London

I arrived in London in a much more put-together fashion than last year! I know my way around the Cologne Airport pretty well now, so check-in and finding the oversize baggage screening area and my gate were a breeze. I did, however, forget that London would have different outlets than those in Cologne! Thank goodness for Becky Breisch and her preparedness; she always has extra converters, and let me borrow one after the two I bought last-minute in the airport weren't up to the task of charging my phone.

Speaking of Becky, it was so good to see her!! I miss San Diego a lot, and I literally hadn't seen Becky or Britney (who came for lunch on Friday) since the very beginning of July. Brad also made his season debut, and hanging out with all of them was a much-needed taste of comforting home!

I traveled to Amsterdam a few weeks ago to watch Russ throw discus in the 1928 Olympic Stadium there. I had a great time simply spectating, but it poured down rain during the whole competition! For some reason, I knew that London would be the same. I brought as many warm clothes as I could fit in the small bag that I take to meets, and prepared for the competition in much the same way that I got ready for Drake in April. I know that I need to feel really warm to trust my body to throw far, so I wore long spandex and a long-sleeve shirt under my uniform.

Rain is inevitable sometimes, so you might as well prepare for success despite it.

My warm-up throws for the competition were mediocre at best, and I was feeling really tired. That was frustrating, because I felt awesome in my pre-meet workout the day before! Maybe I over-did it. Anyway, warm-ups only count for preparing your body for competition, so I did my best to execute technique on my first throw; I didn't do a very good job of it, but it went 59.57m. That's only my second 59-meter throw ever, and the way I began my series at USAs, so I was encouraged by it. My second throw was better overall and landed at 61.77m, and my third felt excellent until I dropped my arm at the last second, making the flight funny and only going 56m.

Becky, Jill, Dustin and a bunch of other Americans were standing behind the runway watching the meet and cheering for me, and it was so great to be able to smile thanks in their direction between throws. After my third throw (we only got four attempts again, like Gateshead), I went to chat a little about technique. Becky was helpful and encouraging, and on my way back to my chair, Andreas waved me over to give me some tips! We chatted about how I should run onto my block and keep my arm back as far as possible to connect with the javelin better, and I kinda did that on my last throw; 63.41m. Cool.


I barely lost to Barbora! She threw 63.50m on her first attempt and passed the rest because her elbow hurts. I hope that her injury isn't serious, as elbows can be tricky for any javelin thrower. My parents watched the video on Universal Sports and got to see lots of my throws!

I'm kinda disappointed. I wanted a better distance, and I went into this meet knowing that if I won, I had a very legitimate shot at winning the entire women's javelin Diamond League series. I want to say that I did my best on the day of competition in London, but I know that I could have done better. I haven't had a competition in a while, so I should have been fresh from all the rest I've gotten. I've had a lot of opportunity to work on things in practice, but I haven't been executing positions quite like I should be. I didn't feel fresh and I didn't execute the greatest positions, but I still managed to compete well and almost come away with a victory! I also had an A standard throw in my first three attempts, and as I was trying to envision this competition as, say, the Olympic final in London in two years, I was happy to put a decent distance out there early.

Take the good with the bad, but focus on how to use the bad for good in the future.

I still have my biggest competitions of the season to come! The Diamond League final in Zurich on August 19th is a big deal, as it's the culmination of Pre, Gateshead, Monaco and London for me (plus Doha and Rome before that), and is worth double Diamond points. The Continental Cup in Split, Croatia on September 4th is such an interesting and exciting event, and will be my last of the season. Ty, Mike and Melinda recently arrived in Cologne, and I'm really looking forward to throwing with Ty in practice again!