A Bit of an Update

Been a while since i hit the blog with anything new. I hadn't talked much about this years track season because i wanted to be in a certain mode or have achieved a few set goals before updating. Well as of yet only one of those goals has been achieved and I give thanks to God for that blessing. As for the others i guess they might have to wait just a little while longer. In my first decathlon I received an injury to a tendon connected to my hamstring (unsure of the exact medical terminology) in my morning warm up for the hurdles on day two.

It is a bit of a coincidence that I would injure myself in the decathlon in my own individual event. Kind of funny to me because that was the sole reason that i was participating. I wanted to grab a race situation just before race day so that I would be sharp for tomorrows 110hs. Instead I ended up preparing myself for a week or two rehab session. The initial prognosis stated that I would be out for 2-4 weeks (ouch) which would basikally be my entire season.

It is so unfortunate because as many hurdlers know there is a rhythm to our event and after fighting falling, and failing for 3 continuous years I finally felt that rhythm that I planned to build on after high school. Track and field has been much of a struggle for me since that time but i have stayed the path fighting to fulfill a dream. Many Division 2 collegiate athletes dream of earning their degree and filling their position in the real world. Me and a select few others dream of sitting at an oval office under the clouds on a mild spring day or out on the hills on a murky fall evening. Yup, I have the dream to follow in the footsteps of Allen Johnson, Terrence Trammell, David Oliver, David Payne and so many other talented American hurdlers. That dream has of late just been that...a dream.

It seems as if I have reached that crossroad that many athletes do where I second guess my own abilities and begin to rethink that oval office position. Maybe its not for me and this was just my outlet for my degree. I have not run 14 secs since the summer of my Senior year in high school...and in the day and age of 2010 13 secs in the 110 hurdles is the only acceptable number. One that subconsciously I know that I can achieve but consciously has been unattainable. But who's to say that this is not the plan for me...who's to say that my time wont come...who's to say that i wont be that guts to glory story that lines the Internet and newspaper headlines.

It wont be me, as they say...its not over until the fat lady sings...

Sometimes You Have To Just Get Down and Pray

This post is for everyone who realizes that we dont walk this earth alone, and for anyone who needs that little word of hope to find faith.

“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you havereceived it, and it will be yours.” (Mark 11:24)

The scripture posted above is one that lately I have instilled in my mind and my heart. Life is filled with hard relentless times. For some of us it is our mission to be knocked down in order to prove to someone else that brushing the dirt off and standing tall again is as easy as staying down and sulking in your sadness. I truly believe that God has a blessing for each and every person on this earth, it is only by choice that they never recieve it. Those who allow the devil to hold them in the mindset of sorrow and discontent, turn their face away from the greatness ahead of them.

I have seen some dark hours in the past few years, fear that I may not have the finances to attend school, the sorrow in losing a loved one, the frustration in failure on the track and in the classroom, and the list goes on. But the one thing that I have realized through each of these misfortunes is that the struggle only leads to glory.

So for anyone out there reading this post, just make sure to never give up. The darkest moment is before the sunrise. Pray with confidence and you will be rewarded, never allow your situation to deferr your faith and in the end you will see your prayers manifest beyond anything you may have imagined.

Under Construction!

It has been quite a while since my last post, the reason being there hasn't been very much to talk about. The collegiate track and field season ended...long long ago and for the most part any meets that I participated in during the summer were not very competitive and only served as practice sessions working on a few things that I want to focus on with the upcoming season. The only other things that are taking up time now a days are lifting sessions, watching video, working and spending time with the ones I love.

As you can see from the picture above, ya boi has been out trying to get a tan lol...not really but I did spend my fourth of july weekend down in Panama City Fla. with my lovely girlfriend and her family. I must say that I did enjoy the time away from the real world.

My lifting sessions are going quite well my main focus is taking the strength acquired in the weight room and transferring it over to my agression and power on the track. This upcoming season I plan to switch from 8 to 7 strides to the first hurdle, I dont believe that it should pose much of a problem being that I actually start that way in my other races and I believe that I achieve a stronge push from my right leg. So I will keep you all updated on the progress with that as the indoor season comes around in late fall. By then I would like to be 178-180lbs and grow a couple of inches (dont actually believe thats going to happen but...hey I might get lucky).

P.S. not only am I under construction so is this blog so look forward to some new additions in the coming days.

Just Watching the Time Go By

There really hasn't been too much to post about here lately. I've just been training and working not much else to do. I have been checking out the mens ncaa rankings and start list for ncaa nationals. The hurdles are stacked with ronnie ash and jason richardson leading the field. It should be a real good race though with Richardson running his last collegiate race and with Ash representing for the HBCU's.
I've also been keeping up with the NBA finals which is not very characteristic of me, I'm not a huge basketball fan but I haven't had the opportunity to watch like I have been for the past few weeks. Though Orlando is down 0-2 in the series I believe they'll be able to pull it out at home and grab the momentum to even out the series. I would have liked to see the Cavs in the finals, lebron is quite the beast on the court. Unfortunately basketball isn't an individual sport in his case and without the supporting staff its sad to say lebron may not be able to do it on his own.

You gotta love the commercials with Lebron and Kobe tho, lol priceless.

On the track side of things I caught Prefontaine at work yesterday, it was definitely a great meet, even the distance events provided some edge of your seat action. Lashawn Merritt is killin every distance in between 2 and 400 meters its going to be nice to see when he and jeremy hop bak on the track together at Worlds.

Kongrats to the Klass of 2009

A big special kongratulations goes out to the young lady below. My younger cousin, more like a little sister Tamara Taylor. Kongrats and take your beauty and intelligence out into the World.

JeJu Sauna and Wellbeing

What more can I say other than...THIS PlACE IS GREAT. Last night our friends had the wonderful idea to come out to this 24 hour spa, and when I tell you it was a great idea, please believe me. The spa has 6 large saunas consisting of 3 moderately heated, 1 warm, and 1 extremely hot sauna, not to mention a cold sauna.

The detail and design of each of the saunas was impeccable consisting of beautiful stones composing pictoral designs unseen anywhere else. Each individual sauna served a certain purpose whether it was cleansing the circulatory system or releasing tension within muscles.

Not to mention the three warm, hot, and cold water tubs. So you know your boi dable in all of those. Great experience for only 25 dollars per person. If you're here in the Atlanta area you should definitely take a little time to be refreshed and replenished.

In other news I completed my first Emory All-Comers meet tuesday,it was not totally what I expected but it did allow me to get an opportunity to run which is always a good thing. But the field was not what it has been in weeks prior...and that's a bit of an understatement (I was the only 110 hurdler competing Tuesday) so..I ended up running in the same heat with a womens 100mh and a masters 80mh. Not a lot to gauge from I believe my start and finish suffered a bit due to the circumstances but I ended up finishing 2nd in 15.60 I closed on the 100 mh at hurdle 7 and just slacked off on 8 and 9. Poor execution but I'm not going to beat myself about it due to circumstances. Ill have an update for next week.

As I type I'm about to hit the road and head down to Hinesville, Ga my hometown. I'm going to be down there for my little cousin's graduation. Congrats to her its always an accomplishment to see our generations making steps to success in the real world. I believe that its extremely important to celebrate and reward accomplishments like these, because in society the high school dropout rate is way to high!!! So congrats to all the graduates high school and collegiate of 2009.

Season Update

Well its been a moment since i last posted so here are a few updates:

UGA Invitational:
110 mH not much to say about this race due to a bit of traffic and a little miscommunication we arrived about 5minutes before the start of the hurdles and I happened to be in Heat-1. I pretty much hopped on the track got a run out or two and did my thing. One problem that i did encounter was a mishap that almost landed me on my face out of the blocks. I believe that other than that the race was a good as it gets without a proper warm-up. Still working on the mechanics of my lead arm and from what I felt it may have been a little better last weekend.

400 mH after the highs I really wasnt up for anymore running, and really wanted to call it a day due to my misfortunes. But just as everything else is in Track and Field it was basikally mind over matter that landed me back on the track for a performance in the intermediates that I'm not all that excited about but nonetheless the work that I put in, in that race seems to all ways show prevelance in my shorter races.

Since the meet last weekend I have konstructed my new lifting program for the summer thanks to a few articles from coacheseducation.com. The workout is really geared towards building on my fast twitch muscles and developing the explosion that I did not show too much of until the end of the season. I have taken this week off of the track to begin the training regiment and will be back on starting monday next week in prep. for the All-Comers meet hosted by the ATL Track Club and Emory University. So make sure to google and see if you all cant find a few results.

Training has really been fun this week minus the sore muscles that come along with getting back into the weight room, my goal for the summer is to take a High School program by the name of Bigger, Faster, Stronger and apply it to myself. The goal is to come back into the fall exactly that "Bigger, Faster, and Stronger" in top hurdling form and in top olympic prospective form.