IFFG Recap: 13.10(3.4w) Prelim, 13.08(1.6w) Final

Well today was one of the best day's I have experienced thus far in my career. It was a long one that started around 7:45am when I woke up and ended around 5pm when I hopped out of the ice bath at the track.

In the preliminary race, I was in the first heat. I ran a very hard 13.10 with an aiding wind of 3.4. I'm calling the race a tough one because I never got a chance to really open up and run, I hate when we run with those tailwinds, but you can't help it, you just have to perform when your name is called. during the race, I was backing off a lot, but I didn't hit any hurdles and executed my technique to the best of my abilities. I was sick when I got back and started getting dressed and watched the other two heats run with legal winds. I was hoping that by the time the final rolled around, I could get a legal race in. My boy Anwar dropped a 13.29 (1.9w) in the second heat and looked pretty impressive, that's a great opener for him. Jason Richardson from S. Carolina looked very comfortable in his prelim where he ran 13.33 (1.6w).

In preparation for the final, it took what Brooks preaches all the time, the ability to focus and re-focus. We were slated to go off at 2:45pm, so I warmed up accordingly, then all of a sudden an announcement is made over the PA system that we are about an hour behind schedule and the women's hurdles will go off at 3:30! I really had no idea what to do, so I just sat around for a while, got up and did some very uninspired strides and sat around some more. I was feeling ready, so I didn't feel as if I had to do much. When we finally got into the blocks and the gun went off, I got away from the blocks very cleanly and was ahead from the jump. The only problem I had in the race was my last three hurdles, where I got, what Brooks calls, the "Greg Foster Syndrome". Because I'm a bigger hurdler, I have to really be contentious about hitting my clip step towards the end of the race when running at high speeds with a tail wind. That is one of the things I need to work on more.

I'm happy that my good friend and training partner Aub-Rida ran a personal best as well by finishing second in 13.30, shaving one-hundredth of a second off his previous pb of 13.31. He said he did that in August, so he's about four months ahead a schedule. Richardson ran an impressive 13.31 finishing third, I believe setting a new personal best as well. To me, he's clearly the best collegiate 110 hurdler in the nation and will be a force to reckon with in the near future.

We are all heading back on the first thing smokin' in the morning, all I have on deck is watching the Hopkins-Calzaghe fight tonight. I personally think Calzaghe is going to get his head beat in tonight, although I was going for him in the Kessler fight a couple months ago.