World Cup #1 2012 in Charlotte, NC

With recovering from my hip injury I was barely cleared off to compete for the World Cup in Charlotte. The stress fracture was in a dangerous location to try to push a faster recovery and compete, but after some manual tests and harder training the bone appeared to be healing up well allowing me to compete with the doctors approval. With all the rehab and core work I had been doing for strengthening my hip and whole body in general, I decided to get my phase II Pilates certification. I was successful and passed the test and learned a lot more new techniques and exercises.

I was nervous about competing because I had been limited on my training and knew that the competition would be difficult since it is an Olympic year. The women had three semifinal groups and for group B the swimming event was first. I swam the same time as my previous personal record which I was happy with and glad I had maintained my fitness in the pool. As for the fence, it was very competitive and I did not do as well as I had hoped but my hip wasn’t hurting which was a good sign that I would be able to get through the competition. The combined event was next and there was a steep hill on the course that irritated my hip a lot but I still managed to move up a few places and come in 21^st place in my semi-final group.

I was disappointed that I could not make finals, but glad that I was able to compete and did not have a major issue with my hip. I also was the 5^th place U.S. woman which meant that I would be the alternate for the World Cups for the 2012 season. I enjoyed being in a new city and experiencing Charlotte during the week I was there.

I returned home and resumed my training and rehab for my hip so that I would be able to compete in another World Cup if someone was unable to go and compete. There would also be a competition in Guatemala in a few weeks which would be a good competition and not too far of a trip!