March 22, 2021
I have been a professional track and field athlete for 10 years now. I became a heptathlete (7 events) when I got to university in 2006 because it seemed like the next challenge I was supposed to take in sport. In August 2011 I blew out my patellar tendon, creating my next challenge, to rehab and train to make the 2012 London Olympic team in 9 months.
I moved to rehab with someone I didn’t even know, lowered my head to stay focused and I did it. I became an Olympian in the heptathlon, competing against the best in the world, giving me the hunger for more. I made it to the biggest stage and now knew what the work looked like to get there. So I decided to train another 4 years in the heptathlon and do whatever it took, this time not coming off of a big knee injury.
After getting 5th place at the 2016 Olympic trials with my best score ever in the heptathlon, I figured I was done in that event. I worked so hard over 10 years to learn and keep becoming better in each of the 7 events of the heptathlon. I was happy with that part of my career.
Here I am in 2021, on to my next challenge of training solely in the javelin because it was my best event in the heptathlon. I wanted to see how well I could do just training for 1 event and not 7. The goal is to make the Olympic team at the end of June this year.
This journey has taught me that my mental capacity to thrive through testing times is what has built the athlete I am today, ready to conquer the javelin because I understand what it takes. I have the abilities, the mindset, the coach, the program. All it takes for me is being all in, never letting any excuse leak into the process. That is why #IAMNOBULL.