Track and Field Blogs - Jenny Barringer

I walked into that stadium tonight and it was like the whole world showed up to watch our final. I had to smile because I felt like I was being introduced to the planet. There's really no way you can prepare yourself for the significance of the race I was about to begin. And surprisingly, it wasn't the pressure but rather the presence that hit me. I didn't feel expectations, I felt millions of eyes. Millions of eyes focused on a line of skinny, strong, serious women staring down nine lanes of imminent pain. What kept me sane was that despite the grandness of the moment I was able to bring my mind back to Potts, the track that I train on at the University of Colorado. There were very important things that Potts and the Olympic stadium have in common. First, they are both 400m tracks. Second, they both have one water jump per lap. Third, I've raced well on both tracks before. When I lifted my head and my eyes met a track I felt at home and wasn't as intimidated by the crowd, by the media, or by the venue.

I raced my little heart out tonight. I kicked as hard as I could for 8th but came up a little short. I waited on the track to see my place because I didn't even know if I was top ten (that was one of my goals). When I saw my name flash up as 9th I was very pleased and then when I saw the "AR" next to it I could hardly believe it! I'm glad I didn't settle despite being further back than I'm accustomed to. I'm really happy with my double of 9:29 and then 9:22 just two days later. I felt comfortable in the prelim but it was still fast and I had some tweaks from those pile-ups in the water pit. I have run a really consistent season and I'm able to take a break now happy with each and every effort. Especially this last one :).

I'm far from satisfied though. There's a burning deep inside that wants more than what I was able to accomplish this season. I'm looking forward to taking a short break from it all and being a tourist here in Beijing. My mind needs some down-time and I'm sure my body will agree in the morning. I want to sincerely thank everyone that has played a part in this 08 season especially. I had some ups and downs the past few months and I'm ending on an up because of the amazing people that I'm surrounded by. My roommates are anchors in my life both in faith and kindness and for that I could never express enough thanks. Christy, the trainer at CU, put up with a ton of my little complaints here and there. Nastas... what can I say? We're family. My CU teammates have been there for all of it. They put up with every side of me and still welcome me back to practice every day. There are so many others that played no lesser roles. You know who you are and thank you so much! Lastly and mostly, I raced the best race of my life in the finals of the Olympics as a 21-year-old because of the brilliance of my coaches Mark Wetmore and Heather Burroughs. They have worked together to bring me to a place I could have never traveled alone. I hope I've been able to gift them with some lifetime memories in return. This one was for them.

Mom and Dad, John and Emily, I love you so much.

On a lighter note, stay tuned later in the week. I'll try to post more photos... especially some funny ones of me and Billy goofing off around the Village.