Weekend Update

I'm back in the United States. You should never say such a thing when just a few days prior you were tweeting about your travels to Russia. Two nights of sleep are just not enough when you've made your way that far across the globe, but alas, it is what it is. Anyway, I'm back and the good/bad news is that I'm not even jet-lagged. I say "bad" because I always look forward to those first few mornings back from a trip when I wake up before dawn full of energy and ready to conquer the world. There is so much productivity happening at that time of day when you are up and wide awake! Sadly, I woke up at 8:30 this morning and still didn't feel like getting out of bed. That pretty much makes the only thing positive about this trip to Russia being the accumulation of miles as I start my journey towards 1K status on Star Alliance. Hey, at least I found a positive!

In all honesty, there really wasn't much positive about this weekend. Before going I thought about pulling out because I wasn't able to line up any other competitions afterwards and I didn't feel like a turnaround trip was the best idea, but then I would just be wasting the money I spent on getting a renewed passport and visa in a weeks time, and I really hate flushing money down the toilet like that. So I went. And after 20 hours of flying I fouled 3 times and had 1 below mediocre jump. But the good news is I saved 15% on my auto insurance.

As you can tell, I'm in a pretty good mood about the whole thing. It honestly didn't even seem worth the effort to pout about it. I'm excited to get back to a couple weeks of good training and then compete at Indoor Nationals at the end of the month. I'm back in San Diego, it's 70 degrees outside, and Russia is almost a distant memory by now.

Platforms

This last sunday we had Pro Day at my church. Basically, it consisted of a few prominent professional athletes (Adrian Gonzalez, Chris Byrd, etc.) sharing their testimony and how God has worked in their lives and the role he plays in their career and success. Obviously I found it to be extremely interesting and enlightening, but that is in large part because I can somewhat relate to the lives they lead and the challenges they face (minus the big paychecks and actual fame.) But the majority of the people who go to my church are not professional athletes and I still think that the overall message was the same for all of us.

Athletes have an obvious platform. And the bigger and more prominent athlete you are, the more visible and important your platform can be. But regardless of whether or not you play professional sports, all of us have a platform, it just may vary a bit in size and scope. We all influence someone and have the opportunity to use that influence in a positive way. I talk about my faith and how it influences my life, but my most important duty is to show it. If there are people looking up to me or just looking at me period, I would hope that what I portray is in line with what I believe and that I can be influential in a way that matters.

I wonder if when people observe me, whether online or in person, they get a true sense of the kind of person I hope to be. I wonder if my ideals, values, morals, and beliefs are evident in the way I live my life and the way I portray myself. I wonder if the small, tiny platform I've been blessed with in my life is being utilized in the way it was intended. These are just some of the things I've been wondering lately. Do you ever think about the platform you've been given and in what way you are using it? It's rhetorical in a sense, but you are free to answer those questions, provided you promise to do so in a semi-respectable manner. ;)

It Counts...

After this weekends competition, from what I have seen so far it looks like I just may have a world leading mark in the Long Jump at 6.74 meters. I'll take it. Whether or not I deserve it is questionable, however.

After Friday's competition I posted on twitter and facebook that I had jumped 6.61 and was pretty satisfied with the outcome of my first meet. I had a few missteps and it was a little shaky at times, but all that is to be expected at your first competition. The next morning though, I received a few messages asking why I had said I jumped 6.61 when the results said I jumped 6.74. Why in the world would I sell myself short like that?

Well, the truth of the matter is, I did jump 6.74. The other truth of the matter is it may or may not have been a foul. When I think back on it now, all the events seem a little hazy... Was it a red flag or a white one?...Did the judge yell fair or foul?? Who can really be sure what really happened?! Competing at altitude with a 5 hour energy and a few cups of coffee in your system is enough to make anyone a little dazed and confused. I'm going to go ahead and take the blame for being mistaken on this one, and accept my position at the top of the leader board like the gracious competitor that I am.

Whatever the case, I am satisfied with the start of my 2011 season. I am in a good place for this time of year and I also am very aware of the things I need to continue to work on and improve so that the big jumps will be there come summertime. Being able to jump over 6.70 at the beginning of the season, whether fair, foul, or flip a coin, is a very good sign of things to come.

Testing 1...2...3

Next week I leave for Russia to compete against some of the best long jumpers out there. Before I go half way around the world to compete though, I thought it would be best to shake the dust off close to home, without the added pressure of top level competition. So, I'm in Albuquerque, competing against a few college kids in what I hope turns out to be a low key, low pressure situation that allows me to slowly piece together all the things I've been working on in practice in a meet situation.

Every so often, there will be other professionals or top level competitors that spoil this plan. I remember a few years ago showing up to a college meet in April, thinking I would shake the cobwebs off and run a 200 just for fun...I ended up chasing a Jamaican who proceeded to run a world leading time and left me eating her dust. It wasn't at all what I had imagined for the day. Whoever shows up today though, my plan is to focus only on my cues that I have been working on and making sure I can execute them in a meet setting. Because I never do all out long jumps in practice, these meets act as indicators for me and let me know that I'm on target with my training (or not).

I don't get paid for doing these meets. The most I get out of it is an extra chocolate chip cookie at check-in (shout out to DoubleTree hotel cookies!) and the ability to practice in a meet situation so that I am more prepared once I get to the paying meets. In the end it is a formula that I feel has worked well for me, but I do try to keep these freebies to a minimum. After all, this is my job and those socks don't buy themselves!

Flying to Russia

Day 17

Something very horrible happened in Russia yesterday. A suicide bomber detonated a bomb at the airport that killed over 30 people and severely injured over 100 more. It was sad, senseless, and tragic. Sometimes things happen in other parts of the world that seem to not totally affect us because we are so far removed from it. But the fact of the matter is, I happen to be flying to that exact airport next week. So, when I heard about the story, it kind of hit a little more close to home.

Truth be told, I'm not nervous to fly to Russia. When something like this happens, the area becomes more secure and safe than it ever was. I remember flying the first day flights were able to resume after 9/11 and not only did I virtually have the whole plane to myself, the airport security was at such a high level, I felt like I was about to board Air Force 1. You couldn't even travel with your purse, let alone a ziplock baggy of small toiletries.

So please pray that the proverbial lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place. But also pray for all those who lost just lost their life to a senseless act of violence. And that I find someone to let me borrow a jacket that can handle a Russian winter.


To read about what happened, click here

My Twin

This weekend we had some great family time celebrating my Mom's birthday. My sister showed up with the same hair style and a knock off pair of my sunglasses, because as we all know, she secretly wants to be just like me. And I guess for some people, that's all it takes for us to look like the same person. The bartender at the winery thought I was trying to get smashed by throwing back glasses of wine one after the other because he thought we were the same person.

Here is a picture of us from Saturday.


Now, I can see how we resemble each other enough to be sisters, but definitely not the same person. I went through some of our archives and found some pictures where she tried her best to look like me.




This is something she started quite young...





As they say... Imitation is the best form of flattery!!

Haunted

Day 15

**Edit: Due to the complete ignorance and stupidity of the poster, the picture in question has been removed due to the fact that you shouldn't really share your passport information on the world wide web. In my defense, the passport is no longer valid, but I doubt that makes too much of a difference.**

For the last ten years I have been haunted. Not by a person, not by an experience, but by a picture... A picture I have to show people multiple times a year on demand. Each time I do, there is an evident cringe, and I'd like to just take a few minutes and tell them the story.

I would explain how 10 years ago I never knew that my life would consist of flying over 100,000 miles a year and so I didn't really consider the ramifications of taking a decent passport photo or that this particular photo would be a huge part of my life for the next decade. I was so new to the whole process (this being my first passport and all), that I didn't know you couldn't just take a photo with a hat on. So, when I showed up to snap my pic and I was told to remove my hat, I had no readily available mirror to look in. I simply shook my head upside down and proceeded to put it up in a ponytail. I was alone and in a hurry. Nobody was around to tell me that I resembled Buckwheat's older sister, who also inadvertantly got stuck in lightning just after she finished plucking her eyebrows into obvlivion. If I could find that picture taker now, I'd go back and put part of the blame on him. He should have known better, really. He could have told me that there was an explosion coming out of my scull that would haunt me for the next ten years of my life, and maybe, just maybe, I'd like a redo.

I am happy to announce that my 10 years is up. My days of being haunted and feeling embarassed in passport lines will soon be behind me. Today, I took a new passport photo. I had always planned to go ahead and get professional hair and makeup done for this one, but as luck would have it, I found out last minute that I needed a new passport, like, yesterday and so there really wasn't time for that. What I did do, however, is ask to see my picture after the first take and then kindly ask for a redo. It was the least I could do.