Totally Trials Day 1: Hammer Throw

22/06/12 By sarah

Racing

I’m sitting here in Eugene, at our media table in the hippie house. I can’t believe we are here, after so many months of build up. It’s time to soak in all the energy, excitement, highs and lows, triumphs and close calls of the Olympic Trials.

Yesterday 6:30am Sally and I pulled out of Seattle. Her VW packed to the gills. And we headed south.

First stop PDX to meet with our party planners! They are pulling all our dreams for the Track and Fun Party together. My favorite question of the meeting, “When’s Hammer Arriving?” Below we pose with a random WCEP office hall display...

After the meeting we headed off to Nike HQ to watch the Hammer Throw. The rest of Trials events are in Eugene at Hayward, but Nike wanted to showcase the Hammer event.

It was really cool, because like second place finisher Amanda Bingson said, “it was way different than college …where we’re on the outskirts, on the back patios and throwing in the dirt. To have the crowd here is amazing”

After the throwing we went around to meet the athletes. Kibwe Johnson was so nice, offering photo ops and signatures left and right. Amanda was glowing with happiness as she signed a girl’s shirt. She seemed taken aback by the sudden celebrity status, but ready to soak it in.