U.S. Nationals, Pan America Games and Beyond.....

Its now 3 Days after the U.S. Nationals and my body is still working its way to recovery. It has been a crazy few months in the life of Chris Randolph and Co. but I have no doubt in my mind that I gave it my all.

When I look back at USA's its amazing how fast it comes and goes. In the life of a track and field athlete you train hours upon days and days upon weeks and weeks upon months to prepare yourself for ONE meet a year. You think it will never come and then all of a sudden its over. All the planning and intervals and weights that punished your body through out the year get smashed together in one two day segment of fury, sweat, pain, exhilaration  accomplishment, and defeat. No decathlon ever comes out the way you plan it and that's why it is such a fickle beast. All you can do is push your body to the extreme that you have trained for and stay focused on the task at hand. If you can do that, then the decathlon will always be a success.

U.S. Nationals was a success. It was not my best score, but I gave everything I had in the competition. Scoring 7606 and placing 5th in the U.S. is something to be proud about. As a decathlete you always want more but sometimes you just don't get it. It is truly an honor to compete at this high level and to have the strong support from friends and family. I would not be where I am today without the constant care and love I receive from all aspects of my life.

So whats next? Finishing 5th places me on the Pan America Team which is held every four years and is similar to the Olympic Games but is only contested with North and South America. I also qualified to compete as a team member for the Thorpe Cup which is a yearly dual meet between the U.S. and Germany where the top 6 decathletes from each country compete on a team basis by adding up each countries point totals. Not making the World Championship Team was disappointing but these two meets offer an amazing opportunity for me to compete internationally and score and Olympic 'A' standard for next years Olympic Trails.  So as the goals shift to placing high and winning in international competition, I also maintain focus on the Olympic Trails next year in June when the top three athletes will go on to compete for Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Onwards and upwards!!

Here's a link to the scores at USA's and another link to videos of the meet. On the second link click decathlon and scroll down and you can find some of my long jumps, shot puts, high jumps, discus and javelin throws. Pretty cool stuff! Stay tuned!