End of European Season

After my solid performance in Stuttgart (World Athletics Final), I injured my back lifting weights the following day, making it painful to sit, stand and walk. I thought I was going to have to relinquish my World Cup spot in Athens but thankfully was able to compete thanks to a great deal of treatment and self management. I found the competition quite frustrating as I was hampered by a pelvic (SIJ) problem resulting in hip flexor and adductor pain (related to my back injury) which was reflected in my result of fourth place. Although I was disappointed with my performance at World Cup, I am very pleased with my season overall.

I took the opportunity to enjoy a little piece of Greece taking a short break in Santorini (a Greek Island) where I enjoyed some gorgeous sunsets, a fun donkey ride and plenty of Greek food!

The Seiko Super 2006 meet in Japan where Tatiana Grigorieva vaulted to a personal best and Sarah Jamieson continued to shine in the 1500m was my second last meet of my 11-month long season. I endured 46 hours of travel to get to Japan and then competed the following day. Although my body was feeling better than in Athens (injury-wise), my lack of training, excess eating and arduous journey didn’t help my performance, finishing in third with 6.42m.

Again, taking advantage of being in a foreign country, I took another 2 days out to do some sight-seeing in Japan. The highlight was Nara Deer Park in Nara (an ancient city about an hour from Osaka and Kyoto) where you can feed the deer and they bow to you (just like the Japanese bow as a term of respect). It’s all conditioned - just like you can get a dog to shake your hand but it was amazing how tame and persistent they were.

My final competition was the Colorful Daegu Meet in South Korea. Daegu, like Brisbane, are bidding for the 2011 World Athletics Championships. Tatiana sailed to another personal best in the pole vault (4.58m), Sarah came 2nd in the 1500m, Yousef Abdi placed 2nd in the 1500m and I finished in third with 6.45m. The following day, I managed to see some more sights including a 2 hour hike to see an 8m high Buddha carved into stone atop one of the mountains surrounding Daegu.