medal. It took 18 months of rehabilitation of a hip and knee to get him back in shape. Photo by Rob Jerome.

 

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By Ray Glier

Roger Parnell, 75, needs one of those “Made In…” stickers.

Roger’s label would be fixed to his tee-shirt, shorts, and running shoes.

It would simply say “Made In Roger Parnell” or perhaps “Made Right Here.”

For 18 months, Parnell worked at resurrecting his Masters Track & Field career without surgery. Geezer Jock first wrote about Roger in February, 2023 when he went to the doctor for evaluation of a hip injury.

It was an injury to the labrum. It was recommended Parnell get a hip replacement, and alien parts would have severely curtailed, or wiped out his jumping.

Roger chose the road less traveled. Rehabilitation. 18 months of physical therapy is why it is the road less traveled.

“It becomes your new job,” said Parnell, who was a school psychologist in his old job.
 
18 months! That's why he needs a "Made In..." label. Parnell made himself back into a world-class athlete. Not only was he dealing with the hip, but Roger also had a knee injury. 

The rigorous rehab set Parnell up for this at the World Masters Athletics championships in March (M75):

*Gold in the 60-meter hurdles (8.94) and gold as part of a mixed 4x100 relay.
*Silver in the Long Jump (13 feet, 4¾ inches).
*Bronze in the 200 meters (30.48).

“The long rehab was worth it and I'm proud of my effort,” Parnell said. 
 
Roger finished the 2025 indoor season No. 2 in the world and No. 1 in the U.S. in the 60-meter hurdles (10.82). He was No. 1 in the U.S. in the Long Jump, No. 3 in the U.S. in the 60-meter dash (8.81) and 200 (30.48)

“It has been quite awhile since I have had a hurdles race that I was proud of.....and there is still room for improvement,” he said. 

This story for Geezer Jocks is the value of taking the road less traveled. Parnell did not want to be stuck in the meh middle. He wanted to go for it, especially entering a new age cohort where he was among the youngest.

**

I wrote this two years ago about Roger as he weighed options of surgery or rehab:

Parnell’s story should resonate. Most doctors are well-intentioned, but we have to be clear what our goals are, not theirs. We shouldn’t try and walk backward in time, but we should be masters of our game going forward.

Roger became his master. He adopted a strident physical therapy regimen, which takes him an hour to complete. 

“The reason for a lot of my success is that I followed the protocols they gave me and I asked for more,” he said. “I was well aware it doesn't happen overnight. So don’t stop working. A lot of people will just give up. I don't do that. I put in the work.”

Did I say “Takes” not “Took”? Yes, present tense because Parnell is still in therapy. He still does the workouts.

This is some of the routine:

Lateral band walk with band looped on feet. 3 sets back and forth of about 20 ft.
Drinking Bird weighted (kettleball) single leg balance drill.
Bulgarian Lunge with kettleball. 
Clams. Laying on my side with two bands. One above knee, one at ankles. 
Side lying leg lift with ankle weights. 

"I continue to do these and have incorporated them into the rest of my workout routine. They are no longer rehab, and are now maintenance exercises," Roger said.

What was the one exercise that made a difference? 

“It was not just one,” Roger said. “He would put me through, probably at least 10 exercises a session, and I did the same exercises at home. I was doing them twice a day.

"I don't think it is something I can stop."

Geezer Jocks, if you are coming back from an injury...

,,,is this something you can start? Is this something you can keep up with?

Don't sell yourself short. Many of you are already accustomed to taking the road less traveled, like Roger Parnell.


6 Responses

Michael Paul Lavigna
Michael Paul Lavigna

May 11, 2025

Wow…..I guess I can’t come here and “hide out”…….you got me thinking, forward again!!!

Michael Paul Lavigna
Michael Paul Lavigna

May 11, 2025

Wow…..I guess I can’t come here and “hide out”…….you got me thinking, forward again!!!

Ken Endris
Ken Endris

May 06, 2025

Great article about a great competitor. I was honored to be able to compete in the Finals of the 200 meters along with Roger at the Indoor Worlds this past March 23-30. Roger is so disciplined and so focused once he lines up at the starting line. But not only a focused competitor, but one of the nicest masters athletes one will ever meet or compete against. Keep on setting new goals Roger and here’s to many more healthy years competing at future masters track & field meets. I am so glad we were USA teammates in 2025.

Rick Muth
Rick Muth

May 06, 2025

I dont care to compete anymore but want to keep learning from others and enjoy their stories.

Ronald Friedman
Ronald Friedman

May 04, 2025

Nice story. I agree – do the work. It may not always pay off, but many times it does. Training for the NYC marathon at age 78 in 2023, I injured my left knee. Couldn’t run at all, and it hurt to walk. In May and June (marathon is in November) I went to three different orthopedists, after having an MRI. All said the same thing. My knee inside looked a bit like a scrambled egg. I was told by prominent doctors in a top hospital in NY I will not name – give up on marathons. Work on getting to run three miles once or twice a week, that’s great for a guy “your age” (ugh!). I started physical therapy at a recommended local place with a good therapist. He told me: “an MRI is a picutre. Your knee is a living entity. What your knee can do or not do may not at all be represented in a picture. Let’s go to work.” And we did, twice a week, plus another three training sessions a week on my own. After a month I could start to run. By mid-July I was running over a mile. I kept it up, very determined but realizing that a mile in July may not translate to 26.2 miles in November. Well, the routine paid off. By mid-October I was running 12 miles, and on the last Sunday in October I ran 19 miles. I took the week off before the marathon, and on marathon day, the weather was good and so was I. I did the whole run and had energy to spare. And the best part – my knee never hurt a bit. So I guess that old scrambled egg of a knee got hard-boiled and tough by doing the work from from May to October. There’s a lesson here, but it’s one I had learned over the course of many decades of living. Trust yourself. Do the hard work. You may not always succeed, but if you never try you certainly won’t accomplish any goal other than wishing – too late – maybe you coulda, shoulda, woulda. Oh, I ran the NYC marathon again in 2024 and I wll be 80 this month (May 2025), and plan to do it again on November 2hd.

Tom Lawlor
Tom Lawlor

May 03, 2025

Great read. I plan on adding some of this routine to my own.

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