Toronto Meet

June 11^th

Because we had all day to kill before the meet we asked Jenna a heptathlete at University of Toronto to take us around town and the campus.  She took us to something street where there were lots of crazy second hand shops. Then we went China town.  Around 1pm we headed back to the hotel where we grab lunch and got ready to head to the track. I left around 3pm with Paul to go warm-up because we had the Pole Vault at 5pm. 

This meet was very different then I had seen because we were doing 3 events starting with the Pole Vault which we only got 6 attempts (Miss or make), then it was the 110HH, and 25mins later the 400meters.  We had 5 competitors Clay, Hardee, Terek, Canadian, and me. Pole Vault went well I made 4.90 (16’ ¾) and 5.00 (16’ 4 ¾) first attempt and then took 4 attempts at 5.20 which I did not make.  Then it was a 2 hour break before the hurdles and at this point Hardee had dropped out and we had 4 guys. It was raining and there was a slight head wind at this time.  I ran a 14.13 which is my second best ever by .01sec and only .13 behind Clay.  It was a very good race for me. By the time I got my stuff and sat down I had to put my shoes on and run the 400meters.  That sucked because I wasn’t ready.  I ran a 49.65 and won the 400meters but feel short of beating Clay overall by 40pts. Overall it was a fun meet and it went really well. Toroonto is a very cool city and I hope to visit there again.

 

June 10^th

I woke up late after falling asleep around 1am.  I grab lunch and then meet Jim Dilling to explore the city of Toronto and go in the Toronto Tower (similar to the Space Needle in Seattle).  We traveled on the bullet which is the subway to city center and went by the Toronto Blue Jay Stadium and to the Toronto Tower where we paid to go to the highest observatory spot in the world. It was really cool to go up to the top and see the whole city from one vantage point. Around 5pm we returned to the hotel so that we could get ready and head to the track.  At the track we both did our pre-meet warm-ups.  At the time Usain Bolt was doing his as well and there was a big group of people and media people there to watch him.  Usain was getting paid $250,000 to run the 100meters.  Jim and I finished our warm-ups and returned to the hotel and headed to dinner.  After dinner we were headed back when we saw Jesse Williams and Paul Terek so instead of heading back with Jim I went with them to a second dinner so I could catch up with them.  By the time I got to bed it was 1am but I didn’t compete until 5pm so I was ok.

 

June 9^th

After staying in Santa Rosa from the 1^st to the 3^rd I returned to Tucson to train but am off again for a meet in Toronto.  I left from Phoenix because it was a direct flight on US Airways and they were able to carry my poles.  I arrived at 10:30pm in Toronto and got to my hotel around 11:45pm.  This was fine because my body was so confused on when to sleep and be awake after spending so much time in Europe that getting there late was fine.  This Toronto meet will be interesting because I am only doing 3 events the pole vault, 110 HH, and 400 meters.  We are doing that because they wanted to include decathletes but it was only a 3 hour meet with Usain Bolt running the 100meters as a finale.  I compete June 11^th.