Pumpkin Pacth 2011

A great time was had by all at the Jack O Lantern Lane pumpkin patch this weekend.  This was our second time to the farm and it was even more fun than last year.  Two of Theo’s friends from school and thier families joined us.  They had a huge play area with bouncy houses and a giant bouncy slide.  Theo’s favorite was the Thomas the train ride which he rode twice.  Then we took a wagon ride out to the pumpkin fields and played “I Spy” along the way.  It took some convincing but I finally got Theo to get a decent sized pumpkin.  We had a lot of fun in the petting zoo, holding baby rabbits, petting horses, cows and feeding baby goats.  We learned how to shuck corn, grind it and turn it into meal.  After all the hard work Theo had homemade ice cream with his friends Magnus and Hudson.  Just to show how much fun he had he even slept with his pumpkin last night.

USA’s and More…

This is a 4 meet recap that starts with our USA outdoor Championships, held in Eugene, OR.  This years championship determined who will be in Daegu, Korea this summer for the World Championships.  We had a great crowd the whole weekend and I was surrounded by lots of friends and family.  My loudest supporter was of course my son.  He loves coming to USA’s every year, he gets to see our whole training group compete and cheer for all of us. The women’s discus was on the 1st day, June 23rd, and we have 5 women with the World “A” but only 3 of us can go.  I knew it would be a tough fight for a spot on the team.  I finished 2nd with a throw of 62.87 meters, the other team members are Stephanie Brown-Trafton and Gia Lewis-Smallwood. Visit here for full results I returned home from USA’s on June 27th to leave for Lausanne, Swizterland on June 28th, just enough time to repack.  As all the athletes were arriving in Switzerland you could see how tired the Americans were from having had our championships the week before.  But like the professionals that we are we pulled ourselves through.  With that much travel in my system, I made sure I warmed up really well before they took us onto the field.  I take my 1st throw of the comp and I’m standing there looking out to the field and watching the board waiting for a measurement, and in my mind thinking that felt like a pretty good throw.  I watch the replay of my throw on the big screen and it seems like the mark is taking forever to come up and then it does, 63.85 meters a Seasons Best THROW!  I finished 2nd and earned some more diamond league points. Visit here for results  Video results here My plan was to return home to the US on July 1st but my manager says we have another meet in France on July 5th and Birmingham, England on July 10th then go home.  So I get to hang out in the Netherlands for a few days and get some good training in before Reims, France. The nice part was I was there with other athletes from my managers group.  Then I get to Reims and a new wave of US athletes were there so it was fun to catch up and a chance to congratulate many on making the US team.  The meet went well I finished 3rd with a throw of 62.11 meters I was 2 cm out of 2nd. Visit here for full results The next day I traveled to Birmingham, England.  I was excited knowing this was my last stop before going home.  So I did the happy dance all week.  I walked around the city a little bit and checked out some of the historical sites, not to much because of the rain.  I got rained out twice in one of my practices.  It reminded me of being back in Seattle, I know some of you can relate to that, Huh?  We lucked out for the meet with only drizzle during the women’s discus.  I threw 62.65 meters for 2nd and some more Diamond league points.  With 2 more diamond league meets to go, I am in a 3 way tie for 1st with 6 points.  Up next Monaco on July 22nd and the final meet in Brussels on September 16th. Visit here for results Video results here  Thank you Becky Miller for the Photo!!

Happy 4th Birthday Theo!

We celebrated Theo’s 4th birthday today and fun was had by all.  He has been excited about this party for months.  Something happens around this age and parties become a big deal.  He wanted cupcakes with blue frosting, track and field, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I can’t figure out how he came up with the idea of a track and field party, LOL!  So that’s what we had, the kids did Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Put and a short sprint race, and for 4 year olds they were pretty good.  They all won medals for each event and they finished the day with lots of gold around there necks.  Oh and for entertainment they got to jump in a Tiger Belly bouncy house, what’s better than jumping on a tigers tummy?  I wanted to say a special THANK YOU for everyone who came, you really made his day and thanks to everyone who helped me set up and clean up, we couldn’t have pulled it off with out you. Happy Birthday Theo!!   Mommy Loves You!!!

In Good Company in 2010

If someone ask you which events the USA dominates in track and field what would be your response?  Most say sprints, hurdles and maybe relays.  I’m not sure why the depth of our field events goes unnoticed.  So I would like to take this opportunity to brag about our USA throwers, men and women, with a fun statistic which ranks the best countries for throwing published by all-athletics.  I am very proud to be part of this group of Elite Throwers!  USA Men #1 and USA Women #2!!!!

USA and Germany defended their first positions in the men’s and women’s Countries Throwing Rankings respectively.

Like last year, Germany is in second in the men’s ranking and Poland kept its third rank. Belarus improved from sixth to fourth and they are in number one position in men’s Hammer Throw.

USA is the unrivalled leader in Shot Put with a huge margin. The ranking of the men’s Discus Throw could not be any closer; one point between the first (Germany) and second (USA) and Estonia in third is just one point behind Germany.

Finland proved again that Javelin Throw is traditionally a Finnish event.

Germany represents a different class in women’s throwing. They are number one in three of the four events.

Cuba kept its leading position in Discus Throw, but they dropped from second to fifth in overall since last year. USA took the second position and China moved up to third.

All-Athletics.com Countries Rankings Throwing Events (combined) - Top 8:(Shot+Discus+Hammer+Javelin)

Men:
1.	Unites States	14406
2.	Germany	14337
3.	Poland	13926
4.	Belarus	13455
5.	Russia	13447
6.	Finland	13438
7.	Ukraine	13389
8.	Czech Republic	13268
Women:
1.	Germany	14272
2.	United States	13962
3.	China	13645
4.	Russia	13530
5.	Cuba	13367
6.	Poland	12514
7.	Great Britain	12303
8.	France	12170

 All-Athletics.com Countries Rankings by events - Top 3:(The full event rankings are available on All-Athletics.com with an All-Access Pass)

Shot Put:		Discus Throw:		Hammer Throw:		Javelin Throw:
Men:		Men:		Men:		Men:
1. United States	4045	1. Germany	3684	1. Belarus	3563	1. Finland	3720
2. Germany	3659	2. United States	3683	2. Germany	3523	2. Czech Rep.	3575
3. Belarus	3609	3. Estonia	3682	3. Poland	3438	3. Germany	3471
Women:		Women:		Women:		Women:
1. Belarus	3890	1. United States	3585	1. Germany	3539	1. Germany	3765
2. China	3571	2. China	3529	2. Russia	3450	2. Czech Rep.	3405
3. Germany	3569	3. Cuba	3512	3. United States	3449	3. South Africa	3389

or visit this link on all-athletics.com 

Warning check your water bottle

The last few weeks I have been educating myself on plastics.  I was the typical person that would buy a bottle of water and reuse that same bottle several times.  I have discovered that those bottles are designed for single use only and over time the plastic breaks down and leaks into your drink.  You could be poisoning yourself and not even know it.  I know that this is not news for most, but it was a shock for me.  Read this article on, Are all Plastics Bad?  and here is a another article, Plastic Bottles: are they safe and what do they mean?  It will be eye opening.  You’ll be excited to know that I have rid my kitchen of all the bad plastics.

What’s your favorite Smoothie?

Much like coffee I also like smoothie’s. The real fruit kind, like the ones from Jamba Juice. I added a new breakfast smoothie to my meal plan this offseason. Looking for more energy, good protein and no added sugar, I decided I better make my own at home. That way I know exactly what I’m getting and it’s cheaper. I start my smoothie off with a few ounces of Acai berry juice, a banana, a cup off frozen blueberries, a serving of greek yogurt and a few frozen strawberries. It taste so refreshing, I love it.

I have to warn you when making smoothies at home you need a good blender to get all the fruit chunks. I would love one of the fancy blenders they have at starbucks or jamba juice. Those high powered blenders look like they can blend anything.

One of my favorite smoothies from Jamba Juice is the Banna Berry and a shot of wheat grass on the side. What’s your favorite smoothie? Check out some more Smoothie recipes

2010 USA Indoor Championships

 This was my 1st trip to a USA indoor championships and it was awesome.  The meet is being held in Albuquerque, NM this weekend, and will be on ESPN 2 today 2/28 7 to 9pm EST.  Being a discus thrower which is an outdoor event sometimes thrown indoors for fun, it’s not part of our indoor championship program.  So I hadn’t made it to an indoor champs until yesterday.  As one of the athletes on our USATF Board of Directors I was in town for a board meeting.  The meeting was productive and after I was able to watch some track and field which is really exciting.  I missed my training partner Cory Martin throwing the weight but I got to see him after and congratulate him on his personal record….Yeah Cory!!!!!  It was exciting to see our medical group from St Vincent’s, great group!!  I was able to get a couple of videos of the lady weight throwers, check them out.For results and more info on the meet visit, http://www.usatf.org/events/2010/USAIndoorTFChampionships/

What’s your favorite Coffee Drink?

A few of my fans have been asking me what I have been up to this off season and to share that on my website.  So I’ve been thinking about it and for this week let’s discuss coffee. As a Seattle native I have been around coffee my whole life.  There is a Starbucks on every corner a Seattle’s Best on every other corner and a Tully’s coffee with a 5 mile radius of Starbucks or Seattle Best, not to mention the Famous Coffee stand in front of the downtown Nordstrom’s on 5th and Pine.  And through out the Northwest you’ll find local coffee places as well as an abundance of drive thru only coffee stops.   But despite that influence I did not become a regular coffee drinker until I started travelling the world. I would get to an international competition and be so jet lagged by all the time change that coffee really grew on me plus it was served at every meal.  Now I own a coffee maker and an espresso machine and have become sort of a coffee connoisseur.  One of the best countries I have had coffee in thus far is Brazil.  They serve every hot pot of coffee with a hot pot of cream, so delicious.Now one of the changes I made this offseason in pursuing a healthier lifestyle is taking the sugar out of my coffee.  When I have a cup of brewed coffee I only add a splash of half n half or if I have a latte, it’s just 2% milk and coffee.  Occasionally I will reward myself with a treat and have my favorite coffee drink a Caramel Macchiato. What’s your favorite drink? Please leave a comment and share your favorite coffee spot as well as your favorite drink!! Coffee Defnition Coffee and Health Coffee 101

Husky Alumni Needs Your Support!!!!

Hello Family and Friends, A good friend of mine Will Conwell, recent graduate of University of Washington is in pursuit of his Olympic Dreams and needs some help. He and his wife Kate Conwell (Former Husky Polevaulter, NCAA Champion) moved to Auburn, AL so he can train with my coach and our training group. Will is working part time at Starbucks. Kate is working hard to rebuild her personal training business that she built in Seattle. But Will needs some help with his fundraising. I told him I would try to find 5 people to join his team of monthly supporters. He is asking for $25 a month and it’s tax deductible. Everything is online on his website, http://www.willconwell.com/ I have been blessed by your support in my pursuit of the Olympics and I want to help pass on a great support team. Thanks, Aretha Please Join Team Conwell today!!!!

Training Update

I have had some great workouts since my return from the early Australian meets.  I am really excited about my new personal records in the weight room.  My training partners Kristin Heaston and Cory Martin have been a big help in getting my numbers up in the bench, clean and snatch.  We have had some fun competitions that have helped all of us and right now I am beating Cory in the bench press.  Not in actual weight but in the differential, I am closing the gap.  All I can say is next time he’s buying the pizza.Kristin continues to challenge me in the hurdle hops and we are both reaching higher heights. My coach and I have been working hard on a few technical adjustments and I am starting to get the feeling.  Now I need a few meets to groove them in.  I am really excited about the upcoming Drake Relays in Des Moines, IA on April 25th.  It will give me a chance to start fine tuning my technique while competing against a great field of discus throwers.  Be sure to watch all three of is compete at Drake on ESPN2 April 26th, 2:00 - 3:30 pm 

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