What a week!

Oh boy, the last two weeks have been absolutely absurd. The week began after I returned home from England's World Cup Qualifier in Spain to meet up with Sky Blue FC for a week of preparation for match against FC Gold Pride. The jet lag was pretty easy to get over and I was straight back into training Tuesday morning, so - great to be back. I was also looking forward the WPS All-star game and meeting President Obama so I packed my bags for a week and headed out to San Francisco! I loved all 90 burning, feet melting minutes of Sunday's game in the Bay Area! That was by far our best performance of the season and we got a great result on the road to boot, I'm sure there will be plenty more just like it!

After the game we headed to the airport and jumped on a red eye back to Newark. The six of us that were invited to Atlanta plus baby Reece Rampone had a three hour layover in the B terminal, inevitably everyone except Tash (who was far too occupied with her iPad) fell asleep and twitched for a few hours in the middle of the adjacent gate. I can only imagine some of the weird looks we must have received but I really didn't care because I had an amazing dream about trained pigeons and picnics! We boarded our flight running on about three hours of sleep and upon arrival at our hotel in Atlanta, HAO and I decided to go for a jog and stretch and a quick dip in the pool, followed by a nap and the "pick 'em" event. The next day was the infamous "training day," well it was infamous in my book...I was having a blast. Erin McLeod and I were working with Jay Cooney and the rest of the team was playing possession with Albertine then we moved on to a small sided 7 v 7 game, followed by some finishing and then a crossing drill. Here's the scoop; a cross was driven across the six yard box, I dove to pick it off and as I made the save the player running on to finish the cross was in the same path as I was and we collided. My shoulder was driven straight into the torso and hip of the oncoming player and I heard and felt a pop and that's how I broke my collar bone. That's the long and short of it really - Boooo!
Subsequently, I spent most of the day with Rachel Ray...no, not the cook but one of the athletic trainers on the Beat staff. (Thanks Rachel, you took great care of me!!!) We spent quality time at the doctor's office, in Target (where I bought a cute heart pillow to stick under my sling) and in the pharmacy (where I got some fantastic medication that later proved to be less awesome because it made me puke...)

The following day was game day and it was so much fun! The game was terrific, the combination of players on each team was superb. My team "Marta XI" or otherwise known as "The United Nations" were a very technical side and we really took it to "Abby's XI " ;) I really enjoyed watching everyone have a great time on and off the pitch, the atmosphere was completely relaxed. I think my favorite part was getting to know everyone, there were so many great personalities! After the game there was a huge shindig at ATL's local sponsors but it was way to crowded for me so I went to eat with some buddies. Good times.

The next day we were off again, but this time our destination was Washington D.C. We jumped on another ridiculously early flight and stopped in a hotel just a few blocks away from the White House. We slept for a bit, changed and met up with the team and headed over to the President's house! The bus was boarded by a Secret Service agent who checked our ID's and walked us through security. We were given the official tour of the East Wing and we later had the luxury of meeting the President, I thought that's all that was going to happen but he held a press conference for us and gave a ten minute speech!!! It was an incredible experience!

Wow, so that was a ramble but I've have been trying to type this all day. It's not easy with one hand, especially when it's the left so throw me a bone. There's more to come tomorrow so keep checking back!

KB