I started my “professional” career in the summer of 2010 after I graduated from the University of Oregon. I quickly had some downtime after I tore my ACL for the second time at my first “professional” meet, the USA Championships and that’s when I decided to make my first website.

I had this big idea that I would write blogs, post photos and videos and keep my friends and family up to date on my comeback from injury. I coined it “Oregon to Olympics” as it would be my journey making it from the University to my goal of making it to the Olympics in 2012.

I have come back from my ACL surgeries and I made the Olympics in 2012, but my goals for track and field have changed so much in the last few years.

The 2012 Olympic Games was an amazing experience. I learned so much, and I am so proud of that accomplishment, but it’s not just a checkmark on the bucket list and move on.

I placed 32nd out of 42 athletes at the Olympic Games. I beat out only 10 competitors. I was far from making finals and even farther from making the podium. And what do spectators, sponsors, and other athletes see? They see just that; what is on paper; 32 out of 42, which is nothing special.

I would like to think that I see more in myself. I see my history, I see my injuries, and I see the winner of the Olympic Games being no so different than me. The winner, Keshorn Walcott, who I beat at the Pan American games the year before, only had a personal best (PB) of 82.83m coming into the Olympic Games. If we were to compare each other on paper before the Olympics, my 83.16m PB would give me the slight edge. Yet I think we all learned that anyone who makes finals, has a chance of making a big throw to win a medal.

I get the question all the time, “Are you going to try out for the next Olympics?”

Now I am not sure if I get this question because, people don’t think I am good enough to do it again, if people think it’s a waste of my time, if people think that I should retire because of my injuries, or who knows what, but the answer is always yes.

Going to the Olympic Games has been crossed off my list of goals, but “competing” at the Olympic Games is still something I want to do.

While I felt mentally calm and physically capable I did not throw anywhere near what I knew I could. I am going to keep on fighting for my goals, I am going to keep on training hard, and I am going to come back stronger than ever this year.

#TrainBIG #KeepFighting