Mt. Sac

I have competed at the Mt. Sac relays for the last 14 years…ever since I’ve been running track. All throughout my high school years, college, and now as a professional, it has continued to be one of my favorites meets of the year. I enjoy it so much now because of the familiarity and the opportunity for my friends and family to be able to see me compete. This year was no different.

From now on I have to be careful with how I describe my performances because I feel as if I come off as more negative than I mean to be at times and a bit unconstructive in how I assess my performance. It’s one of the things I am working on—not being such a pessimistic person who is always focused on the results and not the process and chooses to see the bad without recognizing the good. At the same time however, there is nobody who expects more from myself than I do, and so sometimes I am my own worst critic because I know I am capable of much more. Point is…I’m trying to change. So let’s start with my first long jump competition of the year…

I was 3rd in the competition and I jumped 6.62(21’9?). The two people ahead of me both jumped 6.65(21’10). First of all, I don’t like losing. I do realize that winning is not always as important, especially so early in the year, but it still doesn’t make losing enjoyable. However, I do want to give a special shout out to one of my good friends Jenny Adams, who happened to be the gal who jumped 3 centimeters further than me. Mind you, losing to friends is no easier or more pleasant than losing to anyone else, but I respect what she is doing and how far she has come in such a short time. You see, most people know Jenny as a 100-meter hurdler. That’s because she’s been a very good one for many years and it has been her focus. But she has decided to long jump again, and to many people that might seem crazy when she hasn’t done anything notable in the event for probably about six years, but someone forgot to inform her that that mattered. I like that. I like it even more because it is similar to my goal of being a top sprinter after so many years of focusing primarily on the long jump. Some people might think that makes no sense. So what. I think what we both see is people succeeding in the events that we used to excel in. So why not us? Well I think Jenny has done a mighty fine job of picking up where she left off and so I am truly happy for her. (…Although I do not plan on letting her beat me ALL year!)

Anyway, I was pretty satisfied with my performance and I will give myself a pat on the back for having fairly consistent jumps with the exception of 2 that were nowhere on the board but still decent jumps nonetheless. The consistency aspect is something I have been working extremely hard at so that is definitely a step in the right direction. Last year at this meet I jumped a PR of 6.71 (22’1/2) and so the fact that this year’s mark was not as far would usually bother me some, BUT I am not going to let it. For starters, I started my long jump preparation much later this year because I was training more as a sprinter and stayed off the runway until much later in my training. I also feel like I was very capable of jumping that distance today. I know it didn’t happen, and that is really all that ever counts, but the ability is there for sure. My series of jumps were better than last year as well. So there were definitely some positives and some things to grow on.

I’d also like to thank all my friends and family that came out to support me. This is the start to what I hope and pray is an extremely successful and fulfilling year. It warms my heart to know that so many of you are pulling for me and keeping me in your prayers.