Park City

I had the chance this weekend to go to Park City, UT and watch the US Bobsled team train before their national team trials. My girlfriend, who is a pilot was my reason for the visit. I've been learning about bobsled for the past year but had never had the chance to witness it in real life. It was awesome to watch! Despite the cold weather I enjoyed my experience. There is a lot involved with bobsledding from preparing the sleds, warming up in the cold (which is crazy to me), visualizing the runs down the track, and then throwing the sleds back on a truck to return to the top of the hill and do it over. It's exciting to watch from the top of the hill where the athletes get their push from the top of the hill. There is timing involved with the push and the athletes make it look easier than it is. I know because I tried jumping into a sled by myself while it was stationary. I was so clumsy loading into the sled and had a heck of a time trying to squeeze in. The driver and pusher are able to load into the sled in about five and a half seconds, amazing when you're running on ice and pushing a 450 lb. sled. I watched the bobsleds go down the track from various locations on the track which runs nearly a mile long down hill. It's exciting from where ever you are on the track because you hear the sled coming before you see it. It's a loud rumble and is intense to see when it comes whizzing by you at 80 mph. Fortunately the track here in Park City is a smooth one and fairly easy to drive, or so the drivers tell me. I was hoping to get a chance to take my first ride down in a sled but did not get the chance...maybe next time!
It was fun to have a weekend off and get out of the training center for a few days. I head back to San Diego tomorrow to resume training. I'm excited to get back and train, we begin throwing as well, which I've been waiting the last 3 weeks to do! Time to get serious!

Chula Vista

Well I am here in Chula Vista, CA all settled into the dorms at the Olympic Training Center! I made the long journey from Minnesota in three days. I made the drive by myself, which was a little boring....actually, a lot boring! Way too much time spent thinking and driving, but, I made it!
I am very happy to be here though. The other athletes are great. There is definitely a good energy here. It feels different than the last time I was here. It is a good different. We've already started into our general prep training, which is basically getting into shape to start training full time. I can not wait until we start throwing. From just the few days of training my body is already sore....especially my abs! I'll definitely become a better athlete and be in better shape. Everything is set up here to make athletes succeed, it's amazing! I definitely miss Minnesota, but I don't feel I would be able get the same kind of training atmosphere there as there is here.
I am missing working at the Boys and Girls club back in Minneapolis, MN. To continue with my community service project I stopped up at the Boys and Girls Club here in Chula Vista. I went up to introduce myself to the director and everything seems cool there. It will be good for me to have something to do outside of training. I Believe I would go a little crazy if all I did was train. It is important to have balance in life. I believe that In the Arena helps create that balance. I am very grateful for what In the Arena has done for me this past year. I would not have been able to survive and try to continue training without the help. In return I feel I have been able to be a positive role model for a number of kids that I have interacted with at the Boys and Girls Clubs that I have worked at. It has been a good learning experience for me as well. I feel I have become a much more effective servant for In the Arena through the experiences I have had.
I am looking forward to this next year. I feel I have been given a second chance to continue training, and I can't believe how awesome the opportunity is!

Good News

I have some great news to report in my bi-monthly update of my blog. I just found out recently that I was accepted into the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista California once again! I was very relieved to get this news, as I have been anticipating the opportunity for the past few months. I feel very fortunate to be able to return there once again and train. I can tell you now that it will make life much easier for me not having to worry about paying monthly rent on an apartment and spending a large amount of money on groceries monthly as well. I will be sad to leave Minnesota once again, but my excitement over the opportunity to be trained by excellent coaches and train with top athletes in the country outweighs the sadness.

With my move coming up it also means that my In The Arena service will come to an end here in Minneapolis. Today will be my last day at the Boys and Girls Club of Southside Village. It will be hard to say goodbye to the kids and teenagers there. I've only been there for a few months but I have enjoyed going there on a daily basis. I been putting in long hours at the club hanging out with the kids and getting to know them better. I will miss reading with the kids, shooting pool, playing board games or even just running around outside. I intend to stay in touch with the club. The people who work full time at the club have been great to work with and excellent mentors in the profession of working with youth. It isn't always easy to be a volunteer, but it is a rewarding experience.

This next week I will spend packing up my apartment and getting things situated for my long road trip to Southern California. I will get some good quality time in with my girlfriend before she leaves for Lake Placid, New York to start her bobsled season. It will be difficult to be on opposite sides of the country no doubt. A few weeks ago I had the chance to travel up to Calgary, Ontario and check out a bobsled training camp. It was a pretty sweet trip and cool experience to see how bobsledders train. I came away with a greater appreciation for what they do and a better idea of what my girl friend does. I will hopefully get a chance this season to watch her compete at the World Cup Championships in Lake Placid.

I plan to continue my community service in Chula Vista, California once I am situated at the training center and have my training routine set. I have really enjoyed working at the Boys and Girls Club so I would like to continue my volunteer service at another club location in Chula Vista.

What to do now

There is a void that needs to be filled since the completion of the Olympics. For the entire two weeks of the games I found myself being glued to the TV set nightly just to check out some of the action. The first week was spent watching Michael Phelps go for a record breaking eight gold medals. Pretty amazing feat. I don't know what the actual number of races were that he competed in with preliminary heats and finals but it was a lot. To have enough energy to compete at a high level daily for a week straight is incredible! I was awed by this feat and demonstration endurance and recovery abilities. I'm not much of a swimming fan, but I was during the games.

I have to say my favorite moments during the Beijing Olympics were the swimming 4x100m relay when the USA beat out the cocky French team and when Phelps won by a hundredth of a second in the 100m butterfly. Both these races were so close and intense. The fact that the United States was represented so well and was clutch in bringing home gold made a lot of people proud. This proud feeling was most evident during the 4x100m relay. After the French made an arrogant comment about coming to the Olympics to smash the USA and then being beaten and forced to eat their words, I couldn't have been happier. I was actually yelling, jumping around and high fiving my girlfriend when the French were edged out. A priceless moment.

Phelps's individual 100m butterfly was amazing in the fact that it was so close. Everyone from Michael's mother to his coach thought he took second, but miraculously he came through and won. This is an example of hard work and a little luck coming together to make a great, memorable moment. It was almost like a movie the way the race turned out. Simply incredible!

Opening Ceremonies!!!

The Games have begun! I can't believe four years have passed already, it is time to start watching the worlds greatest athletes go head to head again. It's a bummer for me to have to watch it from home, but it's a kick in the pants to get it rolling for 2012! Anyways, I'm excited, regardless of not being one of those world's greatest, to watch the games and cheer on some friends such as Mike Hazel. Gotta give it up for this guy, he is an inspiration. He works harder than anyone I know and he is driven to be the best at what he does. I wish him the best of luck as he shows off his talents to the world! Another friend I know competing in the triple jump is Shani Johnson. She graduated from the University of Minnesota a few years before I did. She is another amazing athlete. She is going to represent Minnesota and the USA well, I have no doubt. I will be turning my TV on in less than an hour to watch the opening ceremonies and see what kind of a show Beijing has in store to start things off. I'm hoping that the throwing events get some love and have at least a few throws shown on TV.



Aside from the Olympic excitement, I have been putting in some serious time at the Boys and Girls Club here in Minneapolis. Today, the kids had a special opportunity to listen to Magic Johnson give a talk. He gave a clear and positive message to the kids. He told them that they are in charge of they're futures and success. He talked about the importance of dreaming big and believing in yourself. It was a good message for anyone...I especially enjoyed it. It's good to be reminded of simple yet effective things.



After the Magic Johnson program, myself and five other employees at the Boys and Girls Club took 50 kids to the Nickelodeon Theme Park in the Mall of America. That was quite a task. My group was made up of 7 girls ranging in ages 8-11. It was difficult to keep them together the whole time, but I guess I was successful when none of my kids turned up missing at the end of the day. It was a fun day with the kids. I however was not able to go on many of the rides due to my size. I still enjoyed watching the kids have fun.



Well I have to prepare some food and get ready for NBC to start their broadcast of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games!

Post-Olympic Trials

Well, my track and field season is officially over. A lot went on for me this season. Frustration was prominent in the beginning of the season for me. Meets were not going well, and I had a fear that I was not going to even qualify for the Olympic Trials. But I remedied that when I traveled out to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. After going two years without an improvement in my discus throw I was able to straighten some things out and line things up for my best throw ever of 61.36m (201' 3"). This was enough to ensure my qualification for the Trials and eased my frustrations. After returning home from the OTC a week and a half outside of my competition date at the Trials I was training and suffered a slight strain of my right pec muscle, something that has been happening much to frequently the past two years. I rested it for three days unable to throw and lift for fear I would further damage it and be totally useless. This brought frustration back to me. I knew I needed to lift and continue refining my technique up to the big meet, but I had no choice but to lay off and let it heal so I could compete.
When I arrived in Eugene I felt great! I was excited to be there and overall my body felt probably the best it had all year. I definitely had making the Olympic Trials finals in my mindset. I truly believed I would be within the top 8 after my fifth place finish last year at the US Championships. It is truly difficult to not be inspired and motivated to do your best when competing at such an event. One of the first steps to success is believing in yourself, and I sure did and still do, but the results of the qualifying round did not represent that well.
The night of my competition was exciting. I definitely had a good amount of adrenaline flowing through me when I stepped out on to the field with first flight of throwers in front of a full Hayward Field stadium. I went through my warm up throws and felt great. My pec was pain free, a big thanks to my adrenaline! I felt fluid and calm amidst the tense atmosphere. I honestly felt I was going to have another lifetime best throw with all this energy. The competition finally began and I was the second thrower. I got in the ring and gave that 2k discus everything I had...but I put a bad flight on it and it fell far short of my seasons best throw. This didn't effect my mind set because I knew I had 2 more throws to get it right. My second throw came and I landed it around 190'. I knew this wasn't going to be enough to get me to the finals. I made sure on my last throw that I was going to put everything I had within me to get a better throw. When I hit my final throw I thought I had connected and sent that discus near 200' as I watched it fly high and with a perfect spin! I continued to watch it but my heart sank when I saw the discus start falling from the sky and hitting at a similar distance as my previous throw. My final throw did not better my second throw, and at that, my appearance at the Olympic Trials was over. Back to the stadium seats to watch other people have their day.
I'll tell you it really hurt to walk inside the stadium on the day of the discus finals and watch my friends and fellow competitors warming up before going inside the stadium to perform for 21,000 excited track and field fans. I wanted to be out there so bad! It was a feeling that I don't want to forget. I definitely don't want to experience that feeling again, but sometimes I feel it is good to endure pain like that so that it drives you and makes you hungry. "The sweet ain't so sweet without the bitter!"
Now that my season is over I am already gearing up for next year. I am putting my focus into doing some big things next year. In doing so I am putting on weight as I type this so that I can throw the shot put again competitively starting this winter. I really missed throwing it this year, but I thought it would be in my best interest to focus on the discus with a lot of guys throwing the shot put well. It will just be another challenge to take on!

Back at the OTC

I'm writing this post in from the comfort of my dorm room at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA. It's great to be back out here! I've only been gone about eight months since I moved back to Minneapolis. I've definitely enjoyed seeing familiar faces and catching up with friends I haven't seen in awhile. It's also been great getting back to some consistent weather and throwing in warm, dry weather. I've gotten the chance to work with Bud Rasmussen, the coach I was working with last year, it's nice to get a professional eye. I came back out to the training center to compete in two meets this weekend and one next weekend. I'm going to take advantage of my current situation as much as possible while I'm here. One thing I've been taking advantage of is the endless supply of amazing food. I find myself eating until I'm uncomfortably full, but this is good since I'm trying to put on some extra weight. I'm hoping that I can get back out here next year to train. It's impossible to not be motivated out here with a group of great athletes training daily. I'll hopefully have more to post after my competitions this weekend. I am expecting good things, practice has been going well. Currently I am 24th on the list for the Olympic Trials, so I need to better my personal best throw to ensure my spot at the Trials.