Training in Maui

It was a nice change of weather from Osaka to here. I love the warm weather, mid 80’s, and ocean breeze. Our hotel is right in a harbour and this beautiful cruise ship was docked here for 2 days. I got a great training session in on Monday and the breeze was just right for the discus. They even had a place set up for us to lift.

Our hotel is right across from the mall, so it’s a easy walk for lunch and dinner everyday. Most of the other throwers arrived today and we should have some good comps. this week. There are enough throwers here for 4 days of meets, with B sections on Tuesday and Thursday and A sections on Wednesday and Friday. Here is the meet site, http://www.mauidiscuschallenge.org/page/page/5846709.htm

Obama at Hayward Field Enjoying a Track Meet

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Osaka Grand Prix 2008

    This is one of the best organized meets I have been to.  Everything was on time and well run.  Despite their best efforts for a great meet, the weather did not cooperate.  It was cold and rainy about 56 degrees.  The meet results were low in every event, but it was hard for us to keep warm out there.

We had a very competitive field in the women’s discus.  I felt really good today and ready to throw far, but the weather did not help.  It was raining so hard it was tough to keep a grip on the discus.  I finished 3rd, with a throw of 58.99, click here for full results, http://www.iaaf.org/gp08/results/eventCode=3938/sex=W/discCode=DT/result.html 

One of the meet sponsors was Nishi and they presented all of the discus throwers with a Nishi discus at the end of the competition.  They were all very nice and I am really excited to have a new toy to play with.  I am watching the meet being replayed on TV here with FULL coverage of all the events.

I leave here tomorrow for Maui, HI for 2 meets on May 14th and May 16th.  I’ll keep you posted.

1st day in Osaka

   I was able to get a great nights rest after the long travel.  Breakfast at the hotel was really good.  A wide variety of food for all the international athletes here.  This is a very nice hotel, with great food and service.  I found out that I will be competing at 10am local time in Osaka, so after breakfast I headed to the track for a work out.

We worked out at the warm up track but we were able to walk out on the field in the stadium.  This is the same stadium were World Championships were held last year.  It is very pretty and I plan on getting some pictures tomorrow.  It was a nice temperature for training about 75 degrees.  And the track officials did a great job of keeping the throwing field clear for us while throwing.  A lot of time athletes run right across the field while were throwing and it can be pretty dangerous. 

With the time change I was pretty sleepy after training.  So to stay awake Beatrice Faumuina(discus thrower from New Zealand), Cleopatra Borel-Brown(shot putter from Trinidad & Tobago) and I checked out some of the city for a few hours.  The hotel has a free shuttle that drops you in town and brings you back.  We checked out some stores, Louis Vuitton, Cole Haan, Tiffany’s and others, of course we were just window shopping.

The best part of the trip is we found a Starbuck’s and I treated myself to a coffee.  They have a drink here with Coffee flavored Jelly in the drink, of course I had to try it.  It was pretty good. We got back to the hotel just in time for the athlete party.  The food again was awesome and the best thing was the tempura prawns.

Travel to Osaka, Japan

I was lucky to have some travel partners for this long trip.  Dean Griffiths 400m Hurdler for Jamaica and Markita James 400m Hurdler for USA, both train at Auburn University, were also travelling to Osaka, Japan.  We had a short flight from Atlanta, GA to Detroit, then a 13 hour flight from Detroit to Osaka.  The flight although long was pretty smooth, very little turbulence and pretty relaxing.  I was lucky to get an exit row seat and had a little more leg room.  I was able to stay awake for all 3 of the in-flight movies, National Treasure, Dan in Real Life and 27 Dresses.

The Northwest Airline flight attendants were very nice.  Several of them thought I was a basketball player, but were very excited to learn I was a discus thrower.  We had 3 more athletes join us on flight from Detroit to Osaka and the flight attendant made an announcement wishing all of us good luck in the Osaka Grand Prix and Beijing Olympics.

When we landed the Osaka Grand Prix welcome committee was there to meet us.  Then we had about an hour and a half drive from the airport to the Hotel.  The Hotel is very nice, we are staying at the Rihga Royal, http://www.rihga.com/osaka/index.html  By the time we got to the hotel there was time for dinner and then straight to bed.

Getting ready for a trip

I have been back to the grind this week, trainng hard and preparing to leave town for 10 days.  I am getting ready to leave for Osaka, Japan and then Hawaii, I am very excited and sad at the sametime.  I am not going to be able to take my son with me on this trip.  I need to start packing this weekend.

My webdesinger and I have been working hard getting ready for the launch of the new website.  I really hope you all like it!!

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