Right Back Like I Left Something!

It's been a little while since I have been on my site, but everything is still everything. I have been in Slovakia since the Linz meeting. This is the same meet that I set my personal best in 2006 with a time of 13.20. Ron Bramlett, Robby Hughes, Miguel Pate, Rickey Harris and myself had all been here for about four days, so it wasn't too bad of a trip, we've just been kicking it around the city and hotel. Young Hughes was my roommate and he had the Slingbox set up, so I spent most of the time catching up with what was on ESPN and watching college football and the NFL games last night.

For a while I was here hoping that maybe I would be able to get in to either the Brussels or Berlin Golden League meets at the last minute, but the more I was here, the more happy I was to be competing here. It feels good to be at a meet that is excited to have you come more than anything else. The meeting director Alphons made sure that we were taken care of very well. I did a "Training With The Stars" program with Jamie Nieto, Resse Hoffa, Pate, Bramlett, Koji Murofushi and others for local kids in town the day before comptition and it was a blast. The kids were so happy to see us and be around us, they had a great time and that was the most important thing, so my mission was accomplished.

Now to the race. It didn't go as well as it did for me last year. I ended up running 13.37 and coming second to Robles who killed us with a time of 13.07! It was very cold out too, not like in Linz, but more like Lausanne from earlier this seaason. Andy Turner, my part-time training partner this spring from Great Britian was third in 13.42. Robles time was impressive, but listen to what he did: He didn't get to the track until we were about to run! We all thought he had scratched out of the race. The announcer was conducting lane introductions and was on Robles' lane as he walked out on the track. He still had pillow marks and cold in his eyes! That really messed me up. I looked at Hughes and he was dying laughing! In my head I was thinking "I know he's not about to get out here and run without a warm-up", but yes he did and he smoked the field. He didn't set his blocks he just hopped in the settings that the last person to use the blocks left them in. After the race, he told me he overslept for the race. Maybe I am going about these races the wrong way. But now that performance moves into my #1 spot just ahead of Robles' Linz performance and Allen's 2006 GP Final race.

I'm off to Poland next, I'm still in the running to make it to GP Final this year, I missed out on a lot of points in the past month and a half, missing London and Stockholm because of the tooth issue and not running Brussles or Berlin, but lets just hope that it still works out positive for me in the end.