A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to stay late after practice, so I worked on hurdles and disc (the first time this year), and while I felt like it went well, I had in my mind that I probably wouldn’t actually go through with the decathlon. My one multi-event experience was my freshman year in college when I did the pentathlon. I was most likely last, or second to last if I was lucky (not the most positive experience). I did high jump in high school (my best was once making 4-6). I have a little bit of experience with long jump (best was 14-4). I threw disc a little in high school (I think my best was in the 70’s). I learned shot for the college pentathlon (best was around 29’). I did the 60m hurdles just for the pentathlon as well. And I was not a runner in college, so my 800m time was definitely slower than 3 minutes.
With a decathlon, pole vault gets added to the mix, so I SHOULD excel in at least one event! The 800m gets bumped up to a 1500m run, which I feel good about. Other running events are the 100m and the 400m, both of which I’m not going to stress about, just do my best and know that it will be quickly over! As Andy said, “This would be too fun to pass up!” So I am going for it because that is exactly the right mentally to have about this! I have since gotten in some practices for every event, and it affirms what I already knew – I am “average” at best in everything except pole vault! Nevertheless, I am having fun with the events, and I know that there is zero pressure, which makes it even more fun, as each event is just a challenge to see what I can do. (Plus, if one event goes poorly, you just move on to another!)
So on June 8-9, I will be competing in my very first decathlon, against women of all ages (and I fully expect to get whooped in some events by ladies twice my age). I will put on my big girl pants and face my fear of failure and embarrassment. I am certain that I would regret it if I didn’t.
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