Ryan McGeeney, 33, an intern at the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner, returned to finish shooting a track championship Saturday at Brigham Young University's stadium in Provo, Utah, after a javelin pierced his leg, the newspaper reported.

"There was the kind of tight feeling in the skin where I could say, 'oh yeah, it went through me,' but it wasn't real painful," he said. "It was pretty embarrassing. I just felt like a jackass."

McGeeny, who is a seven-year veteran of the U.S. Marines, including six months service in Afghanistan, was taken to the hospital for treatment, stitched up and returned to the meet within hours to finish the job.