Sanya Richards marries Aaron Ross on the day of her 25th birthday (© Errol Anderson)
World 400m champion and IAAF Diamond League Ambassador Sanya Richards-Ross reflects on her eventful beginning of the year and her early season injury.
“2010 has already been a very eventful year for me.
“The year started off with my beautiful wedding!
“Aaron and I got engaged in 2007 and had to wait for the right time to plan our special day. I’m happy I waited because the day was more than I could ever have imagined or dreamed of. We planned the wedding on my 25th birthday, now Aaron can never forget our anniversary!
“We had over 500 guests at the wedding, 350 at the reception, and about 300 at my birthday party.
“It was a fairy tale. When I walked in the Church I was just overwhelmed with joy and enthusiasm. I waited long enough and I’m really happy to be Aaron’s wife.
“We went to Dubai for our honeymoon and unlike most honeymooners we worked out everyday. That’s definitely one of the benefits of marrying an athlete. We wanted to relax and have fun but we couldn’t imagine taking ten days off. We lifted weights, ran on the beach, and did our core work. On the tail end of our honeymoon we went to the Laureus Award show and the World Indoor Championships.
“The Laureus, was absolutely amazing. There were so many great stars there and I was just honoured to be a nominee. Then Aaron and I went to Doha for the World Indoor Champs. It was really nice and I was happy to see the US team do so well.
“I was also excited to see the fans in the fan zone after the meet. They seemed so enthusiastic about the first Diamond League race and I couldn’t wait to come back and compete.
“My first meet, however, was scheduled to be the Penn Relays on April 26th. I wanted to run in both the 4x1 and 4x4 relays. I really want to work on improving my speed this year and felt it would have been a fun opportunity to run a sprint relay with my team-mates.
“Unfortunately during practice the day before the meet I felt a severe cramp in my quad. I was unable to compete there and had to withdraw from quite a few meets.
“I’ve been very fortunate, other than with my disease, that in my six years as a professional athlete I haven’t had any major injuries. It has been very difficult for me to miss meets and I am doing everything I can to get back as soon as possible.
“I travelled to Zurich during my time off to promote the finals of the Diamond League, which will be held there and in Brussels. I was also there getting additional treatment on my leg and continuing my training.
“Being a Diamond League Ambassador is very important to me and I really want to get back and contribute to the success of this initiative.
“I think it is absolutely great for our sport, seeing the best athletes compete regularly, and I want to be a part!!!
“Until Next time…..
~Sanya Richards-Ross
SR400