My European trip has not gone as well as I had hoped, thus
far, for two big reasons:
1.
Getting my Russian visa
2.
My first race at Huesden
Passport
I
finished 4th at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Nicole Bush, who won, has the IAAF World ‘A’
standard, so she automatically will get to compete at worlds. Ashley Higginson has the IAFF World ‘B’
standard, so as the first ‘B’ standard in the top three, she automatically gets
to go. However, Shalaya Kipp also has
the ‘B’ standard, so she does not automatically get to go. If either Shalaya or Ashley hit the ‘A’
standard both of them get to go.
However, if neither of them hit the ‘A’ standard by July 20th, I would
get to go, since I am the next in line with an ‘A’ standard.
Since I
have a chance of going, I went through processing at the Championships. I had done as much preparation as USATF had
asked me to do, by filling out information on-line and bringing pictures of
myself. I was told that in order to get
my Russian visa, I would have to go to a Russian embassy in the United States,
give money to an express courier to do it, or have USATF do it, which they told
me, would be the fastest option. I was
told I would get my passport back on July 1st, or as close to then
as possible. I was disappointed because
I was supposed to run a 3k in Cork, Ireland on July 2nd and would
have to cancel that race in order to get my passport, but I agreed to give USATF
my passport. As I went through
processing, they looked my name up to see if I a ‘letter of invitation from
Russia,’ but I did not. I told them I
didn’t know how I was supposed to have gotten one, but I didn’t get an
answer.
A
couple days after the championship, I got an e-mail from USATF saying I
wouldn’t get my passport until between July 12th and 15th. The e-mail said they had expected this delay
for people who hadn’t gotten their letters of invitation. Again, I was frustrated because I had to cancel
more races and my hostel reservations.
My questions were, “if USATF knew there was going to be an extra delay,
why didn’t they tell me?” and “How was I supposed to get a letter of
invitation; I never got any information on it?” But I did not get a response.
Long
story short, I was able to get my passport earlier than expected, on July 9th,
and I flew to Brussels the next day.
When I was talking to an agent yesterday at the track, I learned: 1)
many athletes had just flown over to Europe and were getting their visas from
the Russian embassies here, and 2) USATF sent out information on how to get
letters of invitations only to agents, who were told to distribute them to
athletes. Sooooooo, I not only was not
given all my options about how to get a visa, I was not given any information
on how to get a letter of invitation because I don’t have an agent, even though
USATF had all the athletes’ e-mail addresses, and I was coming into my event
with the fastest time run so far this season.
Hopefully I will have an agent by next track season, but I don’t think
athletes who don’t have agents shouldn’t be left out of vital information.
Huesden
I was
excited to race the 1500m at Huesden because I hadn’t gotten a chance to race
the event so far this year, and I think I am capable of a PR. Also, Huesden brings in a deep and talented
pool of athletes, so I knew I would have some people to chase.
The day started off a little messy.
Many of the American athletes had gotten a bus to bring them from Lueven to Huesden,
and all my Athletes and Action friends were on the bus, but I did not get a
response back from the bus organizer about getting a ride. David Jankowski, an American runner who did
not race, had figured out the train schedule to get to the race, so I followed
him to the station. We got on the first
train and rode about 45 minutes, but found out that although this train usually
stops at the place we needed to transfer, it did not on that particular train. We got redirected on how to get to Huesden, and
we had to backtrack a bit, but we made it.
I quickly had to change into my uniform before warming up. Happily, I was in the same race as my
American roommate, Elizabeth Yetzer and University of Illinois runner, Katie
Porath, so we got to explore the city together on our warm-up.
Once it was time to race, we got on
the track, lined up, and were off. I was
the second person to the inside. The
first woman did not get out particularly well, and I was stuck close to the
back of the pack in the first 100m. Someone
went to the outside of the pack, and a small space opened out in front of
me. I started to move into it, but
another woman cut me off. I should have
slammed on the brakes harder, but she should have been disqualified for cutting
me off. I tripped on her spikes and fell
flat on my face. We were just past the
100m mark, so the race was not recalled.
It took me a second to figure out what happened, but I got up and kept
going. I had a fine effort, but never
really caught up to the pack, and I don’t ever want to know my time.
I came away from the race with
track burn on my knees, a ripped spike, and a couple deep cuts from the woman’s
spikes. I also came away with the lesson
that if someone cuts me off, I can’t continue my regular stride, it is better
to brake than waste a whole race. I
enjoy only having to race as often as I want to, but I have to make sure all
those races count.
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