Diamond League Shanghai
My first Diamond League, in Shanghai of all places and I wasn't last! For the people who do not get as excited as I am right now , I’ll give you a little explanation. In athletics there are different levels of competitions and Diamond League competitions are the highest level you get (except for of course the Olympic Games and World Championships). So this means running with the best 400m hurdlers in the world! The pressure is definitely on now. Among the competition in my race were Kaliese Spencer world leading and a PB of 52,79 and two times world champ Lashinda Demus with a PB of 52.47. A starting list full of the most amazing 400hurdlers and ME! So Excited!
The excitement dropped immediately when I realized on Wednesday that it was Ascension Day on Thursday, A public holiday, the same Thursday I wanted to pick up my VISA before I flew to Shanghai on that same Thursday.. PANIC! I just screwed up my first Diamond League, before even getting there. I called my manager, who was way to calm, to tell her how dumb I had been. It took her no more than 5 minutes to change my flight and to mend my scattered dream. Thank god for awesome managers! First lesson learned I can say.
My flight to Shanghai was a night flight, so the battle against the jetlag started immediately. Luckily I flew in comfort class and the seat next to me was empty, so I could make little bed and slept a total of 5 hours, score! I stayed at the athletes hotel located in the stadium, you could basically see the track from the hotel lobby, so cool. After I settled down at my room and got some lunch I went to the track to train a little and of course make some necessary selfies. While I did my training, the Chinese volunteers were also practicing for the competition, which was pretty funny to see, all walking in a straight line putting down hurdles almost synchronously. After dinner I just needed to stay awake until 22:00, except for a couple of 5 minute naps I made it.
Sunday was race day and I was so nervous! The 400m hurdles started at 19:00,so I a lot of time to be nervous. I didn’t really know anyone there and being alone is even worse when you are unbelievable nervous! I spent the day watching grey’s anatomy, eating and mostly doing nothing.
Finally it was warm-up time. During the warm-up my nerves got a lot better and my body felt good. It helped that I did not really knew how my competition looked like, so I could not be distracted by them. 18:30 Call Room time, also time to meet my competition and they looked fierce! In the Call Room they check your spikes, racing kit and bag and the last moment to go to the toilet. Very important, because I always have to go at least hundred times before a race. Also this is where my nerves get the worst of me. I always use a mantra to get my nerves in check. My mantra today: I am going to be Badass!
Time to go to the track and I was up front. There was quite a lot of audience and the track always seems bigger with a filled stadium around it. I kept saying to myself 'I am going to be badass, I am going to be badass'. I tested my start at the first hurdle and I felt good! Before the race they introduce all the athletes, because I was in lane one the cameraman was pointing his camera at me the whole time and I had no idea if he was filming, getting me even more nervous. (for the record: he was filming and everybody watching Eurosport could see me and my nerves!)
Finally it was racetime. On your marks, I am going to be badass, Set, I am going to be badass and the starting shot went. I was going fast! Everybody was going fast, but I was going fast too! Until hurdle 6 I had a perfect race, everything in a 15 steps pace and I was still close to the rest. I was so impressed with myself and quite honest so overwhelmed by how amazing this race was that I lost my focus. The rest of the race was little bit sloppy as a result, but OMG I did wasn't last!! I wasn't last in a Diamond League Race! This is so awesome. I ran a 57, 76, which is my third best time ever. Pretty good start of the season for me. Totally worth the pain in my legs and butt. And I felt so cool running in the official Nike racing kit!
Ohh the aching in my legs and butt are the worst. Unfortunately the physiotherapist was already fully booked. The excitement, the aching and my jetlag caused for the worst night of sleep ever and I had to wake up early to catch my flight to Beijing. That’s right Beijing, on Wednesday I was also running a World Challenge (one level beneath a Diamond League competition). Meeting in the “Birdsnest” the Olympic Stadium from the Olympics in 2008. Not one, but two amazing competitions in one week, I felt like such a lucky girl! In Beijing, a girl from the South African group I trained with,Wenda Nel, was also running, so I was no longer alone.
First stop: the masseuse. My legs where still so sore from the race. Wenda knew another hurdle girl Georganne Moline and she invited us to go to the Silk market with her and her friend, a high jumper Jesse Williams. I am really bad at knowing who is who in athletics so when we were back at the hotel I figured I would Yahoo my new friends. ( Not Google because in China they block almost everything, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google, basically my whole life. They do not block the red “you have new messages” bubble on your phone however. Not so funny when you just ran your first Diamond League and the red “you have new messages” bubble is constantly coming up!) It turned out that my new friends weren’t just your regular athletes. Georganne became fifth at the London Olympics in 2012 when she was only 22 years old and Jesse became World Champ High jump in 2011.
The competition in Beijing was almost the opposite of the competition in Shanghai. In Shanghai the 400m hurdles was one of the first events, but in Beijing we were almost the last event. I thought about taking a nap, but instead I watched some TV shows to relax. Because we were running so late, eating properly was an issue. I could not have dinner before the race, because I was already at the track when dinner started. But I already had lunch at 13:30 and there was no snack moment in between. Luckily Wenda had brought peanut butter and I had brought bread so our dinner was peanut butter sandwiches. Because I wasn’t alone the whole day and had some distraction I wasn’t nervous at all. Even during warm-up I felt relaxed and ready to race.
The call room was terrible, the people working there were so stressed and shouting at all the athletes, telling them to be quick, which was annoying everybody. When we were walking out of the call room, I tightened my ponytail and my elastic broke… Ohh no, I felt so stressed out because of the women shouting and now I had to deal with this. I always have at least millions of spare elastics hairbands in my bag just in case, so that wasn’t really the problem, but the woman was really rushing us so, I felt I had no time left. Walking out I tried to find a spare elastic and make a new ponytail while almost running. It turned out there was also a second call room where we had all the time in the world. So I was stressed out for nothing!
Walking out on the track all of a sudden fatigue and hunger caught up with me. Waiting for the race to start I started to feel dizzy and hoped for the best. I was running in lane 9 and the women in lane 7 and 8 were unbelievable fast starters so they passed me at hurdle two already. Fortunately I could keep my 15 steps pace until hurdle 5 but then I did something wrong and I ended up with my bad leg first for the last couple of hurdles. Because of my hamstring injury I could not control this leg as well as I needed to so I decided to switch legs which meant me losing time. When I crossed the finish line, I was happy it was over. Waiting for my time to appear I realized that again I wasn't last, and that was atleast something. When my time appeared I could not believe it! Sixth place and I ran a 57, 97. Just a little bit slower than in Shanghai despite feeling so terrible. Definitely a very good sign, telling me a lot about my current fitness levels.
Running these two races was an amazing experience. I am so grateful that I got the chance to run next to the best in the world and do so well. It is definitely a big motivational boost and I am ready to run even faster this season!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXpjz7DlBZ8
