*Team Gold Star*

A big piece of my training is spent in the weight room.  Where I am hard at work trying to get stronger, more fit and lift correctly.  I have spent a lot of my fall training working on my platform technique trying to use more hips and less lower back in my olympic lifts.  I am excited to have a couple of videos to share with you to show you the work I have been doing.  I am lifting with Megan and Will, also known as Team gold star,  and they are great lifting partners.  We are there for each others safety, making sure we have spotters as well as encouragement.  It’s not all sweat we have a little fun to as you can see in the lat pull video.  You have to enjoy what you’re doing or why do it.

Snow Day Today!!!!

With a snow storm passing through today, we lucked out with no school for Theo and no practice for Me, yeah!!!!  So with our day off we had fun in the snow.  Check out the latest video, and most recent pictures.  Now it rarely snows in the southeast so this is freak snow storm for Auburn, AL this time of year.  We are enjoying watching to snow fall and taking 30 min play breaks.  We have to come inside and warm up every half hour.  Theo doesn’t like to keep his mittens on for very long so we have to some inside and warm up our hands.Let’s hope the snow melts by morning because my mom is having a garage sale in the morning.

2009 Turkey Toss

  I wrapped up the 2009 season with the Rick and Bubba annual Turkey Toss.  I won the toss in 2008 and the runner up(Chandra Brewer) was back for vengeance.  I was able to get some video footage this year.  We had about a 2 hour drive this morning from Opelika, Al to Hoover, AL, we left about 5am.  By the time I arrived at the Academy there were already a few good marks and the leading throw was 65 feet.  And last years runner up was leading and happy to see me.  I took my 1st 2 throws easy to get warmed up a little and then it was on.  Chandra steps up and throws 72 feet to continue her lead and then I throw 74 feet to pass her.  Now the toss is coming close to an end and we are only going to have time for 1 more throw, the wait time is about 15min between throws.  Chandra gets off a good one to 88 feet and I get a hold of one that I thought was going to be good enough but I come up short at 82 feet.  So I finished 2nd and I’ll 364 days to get ready for Rick and Bubba’s annual turkey toss.  It was a great fundraiser and a lot of families are going to be helped.Some photos from today,            

Reiti Grand Prix 2009

The Reiti meet went well.  We had a great field of competitors, The 2009 World Championships Gold and Silver Medalist, 3 finalist as well as the Olympic Gold Medalist.  This is how it is for us in the throws.  We get so few meets that everyone shows up so there is no such thing as an easy international competition.  We had a packed stadium and great weather.  I felt pretty good out there considering I had just arrived from the US a day before.  I had some really good warm up throws and then when the meet started and a  3 mph tailwind kicked in.  Which is not good in discus world and tough for me these days when I am not getting enough height anyways.  It was a good meet lots a of lead changes and I finished 4th with 59.35 meters.  At least I beat a medalist.  So now my next meet is in Thessaloniki Greece, the World Athletics Final, the last major meet of the year.Reiti results,http://www.iaaf.org/gp09/results/eventcode=4177/index.html World Athletic Finals website, http://www.wafthessaloniki2009.gr/

World Championships Berlin, Germany Update

    Today was the qualifying round of the women’s discus.  We started with 41 throwers and had to narrow it down to 12.  The automatic mark was 61.50m or best 12 with only 3 throws to make it happen.  They put us in 2 groups the 1st group started at 10:10 am and the 2nd went at 11:40am.  I was in the 2nd group. I felt really good in the warm up area and I had a good warm up throw in the stadium.  I opened with a 1st round effort of 60.09m, not a bad throw but I knew I needed more.  I set my 2nd throw up better but just missed the finish and no improvment.  So now I am down to my last throw to make it through and I know it’s going to take 61.50m.  After I released it I thought it might have enough velocity, maybe??? I saw my mark come up 61.08m and I thought it was short then I saw 12th place.  So now I have new hope and of course there are about 8 more throwers after me.  And I had to sweat it out 1 by 1.  After all that my mark held up and I made it through to finals on friday. We have 2 Americans going to the finals again.  It was also a sad day for one of my competitors from Germany, the reigning World Champ, Franka Dietszch.  She did not manage to make it through to finals, and this is her retirement year.  I wish Franka all the best, and I have enjoyed throwing against you since 1996.

World Throws Preview at Mac Wilkins throws center

  We had a high performance meet this weekend at Mac’s Place.  Thank you Mac for holding the meet.  This was my 1st competition since USA’s, so I was pretty excited to compete.  Of course my coach has been training me pretty hard since qualifying for the World Championship team.  We had a good field of throwers, Stephanie, Summer and Gia were there  all 3 were finalist at USA’s this year.  We put on a good show and it was fun to compete.  I have made a couple of technical adjustments since USA’s and I was excited to put the form to the test.  And it held up. So now I know what I need to continue to do leading up to World Champs.  I finished 2nd with a throw of 61.14 meters.

2009 USA Outdoor Championships

I hope this picture says it all.  There is nothing like taking a victory lap at Hayward Field and it was more exciting taking it with my son.  He enjoyed the crowd, waving the flag and being up close to the race that was going on while we were running. Once again we had a great crowd, nice weather and a close competition.  I opened up with what I thought was a great starting throw, trying to put the pressure on the rest of the field.  I was watching the disc fly thinking I got a hold of that one.  Just when it was close to landing I saw it hit the official in the shoulder and I thought man I got shorted again.  I had a long throw taken away in 2005 when I hit official in flight and it cost me a national championship.   I tried to keep my cool and the mark came back 60.97 so I thought that will make finals and possibly the team.  It took a few rounds to refocus but I got my groove back in my final 3 throws.  And in typical Aretha fashion my last throw was my best at 62.51.  And it moved me from 3rd to 2nd place. I am very excited to have made my 4th World Championship team and I am looking forward to competing in Berlin.  I have thrown in the Olympic stadium in past in a couple of grand prix meetings it’s a really cool track, bright blue lanes and it is energetic.  I know it will be more exciting being there as an USA Team since our least team was there in 1936.Thanks again to everyone for all your support and encouragement this year and helping me make the 2009 World Championship Team!!! Thanks photo run for sending me a copy of the picture.

Mac Wilkins Throws Center

Today I had another meet at the Mac Wilkins Throws Center in Portland, Or.  Mac has a great facility set up for all the throwing events.  There is even a building that is protected from the weather for all the throwing events in case of inclement weather.  See the pictures below.We had a fun discus competition today.  We only had 9 throwers so the men and women threw together.  I threw a little better than Pre and I hit 61.10 meters for 1st place.  I am really close to throwing a lot further and I am really excited about USA Championships here in a few weeks.   

Prefontaine 2009

  The Preclassic this year was very exciting.  Another sell out crowd at Hayward field.  Lots of world leading marks and spectacular performances.  One of the most spectacular things I saw today was Dwight Phillips long jump 8.74 meters.  The longest jump in the World since 1991.In the discus we had another tight competition.  There was less than a meter between 2nd and 6th place.  I threw 60.04 meters and finished 4th.  For full results visit preclassic.com I have another competition tomorrow at the Mac Wilkins throw center in Portland, OR  

Reebok GP 2009

First I owe a final update on the Brazil series.  I finished 4th in all 3 meets and I had a better meet in Belem.  I had a couple throws that were missed marked and had they been marked right I could have finished at least 2nd.  I enjoyed the competitions and the chance of throwing with Beijing medalist.Now I am finally back in the US and it was time for the Reebok meeting in New York.  We had  great field of all the top US throwers including the Gold Medalist from Beijing, Stephanie Trafton. The 1st 2 rounds were rough I was trying to get a feel for the discus.  Finally on my 3rd throw I did a couple of things right and threw 61.71 a seasons best for the year.  I ended up 2nd overall but I felt better about what I was doing and how much more there is in the tank.  I am still working on the timing of the throw.  I have a couple of more meets to work it out before USA’s.  Up next Prefontaine.ps this picture is from Rio.  I forgot to bring my camera to the meet for a new reebok picture. 

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