Soaring

"When the Prayers Go Up, The Blessings Come Down!"

Hello Readers!

It's been an exciting couple of weeks! I have to catch up with you guys before anything else happens. Lol. My family and I have themes for every month, this month is "When the Prayers go up, The Blessings come down" :o) And boy have they been coming down!! I'll start with my family life and then move to track.

I went to visit my family for Mother's Day/ My mom's birthday! My mom's birthday is the 7th and my brother had the bright idea to surprise her and have all her children together. We haven't all been together since last September when my grandfather passed away. Since we have 3 newborns in the family I was extra pressed to go and lucky I could. I was only there for 2 days but 2 days are better than none. Lol. It was an absolute delight to see my family and the babies! All them are so cute <3

I'm finally getting out in Atlanta... A little bit Lol. I've been hanging out with my teammates and attempting to meet people. Which is good for me because I am definitely anti-social. Now that it's warm outside I have no reason not to see the best of Atlanta! I'm in a great city and it would be such a shame not to explore it!!

Trackside... And we have lift off!!!

As you all know, (At least those who have read my other posts) I have had a very rough and rocky start into the professional track and field world. From injuries to just plain bad races it wasn't as smooth as a transition as I would have liked BUT finally a break-through! I went to Clemson on the 7th and doubled running both the 100 hurdles and the 400 hurdles. So, warming up for the 100 hurdles, I felt GREAT! I was moving over them and just feeling awesome, def thought I was going to set a new p.r. (personal record) but maybe I went over just one time too many or maybe my mind was too focused on me killing everybody because I surely got out there and ran 13.4 smh and tied for 3rd. I was feeling so down and out I didn't know how I was going to come back and run the 400 hurdles. I was just praying and praying because my spirits were low. I didn't even consult my coach while I was warming up for them. And then... Magic. I don't know if it was because all I was thinking about was getting out to the first hurdle (so I wouldn't get yelled at) and picking it up at the 200 or if it was because I was so down I didn't have any chance to over think but it happened. Everything just went together, no stutter steps, no weird jumping motion just a smooth (for the most part still have things to work on) race. =D I p.r.'d and ran 56.7!!!! And won :D

The next weekend (5/13-14) I headed back to Clemson this time to run the 100 hurdles and the open 400. It was a two day meet this time. I was feeling pretty good warming up for the hurdles but when I got in the race I noticed my lack of speed :/ I couldn't switch gears for some reason and ended up running ANOTHER 13.4 :o( I was super, super sad about it and frustrated. I was ashamed to call myself a professional athlete! :Embarrassed Face: But the next day I came back determined to run faster and super focused! I ran 13.25. My 4th best time ever and I would've been satisfied if the wind wasn't illegal (ERRRRRRRRRRR!!!!). In some races in track and field the wind can only blow 2.0 and under for the time to count. The wind was 2.7 during my race -____- I'll take it tho. I forced myself to switch gears but I couldn't hold it for long :/ And ended up losing my momentum on the last few hurdles. I'm just happy my time came down and I'm not far from my p.r. After the race I was suppose to run the open 400 but my right hamstring was supppperrr tight so I scratched.

It remained tight until Wednesday (Yesterday). I had a deep tissue massage on Tuesday (:Pain Face:) that knocked the tightness out but I was still a little sore on Wednesday but today I feel better and was able to sprint over some short hurdles at practices :D

Well, my coach set up some meets for me in Europe for the next couple of weeks (Blessing!). So I'll be heading over on the 25th and coming back... TBA... Lol. But my first meet will be in Dakar, Senegal (Africa), then St. Polten, Austria. Big things are happening! Just gotta keep working hard :D

3 Races, 2 Meets, 1 Rookie

"Good people go through a lot of tests and trials. Each hurdle they pass makes them one step closer to their dreams."

Hey Readers!

I've just been a busy little rookie Lol. I meant to write a blog right after I came back from Jamaica but I didn't get a chance and before I knew it I was on my way to Kansas. Well I guess first I'll talk about my trip to Jamaica mon. Lol.

Jamaica was a great experience! I've never been before so I was super excited (As you all know)!!! I went to Kingston so it wasn't like the tourist part, which if you know me you'd know that wasn't a bad thing. I like to get to see the culture of different places, not the Americanized version. Kingston was great I got to see the slums a little bit and the uppity part. I almost missed my flight going there tho O_O! My training partner and I was running through the airport like Home Alone 1 hahaha I swear as many times as I've been to the Atlanta airport it has NEVER been as crowded as it was that Friday!!! And on the way back we got delayed! We were suppose to arrive at 5:30/6 and I didn't touch down until 11:30 -__- We got to the airport at 10:30. Anyways, about my races.

The 400 hurdle race. Well there was some good news and some bad news. The good news is I won my race!!! Yay! And I got a trophy and flowers and got to stand on the podium and if you know me, you know I love to smile and wave. Lmao! The bad news is I was the only person in the race. Smh. Yes, I ran the whole race alone. It was originally 4 of us. 2 girls scratched and the other girl.... Well I was in lane 4 and she was in lane 5 and she fell over the first hurdle. So the whole race I was like REALLY!! I have to run alone! I thought about stopping but decided against it. So, I ran a slow time of 101, which was really sad because I ran that time last year at MEAC Championships when I had fell over the second hurdle -__-

The 100 hurdle race was after the 400 hurdles so my legs had a race on them. The good news is I came in second! Yay! Got a medal, stood on the podium, waved and smiled :D ... The bad news is I ran 13.6... Yuck! I felt like I got out the blocks and that was about it. I normally can switch gears but not that day... I speed up a little mid-way through the race but overall it was really the same pace. My legs weren't feeling that great at practice all week tho. I had ok to bad practices. I think they were just tapped out from the week before (We had a very hard and long week :/ ). I'm hoping (and praying) my next hurdle race will be 10x better. :)

But my overall experience was great! I'd love to go back to the meet next year. The people were really nice, the food was great, and the track was nice. :)

Kansas Relays!

So, when I got back from Jamaica I found out I was headed to Kansas Relays. I've never been to Kansas before so I was excited and I found out there would be a lot of professionals there so I was super excited to make my first appearance on the circuit :) I met a lot of really fast people and even made a rookie friend :o) It was a great experience being around all the track stars! My race on the other hand was nothing short of a hot mess. Lol. I ran the 400 hurdles and I don't know if my nervous got the best of me or what happened. I ended up running 59.3 and placed 4th :/ Not what I planned at all :( I got out okay, better than I did in college but my second hurdle was awful. I went to switch legs and for some odd reason my right leg forgot how to trail and I ended up doing this funky jump over the hurdle instead of actually... hurdling o.O Then I stutter stepped at the 4th AND 6th hurdle. WTF!?!?!?!? As the 4. something wind hit me in my face lol I still managed to stay with the girls who finished 2nd and 3rd (1st place was wayy up yonder Lol) until the 8th hurdle. I suppose they were relaxed on the back stretch not using much energy into the wind, while I was struggling to keep up since I had all those errors because as soon as we got out of that last curve, them girls took off. I maintained around the same speed until I got to the last hurdle and then I started to die off :/ So the top 3 finished in low 57's and I came around 2 whole seconds later -__- What an awful race... smh.

In retrospect, I think I was thinking wayyyy too much during the race. Just thinking about how I needed to run fast and basically ended up chasing a time. Isn't of just running and seeing what time I got. My next races I'm definitely going to relax more. In college, I never thought about what time I was going to run. I would just think I need to run fast or stay with/pass my competition. If a good time came it came and if it didn't I was still pushing myself. So from now on I'm just going to run because I can't have another race like that... That's for the birds Lol If you want to check out my awful race you can look at it on Flotrack.com under Kansas Relays Women 400H (invite).

In other news, my sister had her twins!!! And what cute twins they are :) 3 nephews in one month! Truly Blessed :) If you want to check out my pics from Jamaica just go on my facebook page and look under the Welcome to JamRock album! :)