As anyone who has lived in the Northwest knows, the cold winter months will drive most of us inside. For track and field this has created two seasons; indoor and outdoor. Though it would be fun to throw a hammer over 200 feet indoors this is not quite a realistic possibility. Therefore, we long distance throwers throw a much heavier and much shorter implement, called the weight throw, to reduce throwing length and injury to spectators. While the outdoor hammer only weighs 8.8 pounds (4 kilos) the women's weight weighs 20 pounds and has a handle attached to a heavy ball with no wire. Though the weight throw does not travel as far as my hammer, I use the same technique and the added weight of the indoor implement only makes me stronger at holding positions in the hammer. During this past indoor season I had the pleasure of competing in two meets at the University of Washington in Seattle. Though I am no longer a collegiate athlete, many meets are considered "open" and allow post collegiate athletes to get competition marks in for US Indoor Nationals. These two meets were my first time competing for Team XO Track Club as you can see by my new jersey. Team XO is a track club that trains in Eugene and consists mostly of graduated athletes from the University of Oregon. I look forward to the outdoor season and better weather when I open up at the Oregon Invite at Hayward Field in Eugene on April 21st.
-Brittany
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