D.O. The King = 12.85

2011 Season Recap and Extra Blabberings LOL

2011-09-17T11:46:00.002-04:00

I believe in pre-audits, so I will tell you now that I'm sure this will be a fairly long post, so if you don't like to read on a computer screen, like myself, then I totally understand. Maybe you can take breaks and come back like you do a novel or something. I'm sure this is going to be like a short book wrapping up my 2011 season. I'm just going to type whatever comes to my mind like always, so I can't even estimate how long this may be hahahaha!

I know I have been gone away from the blog for a while. For what reason, not
even I know the answer to be honest.

I'm sitting in my hotel room in Newcastle, UK and I've just finished my last competition of the 2011 season. This was an AWESOME, AWESOME meet! I definitely want to add more of these to the list of meets I attend.

When I was chilling in my room before heading out to the track this morning, I thought to myself that writing a blog post would be a fitting end for me to wrap up my thoughts and give insight into my season.

To say that this is how I envisioned my 2011 season going would be a bold face lie, but I can honestly say that given all that has happened, I can not hang my head in utter disappointment. It is incredibly hard for me to ever become down or sadden by anything that happens to me in regards to the sport of track and field. I always feel that everything I do and accomplish is icing on the cake for me because I never envisioned this sport would take me this far in the first place.

People think I'm being funny when I tell them that I figure by this point in my life I would have been circulating my resume and working a 9-5 gig because when I graduated from Howard University, I still didn't have a real idea about "professional track and field". When I was exposed to my first experience of professional track at the Olympic Trials in '04, I saw all the people with Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Unattached next to their names, so I just equated that to what I knew and I knew when I went to meets, if you had Howard or Hampton or FAMU next to your name, that meant you were a team. I was always under the impression that Allen Johnson, Larry Wade and all the other Nike athletes trained together and that's why I figured they were so good.

It was going to be less than a year away from me making my professional debut at the Reebok meet in '05 and I was completely oblivious to what the sport really was. At the time of my appearance in the trials in '04, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that these athletes trained for four years to try to make the Olympics. I figured they all worked regular jobs the other years and squeezed in training how they could, but if you became really good like Marion Jones then you probably didn't have to work. I figured that because she was the only one I ever saw on TV or mainstream magazines really. That was my train of thought when it came to elite level track and field. I guess I could have asked one of them what was involved, but I didn't care that much, I was ready for track to end so I could start getting ready for two-a-day football practice. I hurt my hamstring bad at the NCAA Regionals and it still wasn't fully healed, so I needed to get on it before football started.

About two weeks after the trials, late in the first week of two-a-days, I had a meeting with an agent by the name of Mark Pryor, who was representing my friend Joel Brown at the time. He's the one that I have to credit with basically schooling me to the basic ins and outs of the sport. He scheduled a meeting with me up at Howard during the break between morning and evening practices in the football offices at Cook Hall. He's one of the first people who ever told me that he saw in me, the talent to be great in the 110 hurdles. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why I was playing football at the time when I could be getting a start to my track career.

He printed out the entire 2004 110m hurdles top time list. He flipped about three pages and had my name highlighted and my time of 13.55. He flipped to Joel's name and he might have been around 13.33 or something. He told me if I wanted to get paid in the sport, I needed to run faster than 13.35. He told me that no shoe company would be interested unless you could at least run that time. I thought that was out of the realm of possibilities for me to be honest. But he told me about the European Circuit and how the sport was so huge out there and how there was tons of meets to go to and you get paid for ever single one. It was a very informative and thought provoking meeting. He might have become my manager when I did decide to take up the sport on a professional level, but he kept talking about Joel. I didn't know managers had several athletes in every event, I thought they just had one in an event and my business mind was telling me that I would probably always get the short end of the stick if it came to myself and Joel. Once again, I clearly had no idea what was going on. A little while later, I remember surfing around the internet one day and I saw Joel lined up in lane 9 in Zurich looking all skinny and scared, I was like "man my boy made it".

At that time track was the farthest thing from my mind, I forgot the Olympics were going on until I came home one night from football practice and cut on the TV, the 110 hurdles happen to be on and Allen was about to race. I watched it and he fell during the race. I felt very bad for him, that was the only thing I saw from the Games. I didn't even know who Liu Xiang was or that he won the Olympics and ran the world record until sometime in 2005.

I'm getting WAY off base here, I guess that's what happens when I just get to typing.

Anyway, I say all that to say, I had no intentions on going to school and making a career out of this, it kind of just happened. I still find it amazing when I talk to other athletes and they tell me about how they had the whole thing planned out to be a professional track athlete. They had it planned out all the way down to how many years they were going to spend in college, who their list of managers were going to be, what shoe company they wanted to go with etc.

When I moved to Florida in late January of 2005, I lived and trained with 400 meter specialist Mitch Potter. He's easily one of the most talented and gifted runners I have ever had the pleasure to work with. In 2003 he had the track world in the palm of his hand. He won nearly every race for the University of Minnesota and won a gold medal at World Championships in Paris. He could have gone pro easily, but he was persuaded to go back to school for 2004 and that season saw him surpassed in the event by his college teammate. Now those sponsorship deals weren't looking so nice, he ended up in a decent situation, but a far cry from what could have been. We use to sit around the living room some nights and talk about getting this "bread" in track and field, but I got the sense that he could never let the what coulda/shoulda been in 2003 go. I use to tell him to forget about that and go get it again. I use to strive to live the kind of lifestyle he was living at the time. I use to wake up early and go punch the clock working at Nike from 8am-3:30pm, he use to get up around noon and play Halo on Xbox all day until practice time. To me he was living the life. I'm convinced that dwelling on that was one of the main issues that stopped him from reaching his full potential. I know he could have been a 43 guy. Again, I tell that story to emphasize he had a plan, we all do. Often what we plan to do/accomplish seldom, if ever, goes the way we want it.

I had big plans for my 2011 season, but it didn't go how I thought it would. Will I dwell on it? Of course not. People ask me am I sad because I thought I could win Worlds and didn't medal or because I was running so well and then I started running bad and the answer for me is always "no". I'm never the type that gets concerned with what I don't have or what I didn't do. I am much more grateful for what I have, what I did and what I continue to do.

As far as the season goes, it started out right on the track that my coach laid out for it to go. I had an incredibly successful indoor season where I bested my previous personal best four times in the five races I ran for the season. I got a late start than normal for me in regards to the outdoor season because I caught a calf injury in my last indoor meet that held me out of hurdling and heavy training from February 14 to March 13, but I still rebounded and had my fastest career opener when I ran 13.16 at Kim Collins' meet down in St. Kitts. I knew I was right on track, even though I didn't improve my performances in my next meets in Daegu and Shanghai, even losing the race in Shanghai.

I didn't really trip off those performances because my coach told me I would be a bit flat for those meets and he told me do not become short sighted in what we are trying to accomplish this year. He emphasized all season to me "you have won all these races before, now we have to put you in a position to win something you never have." Of course he was referring to the World Championships.

We ran there May 15th, I didn't do another training day until May 23rd. That's how we had training set up. Go very hard for five weeks, complete/active rest for one to bring the elasticity in the legs back, come back and get a week+ of good workouts in before the next competition which happened to be Prefontaine. It was hard for me because after suffering the defeat in Shanghai, I wanted to get back out and work on what I thought went wrong, but I have complete trust in how I am trained and what I am coached to do, so I followed the direction. At Pre, I dropped my 8th career Sub-13 performance, second most for a career all-time behind the indelible Allen Johnson.

I am never somebody who gets caught up in having confidence or not having confidence. I feel like that word is just an all encompassing term sort of like the word virus. You can feel confident as hell and execute poorly and be on the outside looking in, you can also have little confidence but execute your butt off and be right where you need to be.

I was just executing exactly what Brooks asked me to do and how he asked it.

The contract the we all have with Brooks is very simple, it reads like this "Do what I ask, when I ask and how I ask it to be done and I guarantee success". I've made it this far in my career following that basic contract since 2005.

I had three weeks until Nationals and everything was going great, I had no doubt in my mind that I would be on the team, I knew I didn't have to do anything fancy or re-invent the wheel, just don't do anything stupid and I'll be fine, but after the first round, that's the beginning of where my whole season started to unravel.

I got done running, felt great, got worked on lightly and hit the ice bath at the track. A couple minutes later a pain started shooting through the groin on my right side, my first thought was "oh no, this can't be happening! Not now!'. I got worked on that night until after midnight, I was tremendously scared warming up for the semi final, but like I said earlier, confidence is really overrated, it's about execution. I found in the warm up that it only hurt to fully extend off the front block, so I wouldn't do that and when I get into the blocks, I would just point my knee slightly to the right to take the pressure off my groin area, but I could hurdle perfectly fine. I ran a couple of good races and made the team running 13.04 for the win.

Things just got worse when we got home. We got back to training and the pain was radiating from my lower abs to my scrotum, I was really scared then, hoping it wasn't some sort of sports hernia or something. I had the Paris meet coming up, I tried to train at home and couldn't, so I hopped on the first thing smoking to Munich after a couple of days at home. You know that feeling after you finishing you scans and stuff, boy talk about being sick with anticipation! But it was good, no hernia or muscle damage. Only problem was with my back, so I go the regular treatment and when I got adjusted it helped a lot, flew out to Paris and had a good performance running 13.09, but the relief was only temporary.

The morning after the race, it was painful to walk. Same feeling. I remembered I felt good after getting adjusted, so when I went home I just would consistently get adjusted to keep the pain down, but that stopped working too. When I went to the doctors the fourth time and got all the tests and scans done, it was revealed that I had developed a stress reaction in my pubic bone on my right leg, which is my lead leg. They said it is fairly common due to the fact that it bears a lot of weight as well as me being a hurdler. It was creating incredible inflammation in my adductor, hip flexor attachment sites, as well as sciatic nerve compression on that side, but again no muscle damage. I was told flat out that basically no amount of massage, icing, ultra-sound etc was going to make this go away.

Fully extending off the right block pedal became increasingly painful and I couldn't raise my lead leg to a 90 degree angle without a lot of pain. It got to the point where trying to put on jeans or lace up my trainers became a chore, but I was just thankful that the problem wasn't debilitating to the point that I couldn't compete. I have a very high pain tolerance, I just blocked out any discomfort and took the necessary steps away from the track to keep me going.

I had to go back and forth to the doctors five times this year, checking to make sure things weren't getting worse and that I could continue to compete without making matters worse. People that know me know I refuse to ever drop out of races unless I actually can't run and I will never come with the injury excuse at a meet. I've always said that when you put your feet in the blocks and your hands behind that white line, then that means you're ready to compete and nobody wants to hear anything after the fact other than "hey I just got my ass kicked".

I know good and well that injuries are apart of sport, everyone goes through them, it's a part of life when in the sport you're training at world record intervals. The same demands I'm placing on my body as a consistent sub 13 second performer are much different than back in '06 when I was running 13.20s and things didn't need to be perfect for me to run to my level. That being the case, you'll never see me complain when I catch and injury or talk about it all day long and whine to anybody's ears who could hear. I suck it up and try to make it happen. To me 95% of life's issues are black and white and boil down to two options: you're either going to do something or you're not. I chose to keep going, so every sub par performance I had, I signed my name on that picture. Bringing up an injury would have dominated every interview or press conference I had all year. I'm not really in to talking about all that, I'd rather just talk about running hurdles.

I really wanted to make it to Worlds, call me the ultimate optimist when it comes to track, but I'm a firm believer that in the sport you never know what might happen until you go out there and compete. Before Worlds, I read that Blanka Vlasic had a press conference and was in tears because I believe her knee was hurting and she might have to undergo an operation, but she wasn't going to give up and fold the tents before she gave it a shot. It was weeks before the championships and she refused to give up, that's exactly how I felt. I saw people pulling out the meet because they were injured, but for me I could never do it. I honestly don't see how any American athlete could do it unless they were scheduled for or had surgery, couldn't walk or run etc. I know how hard it was for me to earn the right to wear the USA jersey and I refuse to give it up unless I just can not run. In pain, not at my best, scared to not succeed, none of that crosses my mind! They would have to rip my jersey and bib number off of me!

In 2007 at my first World Championships out in Osaka, in my last workout, I strained my right hamstring badly doing starts. I'm on Skype talking to my homies Aubrey Herring and Robby Hughes, they ask me if I am going to pull out. I told them straight up I'd rather DNF (did not finish) than do a DNS (did not start). I told them I never know when I might be able to wear the USA uniform again. I know this isn't my birthright and I may not be at my best but I will try and give it my all. I made it out of the first round barely but coming back the next day, I couldn't even warm up for the semi-finals it hurt so much. I took my butt out there anyway. I got taped up, went to the call room, sprayed on a whole bunch of Stop Pain and drank two 5 hour energies and by the next thing I knew, we were halfway through the race. I went in to that race knowing I had a snowballs chance in hell of making it to the finals, that was even solidified when I saw Liu Xiang, Dayron Robles and Andy Turner were in my semi, but I didn't care. I asked Brooks afterwards what he thought of the race, he told me he didn't have the stomach to watch it because he thought I was going to carted off the track.

I was disappointed that I didn't make it to the finals and subsequently being dropped from most of my remaining races for the season, but I was proud that I rocked the USA jersey and did the absolute best I could under the circumstances. I reiterate, my head never bows in sorrow because of this sport.

Anyway, I get to Daegu and my preparations are already stunted. My left leg is strapped onto the table while getting my right leg stretched and boom, the table collapses and exacerbates the problems in my right leg even more and I had to shut it down.

I did the best I could out there. I felt good in the first round, but it's never the first round that's the problem, it's always the subsequent rounds, coming back on very short rest. In the final, I was just going to let it rip, no need in saving it for the junior prom. Coming out the blocks, as soon as the leg got that extension, it grabbed on me and I panicked but I was going to finish the race. I "thugged" my way through the race and ended up fifth.

I really admire what other athletes like Allyson Felix, Carmelita Jeter, Veronica Cambell-Brown, Walter Dix, Usain Bolt etc for what they were able to accomplish because being in those ballistic type events where anything can go wrong with the muscles and going out there day after day after day on short rest and coming out relatively healthy is very commendable because it is extremely hard to do. I never hesitate to tell them how great I think they are.

I was in doping control after the race and I was asked by another athlete who was in there after a previously finished final if I was going to go to back to my room in the village and cry. They were not being funny or making jokes, it was an honest question because I think they were on the verge. I started laughing and told them, In my professional life, I've never felt that urge. I always remember track is just a part of life, it's not life. They just said "I don't know how you do it D.O."

I went out of the Championships with my head still high because I knew the reason for my underperforming. I think it's only a cause for concern when you are not performing and don't know why. I know exactly why. I don't go from running five consecutive races at 13.10 or better then all of a sudden wake up and forget how to hurdle.

I'm sure a lot of people were probably dumbfounded as to what was going on or reaching for straws to make some sort of rationalization of it. Some probably were light weight celebrating the fact. I only add that in because NOBODY has 100% support from everybody, no matter what you might think of yourself, people are not going to like you for whatever their reasoning is.

I know this sport is definitely one that everyone builds you up to tear you down. I just hear how people were talking about Bolt after the 100 meters where he false started, intimating all kinds of things. Now his playing around and not being serious is a problem, but that sure wasn't the case back in '08 and '09. That's why I never read my press clippings when everything was going right and I don't read them now when they are going not so great. People always ask me "did you read this" or "did you hear that", I never do because if it's an interview, I know the gist of what's there because I gave the interview, if it's someone making a statement, I don't care because I make statements and comments about all kinds of stuff too. We all know the good ole adage of what opinions are akin too, the dumbest thing you can do is engage someone in an argument over an opinion. Now if somebody brings to my attention someone making some sort of personal attack like I remember last year on Track and Field News in regards to a British article, then I'm gonna go see about 'em, anything else is water under the bridge.

I love this quote "if you're not in the huddle, you don't know the play". The flip side of it is, you can not be in the spotlight and not take the bad with the good. That's why I always rely on the outpouring of support from my fans when I read on the blog or twitter or facebook or when I happen to see them in person. I think it's so cool that people I don't even know have my back, I always appreciate that and when things aren't going the way I envisioned, I go back an read my messages. That's why I sign every autograph and take every picture I can.

After Worlds, I went back to the doctors to get updated scans on everything to check the progress and make sure nothing was damaged any further so that I could finish out the season. I committed myself to these competitions earlier and I wasn't going to not run unless I was advised to. I am a professional and this is my job. I don't feel you can only be professional when it suits your best interests, but you must at all times when it concerns your profession. I might have been in a bit of pain but as long as the doctor cleared me of causing major damage, guess what? I'm going to the meets. Another thing I always remember is that in sport and life, there is no bookmark to hold your place so you can come back and pick up where you left off when you're ready. Doesn't work like that. These meets extending invitations and giving these nice appearance fees etc does not go on for ever, so you better take advantage. I go out and give it everything I have in every race and never half-ass. Win, lose or draw.

I refuse to have pity parties for myself. It is tough when every person you see or every interview or press conference asks what happened to you? what went wrong? etc but I harken back to the whole being a professional, gotta take the bad with the good. It sure wasn't a problem answering the same questions over and over last year of why things were going so well was it?

2011 was a stark contrast to my 2010 season. In 2010, I didn't make one visit to the doctors, didn't miss a single day of training due to injury, every move we made came up smelling like roses. I am firmly rooted in the fact that the pendulum of life and sports never swings for you or against you forever. You've got to be able to hang on when it's going against you and never give in because it has to swing in your favor eventually. It's just when you see people give up too soon that they never get that swing back effect. When it's going for you, you've got to position yourself and make the decisions to keep it going for you as long as possible because soon enough your time to be tested will come up.

I can't name a single successful person/athlete who hasn't had to go through the trials and tribulations and have their mettle tested. Remember, there are always plenty of ways to be a winner, but only one way to be a loser and that's to fail but not look beyond the failure.

I've always been good at looking beyond every "failure" in my career and keep plugging away. Go back and check how things turned out for me the seasons after injuries basically shut me down in 2007 and 2009.

The hurdles is one of those events with a high turnover rate. The champion from 2007, wasn't in 2008, who wasn't in 2009, who wasn't in 2010, who wasn't in 2011. I don't panic either, I take solace in the fact that no one is doing anything performance wise that I haven't proven I can do and have done for the past four seasons. If a few people were out challenging the world record, then I would be a little concerned, but it just solidifies that I don't have to do anything much different than what I've been doing to get right back where I feel I need to be. I've been working with some great individuals this season that kept me pieced together and able to compete, I really appreciate their efforts. I've got a great rehab program that I will start after a few weeks of straight downtime. It will mainly address the muscles in my right leg that suffered about 2cm of atrophy in certain measurements due to the injury. Strengthening those areas back as well as addressing the direct cause of the issues are the main focus. Ill be ready come fall training, back at 100%. Looking forward to getting started.

It was great to see Liu Xiang back to full strength this year as well as Dayron Robles after his injury struggles, they produced some great performances this season. They are definitely two of my favorite guys to compete with. The emergence of Jason Richardson this year was also very cool to see. I have seen him run since 2005 and to see his progression from that time until now has been a pleasure, he's always been a cool guy and he's got a coach in John Smith that will have him on the right path for a long time. I hope the day will come when we all will race with each of us at or near our best.

On the track, 2011 didn't turn up how I hoped, but I still feel like I accomplished major things. Winning USA championships, to me, is as meaningful as winning Worlds and Olympics. It's just something I never envisioned myself doing back when I attended my first USA championships and saw how extremely fast they were running. Also winning the high hurdle title in the USA is incredibly hard, we have so much talent and depth it's crazy! I also ran under 13, which I think is so cool. Every time I do it, I still get the same feeling as when I did it the first time. I ran the fastest times over the hurdles indoor and outdoor in the world as well. I didn't win the gold medal or any medal for that case this year, but it was still a pretty decent year.

Away from the track, things really took off for me. Signing three major sponsorship deals aside from the ones I already possessed as well as putting the finishing touches on one more, I was even able to get my mom a nice little deal! I understand that the likelihood of becoming a superstar in the sport of track and field is slim to none, especially being American. If you joined this sport in the attempts to become some national hero, you're also sadly mistaken, but I know that I can do things that will put me in a better position for the remaining years of my life by using track as a vehicle.

For me, It's not always about what people can do for me, sometimes it's about how I can help other people. One of the proudest things I did this year was in conjunction with DC Speed Track Club in Washington, DC, I put on a track meet that attracted almost 800 metro area kids. Three of my sponsors, Nike, Coca-Cola and RivalUs got involved and supplied everything from t-shirts to bags to signage to water coolers and the water, it was a great event. We donated all the left over stuff to the Japan Relief efforts as well. I'm looking forward to doing my annual camp for kids out in Denver, CO this offseason as well and I'm starting the discussion with my financial sponsor about setting up two scholarships at my former high school, one for a senior boy and senior girl to use for college. I signed on for the Classroom Champions program as well, I have been paired with a group of students from Portland, Oregon and I'm really looking forward to that! My company Sub-13 Enterprises is doing great as well.

People wonder how I can handle all this in stride and never be down, here's why: I have a great career that has afforded me the opportunities to live an amazing lifestyle, see things I only saw in magazines, meet great people, make a lot of money, help others with my resources and most importantly be a great provider for my family. My family is THE most important thing to me. They have held me down before I ever stepped foot on a track and they will years after I am long forgotten by this sport. Bottom line, I feel like I'm living the dream! I know it will end someday but that's why I steadily make decisions to set myself up for my future endeavors.

Thanks to all of you who have found myself someone that you can root for. I didn't accomplish all of my goals this season but I will definitely be back making a strong push for the 2012 Olympic Games. Don't be surprised when you see me back and at the top of the podium in London!

For those of you who made it through this novel, I thank you too! Putting thoughts on paper always gives me a good feeling.

New USOC Blogger

2010-10-25T12:37:00.002-04:00

I know I haven't been updating the blog regularly like I usually do, but trust me, I have a lot of content!

I have put a slight hold on my writings due to the fact that I had been in talks with the United States Olympic Committee about becoming a featured athlete blogger on their website!

I never would have thought that when I started this blog back in '07 that someone would think so highly of my writing skills (lol), my material and me personally to want to pay me to do this!

So with that said, you can catch the blog posts at www.teamusa.org and www.trackfield.teamusa.org

Don't worry, I will still be updating here, but the USOC site will have first preference, so check there for all the up to date info on me!

Things have been so great, I'm still amazed at the things that happen in my life, I never would have thought back in '05 when I decided to take on this track and field endeavor that I would be in the position that I am in now! I am so thankful and appreciative for everything.

People ask me what did I do to become successful and I tell them that it wasn't anything special, I feel that if you go 100% all in for something, not 95%, 80%, 50% etc, you can't help but be a success story. Like I say, if I'm here doing this, then anybody can be in the same situation. I was never the top dog coming through the ranks in high school, college or earlier in the career, but persistence and hard work wins everytime, so stick with whatever it is you're trying to accomplish because it will pay off!

Top 5, Greatest of All TIme

2010-09-19T12:06:00.005-04:00

I had an interviewer recently ask me a question that I really could not answer, which is a first I must say. I was asked "Who is on my list of top five 110 hurdlers of all time?" I really didn't have an answer. I know who I feel are number one and two, but I felt like I needed to do more research and find out who I could fill my list out with.

After doing my history project, I decided that my top five list would consist of these five great individuals:

#5 Greg Foster
Foster was never one of the fastest hurdlers ever timewise, never held the World or American record, but his championship record is simply amazing. He won three consecutive World Championship titles during an era when they were held once ever four years, contrast that to today where we have them every two years. That's 12 years of dominance at the Championship level. He very well could have had six World titles if he ran under our current system. He also has an Olympic silver medal to his credit as well as 11 U.S.A. championship titles.

#4 Liu Xiang
Former World Record holder at 12.88 and 12.91 seconds. He won the 2004 Olympic gold medal in a equal world and Games record of 12.91 and won the 2007 World Championship title in a phenomenal performance, winning out of lane eight. He has run down other hurdlers running all-time great times of 12.90 (Arnold, Lausanne '06), 12.95 (Trammell, NY '07) and 12.99 (Trammell, WC '07), simply amazing. I don't think anyone has done that before. You know if he touches down over ten close to you, he will win. If he's able to return to form, he could easily ascend this list.

#3 Colin Jackson
He held the World Record of 12.91 solely from 1993 to 2004. He won four World Championship medals, two of them gold ('93 and '99) as well as an Olympic silver in 1988. In my opinon, Jackson's biggest accomplishment was he went 32 straight outdoor races without taking a loss! That is major. He also holds the world indoor record and is a legit flat sprinter. His career longevity is another reason he's high up on the list.

#2 Roger Kingdom
This is the one and only guy that I watch film on to try to better myself. I watch races of every hurdler, but to me, it never made sense to try to emulate an Allen Johnson or Terrance Trammell or Colin Jackson because I don't posses the same skill set or style as those guys, but in Kingdom, I have always seen a guy that reminded me of myself.

He's at the number two slot because these stats don't lie: Two time Olympic gold medalist ('84, '88), held the world record from '89-'93 and his name was listed as the American record holder either solely or jointly from '89 all the way until 2006! He also was the first man to run under 13 seconds at the Olympic Games. In 1988, he also had an undefeated season. Those two Olympic Gold medals is what puts him near the top for me. Winning the most important event of our sport twice is a feat that hadn't happened since Lee Calhoun 20 years prior and hasn't been seen since.

#1 Allen Johnson
I did a blog post on Allen when he announced his retirement back in July. I said it then and I'll say it again, he is the G.O.A.T. in my opinion. An Olympic gold medal, four World Championship gold medals, countless U.S.A titles, it goes on and on. He has the record for the most sub 13 performances with 11 as well. Although he never held the World Record like the previous four individuals he's listed ahead of, I think titles and wins are greater than a solo performance.

When I was trying to compile this list, I tried to get Dayron Robles and Renaldo Nehemiah on my list because they are greats as well. Nehemiah going to play in the NFL cut out his best years or he no doubt would have been in the top three easily I'm sure, I rank him number seven.

Robles is the current World Record holder and defending Olympic champion. He also is second on the list of sub-13 performances with eight. He accomplished all eight in a period from World Athletic Final in 2007 to Zurich in 2008. He only misses this list due to the fact that his career is essentially based off the 2008 season, which in my opinon is the greatest season in 110 hurdles history but Foster and Liu have displayed dominance over multitude of years. Once he displays the durability and longevity, he'll no doubt be on the list, right now he's holding down the number six spot.

I personally feel like I'm in the top 20 somewhere, of course I'm biased lol. I'll have to do some deep research to figure out for sure.

I think I will start a little top five segment on the blog regarding different aspects of the hurdles.

Fin!

2010-09-11T16:52:00.003-04:00

In the part of the world I am in currently, it means finished.

That's exactly the word to describe my 2010 track season and man it was a hell of a good one!

Out here in Annecy, France, a city not too far from the French Alps, the curtain came down and I went out with another win in 13.11 seconds at the sixth edition of the DecaNation meet. The French guy who finished second at the European Champs finished second in 13.65.

I love this competition, in 2005, it was the first time I got to put on the USA national team colors and represent us in a minor competition. I ended up second to the World Champion at the time, Ladji Doucore from France.

I don't think people understand the feeling you get when you put on a jersey and it has "USA" across the front. I still get the same feeling now, after being on several USA teams, as I did that first time in 2005.

I took this competition very seriously. It's always a meet such as this that you can end up taking a loss or taking the competition lightly and you give your competitors just an inch of hope. I believe that's what happened back in '05. It was my first year on the professional circuit and in the DecaNation competition, I finished just four hundredths of a second behind the world champ, might not have meant much to him, but it meant the world to me.

My race wasn't the best, as I made a few more mistakes than normal, but I was very happy with my performance. I know very well that I don't have to run all out every time to win, but it is very helpful in my development for the future. In '08 I was closing out the season running low to mid 13.20s, but now I'm over a tenth better in '10.

This whole trip was made even better because my family came out with me. Being in Paris with them for three days before coming out here was so cool. Walking the Champs Elleyse, visiting the Arc de Triumph, eating on the Eiffel Tower, visiting the Mona Lisa and the Louvre, it was great! They also got to experience traveling and eating in Europe and my mom gives us major props for being able to last out here for all these months we're over here because the food from the meet was not good at all. I really don't think these European athletes understand how good they have it on the circuit in certain regards.

It's a bitter sweet ending. I love to compete so much and now there are no more competitions, I'm battling a slight bout of depression about that. Now I have to wait for months to compete again. Worse than that, I'll have to train for months with no end in sight once my break is over. It's sweet because I need to take a break, I was running about once a week, so that's not very much, but with the quality of the races I ran, it's time for it to end.

I toed the line to run 19 110m hurdle races (including rounds) and my name came on top of every single race, every single time. Finishing undefeated for a season in this event is big. Never clipped a hurdle and fell or clip a hurdle and knock myself out of a race (which we see often) or false start or DNF, nothing.

Being undefeated is a great accomplishment in and of itself, I will have to check to see the last hurdler to do that, I believe Allen did it in maybe 1996, but I am not sure. I definitely know Colin Jackson did it for a long period of time, 32 races before Allen ended it in 1995. Needless to say, it's been a very long time since we've seen a feat like this.

I will now go back to the house and post up and kick my feet up and probably spend a lot of time sleeping!!

I appreciate you guys going on this ride thru the season with me, checking out the blog and stuff, I really appreciated every last comment I got. But trust, I update this thing year round, so stay tuned

Continental Cup, Almost Won It!

2010-09-06T17:41:00.007-04:00

Our America's team couldn't pull out any last minute heroics in Split last night to pull out the championship unfortunately. I had been scouting the European team and knew we would need some great performances on day two of the competition to win, we got some, just not enough, as we came up short, losing to Europe 429 to 419.5.

I was extremely disappointed when, by my calculations, we needed Europe to basically DNF in the 4x4 to win and I realized the likelihood of that happening was slim to none.

I really like to win, no matter what it is, but I got over the loss pretty quickly.

As for my personal race, I went out and had a good, technical race. I won with 13.11 (-1.1w) and secured the eight points for the team.

I had an excellent warm-up, short and right to the point. The way I warm-up varies depending on how I am feeling at the time and last night I felt very good. I'm not an athlete that over analyzes or over thinks what is going on, I just go out and rely totally on what I've been trained to do. Since I was feeling good with my starts in the warm-up, I just stopped and sat around and waited to go to the call room.

I was actually kind of nervous because I was thinking I can't go out here and mess something up and lose these eight points. My team is depending on me bringing that home.

I brought it home in style, winning by a good amount, but I wasn't too much concerned with that, my eyes went right to the scoreboard to see where the European runners places. I saw second and fourth and I was like "Damn!"

I went on my victory lap and it took me about 15 to 20 minutes before I finally got back to get dressed. People always laugh at me because it takes me forever to get around the track, but I always tell them, you've got to embrace this and enjoy it because you never know when that carpet will get pulled from right under your feet. So that's exactly what I do and the fans love it!

After my victory lap ended, I went right back into cheerleader mode LOL, I was out on the field waiting to do an on field interview and saw my teammates Nicole Edwards (CAN) and Christin Wuth-Thomas have great performances in the woman's 1500.

After my interviews, photo stuff, press conference and mandatory doping test, I was right back down at the mixed zone watching the races and congratulating my teammates when they came off the track. I even had to learn a bit of Spanish as well.

One of the press people asked me about the importance of being captain and to me it's easy. You can't underestimate the power that a few encouraging words coming from an individual such as myself, spoken to someone who may not be a favorite in an event or may be slightly unsure of what they are bringing to the table, has on them.

When top people in the sport use to come up to me back in the day and say "keep working at it, it'll come" or "good job out there today", I couldn't believe they were even paying attention to what I was doing at the time. I looked at it as a source of inspiration.

Our team had a few inspirational performances as well:

Bernard Lagat ran 8,000 meters over two days, bringing America's home 16 points. He had a pretty good weekend for sure!

Wallace had a great run in the men's 200, he won by probably half a second and was ready to pick up a relay stick for the 4x4 which was not too long after the deuce if they needed him.
Our women and men's 4x4 teams both took home the maximum 15 points in thrilling fashion to close the show! I was out on the track, hollering and everything, reminded me of my days back in college. We definitely went out in style.
In the end though, it wasn't enough as I saw two of my friends, Andreas Thorkildson and hometown super star Blanka Vlasic hoist the championship trophy.
I enjoyed every moment of this competition. It really got the competitive juices flowing and was great for the team aspect of track. I was paying attention non-stop to events I wouldn't turn a blind eye to in the past. I found out a lot about different athletes, athletes I more than likely wouldn't have said more than two words to during the course of the season. You better believe I will be the first one in line to get back on this team next time they have it.

The organization of the meet was top notch! I loved being in Split, it was a great city to host a meet like this. At the post meet dinner, they sent us off in style with a firework display that was off the chart.

Now I'm chilling in Paris, getting ready for the last meet of the season this upcoming weekend. I'm not looking forward to the meet persay, but I flew my mom and step-dad out here from Denver to hang out for the week. They had never been to Europe, so there is no better place to make your first stop than Paris! I've been looking forward to this since before I left Orlando to go to London. I was doing everything I could to make sure nothing happened to me that would preempt us from kicking out in Paris!

While checking out of the hotel, a gentleman came up and gave me this great oil painting of none other than myself. I definitely wasn't expecting that. It's very beautiful work and I greatly appreciate it. Only downside is this thing is gigantic in size and carrying it around the airport was no easy task.

Captain America Is What They Call Me!

2010-09-04T08:19:00.008-04:00

Captain America is my nickname on the team, a name I am very proud of! It's been a great honor being nominated by our contingency male captain of the America's team out her in Split for the Continental Cup.

This is a VERY big deal to me, you talk about crunk level going up!! On the teams I've been fortunate to be apart of, the captains that were chosen have been people that were leaders, the type of people others on the team wanted to strive to compete like. It's big because this isn't just a Team USA thing either, it's the who North American, Central American, South American region.

Of course I don't have any real duties, but I've just been encouraging my teammates and having a good time enjoying my captaincy. I am trying to find a "C" to sew on to my jersey for my race tomorrow!

Split, Croatia is one of the most beautiful cities I have been in! It's definitely a great European hideaway. It's very French Riviera-like. This is the view I have right now as I type this, looking out my balcony window.
We had a training camp here as well, going to practice was well worth it just for the views alone! This is a very refreshing, relaxing spot.

I was an invited guest to the athletes press conference, it was one from each team. Along with myself, it was high jump queen and hometown hero Blanka Vlasic representing Europe, Olympic champion shot putter Valerie Adams represent the Asia Pacific team and 800m world record holder David Rudisha representing Africa.

I was also grateful to be graced with the presence of two legends in the sport, former 800 world record holder Wilson Kipketer and 2000 Olympic 400m gold medalist Cathy Freeman of Australia. I had no idea she was so small, but she had MAJOR fight out on the track.

I was not all that familiar with either one of these individuals, but thanks to youtube, I now have an appreciation for how great they really were.

I believe that in order to be great, you need to immerse yourself and surround yourself with greatness. In order to be great, you have to see greatness in action. No matter what the sport, what the event may be in track and field, when greatness happens, you better believe I will find a way to watch it. Whether that means youtube or interrupting my warm-up for a minute or two.

I had a couple of great training sessions, but remind me never, ever, ever, ever to run warm-up strides with Jeremy Wariner! He doesn't even look like he's moving that fast, but he's got great speed. His name goes right up next to Dwight Phillips as the two guys I won't make the mistake of warming up with again!

Wallace Spearmon was striding it out with us, but I was giving him the business, so he's cool LOL

I did block starts over a few hurdles with Andy Turner, the European hurdle champion, it was a great session. Reminiscent of some pracitices we had a couple of years ago, although I am right up there with him now! Maybe he'll come back down to Florida, I tell him all the time that if he came more consistent, he'd easily be down in low 13.1's at least! We both are ready and should finish 1-2.

Competition gets started today, day one of two. This is the stadium we will be competing in and it will be 35,000 fans strong going crazy! I'm really in to that! I don't run the hurdles until tomorrow evening, so I'll sit back and cheer my teammates on today.

This meet is a great concept, it's been cool being on the same team as the Jamaicans, Cubans, Brazilians etc and they make our team strong in events where if we were just the USA, we would be slightly weaker in.

I expect from myself to hold up my end of the bargain and bring home maximum points for the squad. I really hope that on Sunday evening "America's Team" will be hoisting up that trophy!

Another Race, Another Win, Fast Time and Meet Record!

2010-08-29T16:46:00.003-04:00

I had another outstanding performance out in Rieti today and had a great time while I was out at the stadium as well. My fans were out in full effect and were so excited to see me from the time I stepped off the bus. It was amazing! There were about 25 teenage kids out there rocking "D.O. The King" t-shirts, that had me really crunk! Dwight Thomas and Wallace Spearmon were dying laughing, I think they were probably jealous LOL.
This meet is notorious for have great sprint and distance results and it didn't dissapoint! It was great to go out and watch Kenya's sensational 800 meter runner David Rudisha break the world record in the event and watch Jamaica's Nesta Carter run a blazing 9.78! I told Nesta when we were at lunch earlier today that he was going to run 9.7, he laughed and said I was crazy, guess I'm not looking to crazy now!

I said in my post yesterday that I should be able to challenge the meet record of 13.07 set by Colin Jackson back in '94 and I not only challenged it, I broke it with a time of 13.01. I had a great warm-up and knew I was going to run fast. I had a scare while doing my usual start over the first hurdle when I get to the competition track. When I came down, my lead leg hip flexor really tightened up on me. I was genuinely concerned because at that point, it's either you run the race or drop out right there. No time to get it looked at. I had never been in a situation like that before and I wasn't sure what to do, so I defaulted to doing what I wanted to do and that was race of course.
I think I was a little timid at the start and through the first two hurdles until I realized I was going to be cool. Nothing bad happened and once again I took care of business. My friend Ryan Wilson wasn't so lucky as he ran into a bit of trouble about half way down the track and fell pretty hard, but he's fine thankfully.

My training partner Dwight finished second, running 13.26, he's becoming consistent around that time and has been finishing second in the last three meets I've been at, so that's a good sign. Joel finished fourth, we almost got a 1-2-3 finish, hopefully next time.

My fans were waiting for me after the race to take more pictures and stuff, not sure why this guy is acting like I didn't put deodorant under my left armpit, I guess I was sweating kind of tough.

Only disappointing thing to me is that in the post race interviews they kept asking me if I was disappointed because I ran slow and didn't break the world record because everybody was running fast. I guess it is kind of cool that when I run 13.01 people think it's a slow time, that means I have been pretty successful and I'm falling victim to my own success. I did tell the press that I would have rather run 12.99 as opposed to 13.01 because I'm in love with running under 13 seconds LOL.

Everyone was telling me how fast the track is and of all the great performances, but honestly speaking, I didn't think that had anything to do with the hurdles. You better believe this track is extremely fast and if I ran the 100 or something, this would DEFINITELY be on my schedule every year! I knew it was fast when I went out for my two training sessions out here and was running in to trouble at the third hurdle while doing my starts. Rieti's track is definitely as advertised.

When I got here and saw the program from the meet, I looked at the best hurdle performances every run here and outside of Jackson's 13.07, the second fastest time ever run was 13.23 by Roger Kingdom. Every great hurdler in history has run here and no one has mustered even a 13.1 outside of Jackson's performance.

I don't go in to a race trying to beat the world record, I give myself more realistic goals such as meet records. I'm glad that people are tuning in to the event to see what I am going to run, that's really cool. I know that the event isn't probably what people really want to watch at the time because it is kind of down, but I'm glad to be a glimmer of light for us to still get some pub in the media. I go and run as well as I possibly can every race and won't be surprised if one time I cross the line under the record. Like I say, it's the record for a reason, can't force it because it won't happen.

It's been cool out here in Rieti, tomorrow, I'm heading out to Split, Croatia for the Continental Cup meet that starts next weekend. Me and Robles are going to be representing the "America" team, if he's healthy, it will be a great race for sure! Kind of ironic how sports can bring together feuding nations for one common goal. I've been looking forward to this for a while and it doesn't hurt that 30K is on the line either!

Back At It Again...

2010-08-28T16:19:00.003-04:00

There aren't very many meets I haven't been to during some stage of my career, but this is the first time I have ever been to the competition in Rieti, Italy.

It's a small town where the people are nice and laid back, they literally wait on you hand and foot and make sure everything is OK. Anything I've needed or wanted has been taken care of, the hospitality they have extended to us has been an A+.

I've been here for a few days now, had a couple of good workouts that were light and straight to the point.
This meet fell at a great time for me. I didn't want to sit around for nearly three weeks without competing between Zurich and Split. I was trying to find a race to go to that wasn't too close to Zurich or too close to the race at Continental Cup. I need every last one of those days to get back fresh after I compete, right now the days of me doing two races a week like I use to are over for the time being.

I don't think people understand the toll our bodies go through hurdling. At close to 210 pounds, at the velocity I run, multiplying my body weight probably four times coming off 42'' barriers, ten times in a race, that's a lot of weight coming down on that lead leg. That's only the competition aspect of it, not counting training. Needless to say, ice baths and massage therapists are my best friends! I probably get rubbed out three times a week and take an ice bath four times a week.

This meet out here in Rieti has startlists comparable to that of a Diamond League meet. The races are going to be great. The weather out here is nice as well and the facility has very good warm up areas. We all should be nice and loose for competition.

The 110 hurdle meet record is 13.07 held by Colin Jackson, I think he set it in 1994. If I have a good day, I think that I should be able to challenge this mark. It would be cool to add another meet record to my list.

I really hope the crowd will be loud and energetic, I love when they are. It was so loud in Zurich before the race, then we got down to get in our blocks, the crowd fell dead silent. It threw me off for real. I had to check back in mentally at the start!

I will update sometime after the competition. I really appreciate the support from you guys, the enthusiasm you show for me and my accomplishments definitely make me feel great. There's a lot of you guys that have been riding with me since way back in '07 when I started this blog and I had a personal best of 13.20 and the mission was 12.87 before I changed it a year later.

It is funny when I've been being interviewed lately and they ask me why I put that as a mission. I tell them because I couldn't think of anything else to put for a title and they look at me funny, maybe next time I should tell them that I was feeling a little like Nostradamus LMAO! They ask me if I thought I could run that time back when I started it and I say "not in a million years!" I never would have thought I would come remotely close to it, but hard work and sacrifice definitely pays off, especially when you combine it with maturing mentally as well.

If you believe it, you can see yourself doing it, you can definitely achieve it!! Always believe in yourself, no matter what people may say.

When I made my decision to accept my scholarship from Howard, people were telling me that it wasn't a place that I could succeed athletically and doing a lot of negative recruiting. I told them I could be good no matter where I attended school and I really believed it.

When I started running in '05, bouncing rent checks every month and working 30+ hours a week at Niketown, I turned down opportunities from two NFL teams right after the '05 draft to sign a rookie free agent deal and come to camp. Two of my training partners at the time said that was a stupid decision and they would have done it if they had the opportunity. I told them I was going to make it in track and field and I wholeheartedly believed I could.

Of course it was hard, but like the Olympic Creed reads "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well."

At the end of the day, my early struggles make me appreciate my late triumphs so much and I'm definitely a fighter! I always credit my mental toughness as a reason I am successful and I have an undying belief in ME!

I know the direction of my posts start off one way and may end up in a whole 'nother universe LOL, I just get to typing and whatever comes out, come out. I don't proof read what I write either, but I do correct spelling, that red line that comes underneath the words is very annoying to me. I just type what I am feeling at the moment so please excuse my grammatical errors along with the scatterbrain-ness (if that's a word) of this post. Thanks for reading though.

Sub13 Commentary

2010-08-27T09:01:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, while making the drive to Rieti, bored in the car, I made one of my frequent stops checking Twitter on my cell phone.

I saw an update by @tandfn Track and Field News' twitter site. The update was about the history of sub 13 second races run in the 110m hurdles. They were highlighting all of the sub13 races I had run in my career.

When I looked at the list and saw the stats, two thoughts instantly came to my mind.

The first thought, I can sum up easily in one word: Wow! They compiled their list counting legal and windy times. Allen Johnson led the list with 11 times (all legal) and then I saw myself in second position with nine (seven legal, two windy), followed by Colin Jackson (four legal, three windy) and Dayron Robles (eight legal) tied with eight performances under the magical barrier.

I can honestly say that when I started getting formal coaching in 2005 and really having an understanding of times, I hoped to be able to do it at least one time. It hasn't really set in the magnitude of things I have accomplished personally this season yet, but when I looked at that list it sort of hit home. I knew all the individuals who had run under 13 and how many times they did it, but it's a lot different when you know it in your head as opposed to seeing it in print.

I am really proud of myself and the perseverance I have displayed. I went down for basically three months of inactivity last year to coming back for three races to suffering the same injury again in Brussels. We see it often, an athlete comes back from a major injury and never reaches the level they were at before hand. I not only reached the same level I was on before, I surpassed it! It is definitely a testament to my coach, physiotherapists and to the mental strength I posses.

My second thought was "This list proves what I've been saying in these interviews beyond a shadow of a doubt". As you can imagine, everyone always asks about breaking the world record. I generally respond with "unless someone can find a way to put it in "Usain Bolt" type territory, it's just being set up to get broken soon." I believe that what we think is so amazing time wise, will become ordinary by the time I reach 60. Track and Field News' compilation of sub 13's proves my theory.

My first year as a professional was in 2005. 28 of the 54 times we have ever seen the clock stop under 13 seconds has been seen since that time. That's over half all time, in a five year span. Tell me that's not making sub 13 seem ordinary. Legal time speaking, we've seen 25 of the legal 46, which is a higher percentage. That percentage would be even higher had Robles and myself not missed the bulk of the '09 season and Robles would have been able to compete this year as well. Between myself and him, we've seen 15 sub 13's since '08 alone.

If I am lucky enough to run 12.86, that would mean the last two world records haven't lasted longer than two years, after it stood unmatched for nearly 13 years, which probably means mine wouldn't last too long either. I would take any time under 12.87 but I would love to go like 12.80. Who knows what could be possible, Bolt showed anything is possible.

Shocking to me, people have come up to me a lot and told me the hurdles record is one of the softest in the books. They site that because Renaldo ran the record of 12.93 in '81, it has only progressed six hundredths of a second since that time. I do believe that if Renaldo would have continued to run, he probably would have run 12.85 already, he was that special when I watch his races. I do not believe that the record is soft by any means. I don't think people understand how hard it is to hurdle when you are running at 12.9 pace. The hurdles are way too close and there isn't that much room to maneuver. Not only that, but to run a record in the hurdles, you have to be perfect 12 times. Your start, ten barriers and the finish. That's way more than any other event. One false movement and you can go from 12.9 to 13.1 easily.

In track events, if I can find an explosive guy who will run 35 steps for 100 meters, he will demolish the record. No matter what your skill set is in the hurdles, you are still dealing with finite space and opportunity. Until someone comes in a revolutionizes the hurdles by taking one or two steps in between as opposed to three, then we can see some off the chart stuff, but until then, I do think the limits of the event are being pushed. Maybe if I coach a kid one day, I'll train him to two-step LOL.

I am looking forward to the possibilities of my future performances. As an American hurdler, over the history, we've tended to have great performances well in to our 30's when we start to mature, so I just am thankful for my health and hope that it continues. Maybe when I am 60 and there are as many sub 13's as we see four minute miles, I will have performed good enough to have my name still somewhere near the top of the Track and Field News sub13 edition in the year 2040!

Crunk Juice 8/23/10

2010-08-23T13:30:00.004-04:00

I just got my crunk juice for today! I just happen to go on the NIKE website and saw my picture on there and I got SUPER hype. I was so crunk that I wouldn't be surprised if the people staying below me in the hotel send security up here. Like I said it doesn't take very much for me to get hyped up, good thing I didn't see this before a race LOL.

Things out here in Sweden have been going amazing. Training has been definitely been awesome. I miss practicing with my teammates though, at least I'll see a couple of them in Rieti late this week. I've got some celebrity status out here too, everywhere I go, people here know who I am. It feels pretty good taking pictures and signing autographs. We work so hard and I appreciate every minor sign of respect. I guess people have been writing on Swedish blogs that they've been seeing me around town, so tomorrow I have an interview with the major paper so that should be fun.

I had to ship my Diamond League trophy back home unfortunately. It was VERY hard traveling with it from Zurich to Sweden and I have several more flights to catch and I don't think I can manage. That thing weighs over ten pounds in it's case. I got the information of the guy from DHL that is responsible for sending it just in case something happens, I know who I need to come back to Sweden and see about.

All things aren't so great, the U.S. track and field community lost a great man in Scott Davis, the voice of our U.S. championships for what seems like forever. The last time we conversed, I was giving him a hard time because he announced I was an All-American from the University of Tennessee! We laughed and talked out in Sacramento for what seemed like all night long. He was very entertaining. There's a Facebook group formed to put him on the cover of Track and Field News, I'm all for it! The people behind the scenes are responsible for the development and growth of our sport just as much as the athletes are.

Also my training partner Novlene Williams-Mills is dealing with a loss in her family and had to leave Europe abruptly. Please keep their families in your prayers.

Fantasy Football Time!

2010-08-22T17:35:00.004-04:00

Last night I had my draft for my favorite fall pastime, fantasy football.

Being so competitive from the time the calendar flips to January 1 of every year, all the way until the middle to end of September given my career, it's hard to give up the competitive juices. This gives me an avenue to compete while I'm bored out of my mind during the fall season.

I'm in a league with 11 other of my friends, including my brother and of course Aubrey Herring and Joel Brown. Like I said before, we had the draft last night and we all were on line for it, it was cool catching up with everybody all at once.

Somehow Joel and his raggedy looking team won the Super Bowl last year, this is the fourth year of it for us and hopefully I can bring home my first title.

I'm confident in my squad, it shapes up like this:

QB- Matt Schaub (Hou), Eli Manning (NYG), Matt Ryan (Atl)
RB- Frank Gore (SF), LeShawn McCoy (Phi), Micheal Bush (Oak), Jahvid Best (Det)
WR- Lee Evans (Buf), Kenny Britt (Ten), Percy Harvin (Min), Steve Breaston (Ari)
TE- John Carlson (Sea)
K- Neil Rackers (Hou)
Defense- Minnesota Vikings, Miami Dolphins

Pretty solid team, I like my chances. We'll see what happens. You can say I'm a fantasy junkie because I also play fantasy football, European style with the English Premier League. I'm killing in that as well, two weeks into the season.

The one rule I live by is that you should only have one team. I know people who have three or four teams, that's weak! It's like filling out ten brackets for the NCAA tournament!

Went Out With A Bang...

2010-08-19T20:43:00.003-04:00

Figuratively and literally!

I capped off my great time out here in Zurich with an impressive performance, running 12,93 (-0.4w). We were the penultimate individual event of the competition and I made the fans go crazy! That really makes me feel good that they are so appreciative of all the hard work we put in to this sport. Trust me, it is not easy going out and running fast time after time after time. As a sprinter, a serious injury is knocking on the door every training session and every race.

I got to officially wrap my hands around the championship trophy for the Diamond League. The celebration that had for us was so classy!

As I mentioned, I literally went out with a bang when I crossed the finish line. I don't know exactly what happened, but I knew something like this would be inevitable. I tend to lean so hard at the end, don't ask me why I do it either. I've never trained or practiced a lean, so I guess this is just how I naturally finish the race. Not sure if it's a bad thing or a good thing, but it works so it's cool.

Thankfully, nothing is messed up, got a couple of track burns, but I've had WAY worse turf burns playing football, so this is nothing.

I said in my previous post that I was hoping the training group could go 1-2-3, but that didn't happen. Dwight finished second in a seasons best 13.25, it's cool seeing him put the pieces together a little at a time, that's the same thing I spent years doing. Joel finished fifth in 13.31 after an awful start.
The race was pretty fast top to bottom. 13.36 got you eighth place! That's crazy.

My performance was just .01 off the meet record held by the legendary Roger Kingdom set back in 1989 which was a world record at the time. I am now equal second fastest ever at this great venue, tied with another great, Renaldo Nehemiah. His time was also a world record when he ran it.
The fans at the meet showed me SO much love! I thoroughly enjoy that. I went out on the track early for the "Presentation of the Stars" and it was so electric in the stadium already! Fans made signs for me and everything.

This blog has been taking on a life of its own and I guess the local Swiss fans are avid readers. They read about my love of chocolate, so on my victory lap, I received several boxes of chocolate. I really do appreciate the support! Like I've said before, I try to sign every autograph and take ever picture, although after a race I'm exhausted. Showing the fans my appreciation for them is equally as important as their appreciation for me.

Unfortunately, my time in Zurich has come to an end. I'm heading up to Sweden tomorrow to just chill out and recharge my batteries and train for a while. I will be running at the Continental Cup, September 5th representing the America's team. I'm not too sure if I'll be doing anything before that or not, I really hope I will because I love competing. My coach has had to reign me in this year as far as my schedule because if it was up to me, I'd be running all the time. It's pretty hard for me to deal with the fact that I can't compete as much as I use to or would like to, but I know it's for the best.

I'm going to see my number one favorite soccer team, FC Barcelona, play next week, I'm so excited to go to that. They are the reason I even started paying attention to the sport in the first place back in early '06.

I'll keep you guys posted on all the goings on out here! Stay tuned...

Screamin' Let's Get It From Another Planet!!

2010-08-19T08:36:00.004-04:00

My time out here in Zurich has been great, the hospitality has been very impressive!

In my last post, I commented about the kids clinic I was attending in the town of Chur, Switzerland. I must say, the reception I received there blew me away!

First I hopped on the helicopter for the 20 minute flight to the neighboring city. I am a big fan of helicopter rides, the views of the mountain sides of Zurich were off the charts.

The chopped landed right in the middle of the infield and we were awaited by hundreds of Swiss kids ranging from first grade to middle school.

One of the most unexpected things happened to me out there. A kid I gave my autographed starting bib number to at this meet in 2008 brought it out and asked me if I remembered. Of course I didn't, but he said that he stayed with athletics because I gave him that and inspired him. That was really cool. Like I mentioned in the previous post, I know you can't touch everybody, but you can affect at least one and it looked like I did that back in '08.

I find it very important to sign as many autographs and take as many pictures as I can because the fans are the lifeline of the sport to be honest.

I had a press conference yesterday that lasted for just about an hour. It was the longest one I have ever had, but it was cool to me. You never know what type of funny question someone will ask you. I stay will a smile on my face because this is a true blessing to be doing what I want to do. I'm a very positive person and it was disappointing to me when I read a recent article I did in London that painted me in a negative light, but I know the "if it bleeds, it reads" mantra in the media, so it's ok, you live and you learn.

Tonight is the big night, race day! Man I live for this.

This is the last Diamond League race for the 110m hurdle event and I have an insurmountable lead in the points, so tonight, I will be taking home this nice piece of hardware!

Everyone knows I love winning tangible things such as trophies and medals, so you better believe this will not be leaving my sight once it touches my hands after the race! It will definitely have a prominent position in my house as well LOL.

As for the race tonight, I'm not exactly sure who is all in the race, my two other training partners are though. It is funny because I remember when I started out on the circuit, I use to be obsessed with looking at start lists. I am hoping that we can finish 1-2-3, of course with me in first position, LOL (come on, cut me some slack haha) and everyone walks away 100% healthy and can get ready for the next competition.

I will make a post meet update later on, wish me success!

My Arrival In The Home of Chocolate!

2010-08-17T07:44:00.004-04:00

I have now arrived in Zurich, had a nice workout session and a great interview with the Swiss television media.

Zurich is to me, the BEST meeting on the European circuit and it's not even close. They have the best physio, best food, top level accommodations and the atmosphere during the competition is electric!

When I landed at the airport, I was picked up swiftly, arrived at the hotel and was greeted personally by the meeting director, Patrick Magyar, who already had my room key and meet information packet ready. All I had to do was walk in the door and head right to my room. That is very big to a lot of us athletes as we criss-cross Europe for these competitions. Not to mention they even do our laundry for free at this competition.

It's small things like getting laundry done that we take for granted at home, but it's a lot of work to do on our own out here. Keeping a clean set of underwear is not an easy task for us! Keep in mind they only allow us 20kg worth of luggage to carry as well and we are gone for months at a time. Zurich takes care of a lot of the off the track things we have to deal with so we can focus down on having great performances.

Being in Zurich plays into one of my vices though. Upon check in, they always give us a big box of Swiss chocolate. Everybody that knows me knows how much I love chocolate. That is probably the main reason why I had to get three root canals and spent over 20 hours in the dentist office before I went to London! I try to lay off, but I just can't help myself. I'm always telling myself "OK, just one more" but I think they sprinkle something in the chocolate over here, it's so addictive.

The Zurich Diamond League event is the only competition I have been to every single year of my career. They have always extended an invitation to me. My first season in 2005 I got in because they had a "B" heat, '06 I finished 4th, which was very big for me at the time, in '07, although I got hurt at the World Championships and every other meeting was rescinding their invitations, Zurich still had me in attendance. In '08, I ran my second legal sub-13 here and '09 they had me back for my first real appearance coming off of my torn calf and I finished 5th, beating individuals who were finalist at the World Championships.

We race here on Thursday evening, but today, I'm looking forward to a kids clinic I am doing in the city of Chur, Switzerland. I am traveling by helicopter so I will be able to check out some great views of the land. I always like when I get a chance to interact with kids, no matter what country they are from, they are the future of our world and like I always believe, I may not affect every kid, but I know I will have an impact on at least one by the time I leave.

Video of My 13.06 Race In London/Interview

2010-08-17T03:58:00.004-04:00

Race footage from this past weekend, with a couple of post race interviews. It felt good to hear one of the all time hurdled greats, Colin Jackson, positively critiquing my race. I know that I am a good hurdler, but when you get some of the best people that ever did it saying positive things about your performances, it feels good.

Wrapped Up the Diamond League Title!!

2010-08-15T19:12:00.007-04:00

For some reason out here in London, the internet had been down for four days! I've never heard of a situation like this, you can only imagine the agony I was going through. No Slingbox to watch, no internet to surf, couldn't update the blog, I was going through it!!

Although I was without the most important thing I have during my European travels, I was kept plenty busy.

I arrived in London last Tuesday. I flew over on U.S. Airways, remind me to tell my manager never to book me on them again for international travel.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty chill days for me. Just eat, catch up on sleep, did some interviews and had a couple of training sessions. I wanted to go out on Wednesday, but the weather had not been good at all, lots of rain and cold of course.

Thursday came around and I finally . Myself, Tyson Gay and European hurdle champion Andy Turner caught a classic English bus to the press conference activities in central London.

The cool thing about the bus we rode on was it had our pictures on the side of it promoting the competition.

We rode around on that bus for quite a while, but it was cool, you know I don't mind doing interviews and taking pictures LOL. We made a quick stop by the 2012 Olympic Stadium and it looks awesome, they are doing a great job on it. Hopefully I'll be in able to compete in there for the Games when they roll around.
After my day out on the town, of course I had my last training prep before competition. Now it was time to kick my feet up and chill until I took the track.

The London Diamond League is a very unique competition. It is the only invitational that hosts every track and field event, but it's also spread over two days. When I saw everyone heading to the track Friday, I was very glad I wasn't competing that day. It was pretty cold and the rain looked like it wasn't going to let up. I just caught a ride to a local laundry mat and washed clothes.

Saturday morning rolled around and I had to do something the night before that I NEVER do for my European competitions and that was set an alarm. Had to be on the shuttle to the stadium at 11:30am. Most of the time I'm not competing until 9 at night.

The London Diamond League is also unique in that it is the only major invitational that I've been to where I had to run a preliminary race and then I final. I like the set up, I use the first round as an extended part of my warm up anyway.

This was a big set of races for me because if I won this meet, I would lock up the Diamond League championship for 2010, I really wanted to handle that business here and not put it to chance out in Zurich next week.

My first round went off, nothing unexpected happened and I ran a wind aided 13.02 to win my heat. My training partners Joel Brown and Dwight Thomas finished second and third. It feels good when you look up and see your teammates finishing right in order, I think that is what is suppose to happen when you're training with top level performers.

Between the prelim and final, there wasn't much time before we had to report back to the call room. Just enough time to get stretched, talk to my coach and catch my breath.

In the finals, I was pretty much unpressed from the start, so I tried to focus on staying in attack mode for all ten hurdles. The last thing I wanted to do was relent or take my foot off the gas thinking I had the win already because in the hurdles, it's never a definite until you cross that tape! I crossed in 13.06 (-0.4w) which was the meet record. Dwight finished second and Joel ran into some issues but was able to finish fifth.

When I finished, I was under-impressed with some technical aspects of my run, but that quickly subsided when I breathed a big sigh of relief, realizing I clinched the top spot as the number one hurdler in the world undoubtedly. Accomplishing goals is so important in life because it's a quantifiable measure of improvement. Whether you're an athlete or work a 9 to 5 job, we all have goals we want to check off the list short term and long term and I love when I can draw a line right through one more thing on my list for 2010.
I spent an extra day in London and I was looking forward to this day from the time I found out I would be here another day after competition.

I got the chance to catch a Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Liverpool at Anfield Road, one of the most hallowed grounds of European football. The Gunners of Arsenal are my favorite English football team and to get a chance to catch a game, I was all for it.
Arsenal hooked me up with some fresh gear too! A personalized jersey was one of the items, but I dare not wear that to Liverpool's home grounds LOL. The game was great, ended in a 1-1 draw as Arsenal pulled even in the latter moments of the game. My favorite Gunner, Cesc Fabregas didn't play today so that was unfortunate, but I saw Van Persie and Abou Diaby get it in.

This was the best sporting event I have ever been too. The fans are SO passionate about their team and their players. They had songs for every one of their star players! It was loud and rocking for the entire 90 minutes. I thought I was a die hard fan, but I'm not even close and neither is any other American I know when it comes to supporting their team. We have a long way to go!

A big thanks goes out to Zarah, she works with the UK Athletics and she looked after me while I was here and made sure we sorted the game out smoothly, I'll put my vote in to get here a raise!

Now I'm off to Zurich, the last stop in the Diamond League for 110 hurdles. Since I've clinched, I can just relax and have a good time out there like I normally do. Sorry for the length of this post, but I've got to blame the internet here because this should have been three different one's if I had the chance, but thanks for taking time out to read it as usual, I appreciate it!

Bridging the Hurdling Gap

2010-08-10T06:11:00.002-04:00

Marc Middleton and his crew from "Growing Bolder" came out to the track and did a short documentary on my coach Brooks Johnson. This is a great piece they put together.

As you can see from the video, I seemed to be the only one not training the day they came out and that's for good reason, I was coming off one of my nine hour sessions at the dentist and only had a jog and stretch workout.

You can check out more from the crew at www.marcmiddleton.com and www.growingbolder.com

Made The Cover!

2010-08-02T15:16:00.003-04:00

People have a "bucket list" of things they want to do or accomplish by the time they die, well I can cross off making the cover of Track and Field News on my bucket list of things I want to accomplish before I retire.

I'm sure people might be wondering how in the world did it take me four days before I wrote a blog post on it, but trust, it would have only taken me four minutes, the only problem was trying to find a big enough picture of the cover. I only could save the tiny thumbnail picture from their website, so I stole this picture off of track and field news' twitter page.

My mom called me when I was in Cracker Barrel after practice ordering myself some dinner to go, that's how I found out. She asked me how come I didn't tell her the big news, I had no clue what she was referring to, but then she told me. I played it cool because I was in public and didn't want to cause I scene, but I rushed to my house to hop online and see.

I usually never pass go or collect $200 before I hop my stank behind in the shower, but that could wait this time. When I got to the website and scrolled to the bottom to see the magazine, I got super crunk, I started hollering and running around my house. I don't remember the last time I was that crunk, I mean I was on level 100! I don't think anybody in the history of Track and Field News has been more excited to be on the cover than me. I'm not even sure why it was something I deemed important.

Small things like that brings me a lot of joy. I think I brought up being on the cover of the magazine to everybody that works at Track and Field News. I thought it would be hard to make the cover because you don't see hurdlers on the cover ever. Only distance runners and Bolt really. The G.O.A.T. Allen Johnson only made it one time and that was in 2006, think of all the accomplishments he had prior to making it.

I really appreciate it in all honesty. Jon Hendershott has been a great guy and really has been giving me some pub since 2006 in the mag. He's one guy I really enjoy interviewing with. I said that I am going to buy 1000 copies of the magazine to wall paper a room in my house with, but I haven't even seen it yet, but you better believe I've been blowing up my local bookstores and Track Shack waiting for it to come it!

My 13.01 In Monaco Race Video

2010-07-25T13:15:00.002-04:00

After watching the race video, I'm loving my lead leg mechanics! I was just watching my first international competition on youtube, the 2005 Reebok Grand Prix and I've come a very long way!

On another note, I was pretty disappointed in the commentators outlook on Robles' injury. They have no idea what he's going through, but I understand it's their job and when that red light comes on that says "record", they've got to say something attention grabbing. I'm just not a fan of people that make assumptions based on hearsay instead of true facts.

Enjoy the video!

Monaco Post Race Interview

2010-07-24T09:12:00.002-04:00

The guys at Flotrack do an amazing job with coverage of track and field. They cover he angles you don't get to see outside of the actual race telecast. From the traveling across the world to post race interviews. I enjoy doing interviews with them, they are definitely dedicated to the sport.

More of their coverage from the Monaco Diamond League Here

I'm Sitting On Top Of The World...

2010-07-22T19:43:00.006-04:00

It's a beautiful night to live my beautiful life!

I keep on the winning track. I mean, during my '08 season I won 18 of my 23 races, including indoors, so it's not as if winning is foreign to me, it's just the fact that every competition I go to, I treat it like a celebration. I celebrate the fact that I am in these competitions and doing what I love to do. I remember 365 days ago what I was doing and I know it is not my birthright to be doing this. I am so thankful for my talent, my health and what I have going on between my left and right earlobes (well 95% of the time because I do my share of dumb things too).

I went out tonight, probably ran the worse first couple of hurdles of the season, but was able to stay focused and come out on top with another win, this time running a stadium record of 13.01 (+1.0w)

It is very hard for me to get my usual groove in my warm-up here in Monaco. It's not a facility with an actual warm-up track, so for us hurdlers, we've got to try to get creative with our warm-up. My warm-up is a gameplan that I have been developing this entire season, tweaking a few things here and there, but I think I have found the recipe that works for me, but here, it pretty much goes out of the window.

My start is still sort of erratic, so I really try to focus on doing multiple starts over multiple hurdles when I'm getting ready. Today, I was relegated to one start over one and it showed in the race that I didn't have my stuff grooved in. I wasn't fully set to react to the gun either and my hips were not up in a good position to attack the first hurdle. I don't think any of us were really ready for that gun looking at the reaction times.

I've said on this site time and again that one of the keys to being a profession athlete is having the ability to make changes on the fly and that no one really cares how you feel, when your name is called on to perform, you perform.

Although I feel that my first few hurdles weren't up to par, I feel that in my middle set of hurdles that I ran them as well if not better than in my races where I was running under 13 seconds. Then I sort of lost it again towards the end. I was having trouble with this surface too. With it being so new, it is really responsive. If you put a lot of power in to it, it will give it back to you and I felt as if I was being thrown into the next hurdle. I really noticed it at practice yesterday. I just tried to stay focused and aggressive and get the job done and that I did.

I hit probably half the hurdles in the race in one way or the other, completely taking out about three. My saving grace is that I NEVER hit hurdles with any part of my trail leg (knee, ankle, foot etc). I always hit them with my lead foot or hamstring. It comes with the territory, when I'm trying to step down off the hurdle and get back on the ground, that happens.

There is a reason why when you look at the IAAF Biomechanical Study from our 60m hurdle final at World Indoors this year that I am the hurdler that spends the least amount of time in the air out of the best of the best. I am .32 over the first and .30 for the remaining four hurdles, while other greats like Robles and Trammell are between .02 to .04 slower than me. That isn't a great deal of time and I'm not on their level as far as indoor hurdling, but you've got to start somewhere.

Hey if a few hurdles have to pay the price, then so be it. In one of Allen's fastest races ever, he hit about nine hurdles, but you can't make up any time in the air. When you start hitting hurdles with your trail leg, then you start running in to problems. You lose balance and run a great risk of not finishing the race at all, one thing I know for sure is my trail leg knee stays clean. Now if we take it back a few years, then that wouldn't be the case for sure LOL, got a lot of war wounds on that left knee.
So I come out of the Monaco Diamond League meeting with four more points, a total of 16 for me this season, with two more 110 hurdle competitions in the League to go. I set a goal to be the champion of the Diamond League and I'm inching closer to achieving that goal.

Now I'm heading back home and I'm excited. I can get this dental procedure done so I can get rid of this painful toothache I've been dealing with since Prefontaine and I am in dire need of a haircut!! I hate walking around without a fresh cut.

I appreciate the support you guys give me, I love reading the great comments yall post, even the bad ones that I reject, it all is just fuel to my fire!

Let's Go Get 'Em Again...

2010-07-21T18:33:00.004-04:00

Being a professional track and field athlete, our travels and journeys to exotic and remote places around the globe is definitely a perk that comes with the job. My journeys have now taken me to the south of France. Monaco to be exact.

This competition is a favorite of mine for a few reasons. The weather is always great, the scenery is off the charts and of course, the type of vehicles you see driving around town is like something out of the Robb Report.

This is the fifth time I've had the pleasure of visiting here for competition and I've historically done pretty well at this meet.

They have just finishing putting down a new surface for us to compete on, it's only been down for three days. I haven't heard of anything like this before, but I tell you, it's a definite upgrade from the old track in the looks department.

I've been pretty much chilling since I've been here, took a couple of trips to the track for light workouts. The lead up to an event is generally my favorite part of the track meet, with the pre-meet press conference being the highlight.

Of course all the press wants to ask and talk about is me running the world record. That's fine, at least they're talking to me about something, I remember the days when nobody cared what I had to say lol.

But I tell them like always, I don't try to chase a particular time, I run to get wins but of course I hope that the time is fast as well, but first and foremost, winning is paramount.

People get caught up in times, which basically is what our sport is all about, but I'm a firm believer that what we think is fast now will be common place in my lifetime. Say I go and run 12.86, that will mean the last two world records haven't lasted longer than two seasons. So the likelihood of that lasting isn't very good either.

Take my event, we see running under 13 seconds an all-time great performance. Since the '08 season, myself and Robles have run it a combined 14 times, a little over 30% of all of the sub 13 performances in the history of the event. In two years! So it's already becoming something that we see with regularity. Keep in mind in '09, we both didn't compete outside of a handful of times because we were injured, so imagine the numbers had we have been healthy.

Don't get me wrong, I would love to be the world record holder in the event, but I want to have a performance like Usain Bolt, where it's so impressive that my grand kids will still talk about it. That's where running a time can make you great, but I think winning is the ultimate key to being great.

If you look at Allen Johnson, he never had the world record and never solely owned the American record, yet and still he is considered the greatest hurdler of all time. Why? It's simple, he was a winner.

If you're someone who frequents my blog often, you never see me write about what time I am going to run in a given meet, simply because I have no idea what's going to happen. I can say I'm going to run 12.95, but what if I get to the meet and it's raining and a -1.7 headwind? The likelihood of me reaching that performance is slim. But one thing for sure, I can still give it 100% and get the win.

That's what I am going to strive for tomorrow night out here in Monaco. Give it 100% and try to get four more Diamond League points. One of my goals this year was to be the Diamond League champion and I really want to attain that goal.

Universal Sports will be having a live webcast of the competition tomorrow, they do an awesome job with the coverage, I hope you guys will check it out. I go off at 9:25pm local (3:25pm eastern)

My American Record Race Video

2010-07-18T19:25:00.002-04:00

Paris Diamond League

What You Run Windy, You Can Run Legally...

2010-07-16T20:20:00.006-04:00

I ran a windy 12.89 in the Olympic Trials in '08 and I ran it legally tonight here in Paris.

My coach always says that. The first time I remember him saying that was in '06 when I ran a windy 13.24 and 13.26. He said "Don't worry, you stay the course, you'll run it legal down the road". I finished the season surpassing those times on a few occasions. In '08 I ran windy 13.10 at Florida Relays and only had to wait to weeks before doing it legal. This time, it took two years.

People make a big deal out of wind, but I am a firm believer that in the men's hurdles, for most of us it's not that big of a help. There is a reason why there have only been a handful of windy sub 13 performances and only one guy has run it windy and not done it legally, but he just did it a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, that's going off on a tangent, back to the race LOL.

I knew something special was going to happen when I finished my warm up. When I came across the finish line and saw the time of 12.88, I was super excited. I then thought "I've been pretty good with getting these times rounded down this year, so maybe it'll say 12.87". Instead it was rounded up to 12.89 (+0.5w).

I remember telling a reporter at the US Championships that running 12.90's are great, but we've seen the clock stop at 12.9 about 41 times, but if you can run 80 something, then you're kind of exclusive.

Well, I made it into that exclusive area tonight, only two other people have run 12.8 (Robles 12.87, Liu 12.88) ever.

I am in a great groove right now and I can't really pinpoint what set it off. For those hurdle aficionados, you know that when you are in a groove, whether it's a good one or a bad one, it is hard to get out of it. Whatever groove I'm in, I hope I never come out of it!
Once again, I had an outstanding warm-up. Everything was clicking. Dwight and Joel had it going on as well. They both went out and ran well too, Dwight set a season's best and Joel finished fourth, .01 off his season's best. I always tell people that nobody does it on their own, I'm no exception. I am in the best training environment probably ever seen. You've got 12.89, 13.16, 13.18 and 13.30 guys all training together. If a person who knew nothing about individual hurdlers, came to a hurdle workout and was told to pick out who the best guy is, nine time out of ten they wouldn't pick me. It's just something about when that gun goes off, I have always been hyper competitive and that's something that you can't coach, no matter who you are.

When the gun went off, I felt that I had a great transition phase going in to the first hurdle. Although its not as good as Terrence's or Robles', I have to admit that it is better than it ever has been for me this year.

I was out there chopping a lot of wood (hitting hurdles) today, but I never felt like I was in trouble. The only time in the race where I got scared was when I came off of hurdle six and my hips dropped, causing me to hit the seventh hurdle. I was scared because when something like that happens that late in a race, your momentum seems to carry you down to the ground and more often than not, you see guys come up underneath the next hurdle with their lead legs trying to make up for the mistake. I have done it at practice several times.

I don't have a problem with my hips dropping, I don't know what happened either. I've only seen the race briefly during an interview so I'll have to watch it and see what was going on. I think I need to focus down better on each individual barrier.

To me, there is much more room for improvement in certain areas of my race. The learning process never ends and just because I'm running well now doesn't mean everything is where it needs to be.

I am VERY happy to be winning races. I really want to be the Diamond League champion and be the number one hurdler. I just keep my eyes on the prize, try to do the right things on and off the track and perfect my craft. A lot of fellow athletes don't realize that what we're doing is a finite time frame, it doesn't last forever. I refuse to be a guy that will look back on what could have been, I will do all I can to maximize my talents right now.

I try not to bring up when I was injured, but that gave me an awful lot of time to think about things. I tried my best to always think positively but I really didn't want to be one of those guys who showed promise but lost it all because of injury and couldn't come back. The Monday Brooks came back from World Athletic Final last year was myself and Xavier's first day of practice. You talk about a slow, arduous process! It started with walking laps around a baseball field, then progressed to walking on my toes, to being able to skip.

This went on for six or seven weeks while everybody was off vacationing after having a great season. It was very frustrating, even more so when I couldn't continue these easy workouts because my calf was too weak. I didn't touch a hurdle until eight days before my first indoor race in Glasgow, that's why after winning a medal at World Indoors, I knew I would do something special outdoors as long as I stayed healthy.

I had to come back and come back like I never left. I know how this sport is, they will sweep you under the rug very quick. It wasn't about to be me getting swept away either! Like my sponsor's slogan is "Just Do It", down at ESPN Wide World of Sports with the "Train Gang" we have our own slogan, "Just Do It, Now!"
I am staying out here in Paris for a few more days before rolling down to Monaco. I will go out and do some sightseeing tomorrow, that is if I ever get out of this bed!

I will post the race video as soon as I get some footage.

Paris Diamond League...Let's Go!!!

2010-07-15T17:13:00.004-04:00

After some adventurous travel to get out to Paris, I arrived safe and sound on Tuesday morning. Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world!

I haven't been to this competition since 2007, where I finished 5th place in a time of 13.27, the race was won by Dayron Robles in 13.13. Speaking of Robles, this meet was suppose to be our second match-up of the season. We've both been hitting our stride lately, he's progressed from 13.12 to 13.08 to a present seasons best of 13.01 and my season has been going strong as well.

Unfortunately, he has sustained a hamstring injury similar to the one that knocked him out of the World Championships last season. He's a great competitor and champion and I hope the injury he has sustained is not a season threatening one.

Of course in my press conference I was asked about his absence a couple of times, but the answer is very simple, at the end of the day, I'm only racing those ten barriers and no matter who is in the race, I have to handle my business.

With his absence, it opened up a lane for my friend and training partner Joel Brown. Another one of my training partners, Dwight Thomas was already in the meet, so it's been cool kicking it with the fellas. Brooks is here as well, so training has felt a little back to normal.

Another question that everybody wants to ask is about the world record. This is pretty funny to me, people act like you just wake up in the morning, stretch your arms to the sky and when you finish your morning yawn say "Um, I think I'm going to break the world record today". I tell them, it's the world record for a reason, you don't decide you're just going to run a time that fast, if that was the case, I would have done it several years ago!

I'm super excited and ready for the competition. I don't get nervous for meets, but my crunk level gets off the charts. I just have to bottle it up and conserve some of that nervous energy. Brooks always says the day that I can find a way to do that, I'll run 12.60 LOL.

The meet hotel is steps from the Eiffel Tower and is a very nice spot. I haven't went out and done any type of sightseeing, but I'll be here for a few more days, so I'll get it in on Saturday and Sunday.

I ran tomorrow night at 9pm local time, 3pm eastern. Universal sports will be providing great coverage of the meet as usual. I hope you all tune in, there will be great performances for sure!

The G.O.A.T. Is Calling It A Career...

2010-07-13T11:55:00.003-04:00

Arguably the best 110 meter hurdler has decided to hang up the spikes after 15 plus years in the professional track and field game.

Allen Johnson is a great guy on and off the track and the epitome of a classy individual. We all know of the countless U.S. Championships, World Championship titles and ’96 Olympic Gold, but that wasn’t the Allen Johnson I knew personally.

I only was around for the U.S. Title he won in 2005, I’ve only seen videos on youtube of his Olympic and World title races and only witnessed two of his record 11, sub 13 performances.

The very first time I payed any attention to track and field on an international level was the 2000 Olympic Games. I had just entered college and had no knowledge of who was good in the hurdle event. This was before the youtube era and I honestly didn’t have any desire to look into the sport, although I had received a full scholarship to run track. Going in to college, I couldn’t tell you who the best collegiate track programs were, let alone who any of the good individual athletes were on the professional stage.

While in my dorm room passing between classes, the first round of the hurdles in the 2000 Olympic Games were just starting, so I tuned in. They pumped Allen up, he was the defending champion and had been on a pretty good roll, but the guy that I liked the most was Terrence Trammell. The commentators were making such a big deal out of Terrence making it to the Olympics because he was still in college and he accomplished something that was so major, making the U.S. Olympic Team in the 110 hurdles as a collegian. That’s when I found out that the hurdle event was dominated by Americans and it was viewed as a downright amazing feat that Terrence made it being he was so young. So I figured, I want to do something amazing too and I thought that since he was still in college, I would get to race him in the upcoming season and it would have been cool to meet him.

Fast forward to 2004, up to this point I had never met any elite 110 hurdlers until I met Dominique Arnold during the indoor season of my senior year at a meet at Penn State. He was a really cool guy, we sat down for a minute after the race and talked like we had been friends for a while.

I went to the indoor US Championships that year and Dominique introduced me to Allen Johnson along with several other Olympians at a practice session. By that time, I knew exactly who Allen was along with all the things he accomplished, I was in amazement. When I shook his hand, the first thing I thought to myself was “This guy is a lot smaller than I thought.” You know how in your head you have a vision of how somebody looks or would act and I had a vision in my mind that he was a larger than life giant!

We conversed for a little while by the pole vault pit and then I asked him for his autograph and he told me no. I asked him why not and he said “I think I am going to be seeing a lot of you around”. I had no idea what he meant by that, but it made all the sense in the world to me a few years later because I was seeing him at a whole bunch of meets.

He says he doesn’t remember that, but I do. That’s why it’s important to me to try to interact positively with fans because they remember every last thing! That meeting with Allen may have not been a big deal to him, but it meant the world to me, so I try to remember that when I meet fans because you never know how you may affect them.

The first time I met Terrence was in ’04 at the Olympic Trials in the meet headquarter hotel lobby, it wasn’t much of a meeting, I said “hey man what’s up?” and he looked at me and just kept walking. I thought to myself “damn that sucks”. That was my favorite hurdler at the time, so after that, I didn’t like him that much anymore, but after knowing him for a while now, he’s actually a cool guy to hang with.

It’s funny because I can tell you my very first encounter with every hurdler like Allen, Dominique, Terrence, Larry Wade, Liu Xiang, Robles, Jack Pierce, Roger Kingdom etc.

When I first met Allen, I had absolutely no knowledge of professional track and field. When I went to that US Indoor Championship, I thought everybody that had a Nike or adidas or whatever their affiliation might have been next to their name, trained together like a team. I also thought that they only ran during Olympic years and they had regular jobs the other years. This was my senior year in college, in one year, I was going to be joining their ranks, pretty sad when I think back on it.

But between my conversations with him and Dominique, they cleared up all those misnomers I had. Allen was the one that really instilled in me that I needed to become a student of the event and the sport as a whole, if I was really entertaining the idea of going to the next level. So I did it to some extent, went back and tried to learn things about some of the histories best hurdlers and watch their performances.

In ’04, I returned to my dorm room to go to sleep after a grueling two-a-day football practice, I cut on my TV and the Olympic hurdle heats were going on. I sat and watched. The first thing I saw was Allen fall, I was devastated! I never watched another minute of those Olympic Games. It wasn’t until I had moved to Florida in February of ’05 that I found out a Chinese guy won the gold medal and ran the world record. I was in shock, I had never heard of this guy, so once again youtube came in handy.

I only knew Allen by what I saw on TV as well as the few minuets we actually talked, but when I joined the professional ranks, that’s when I actually could say I knew who Allen Johnson was.

In 2005, the very first big meet I got invited to was the Reebok Grand Prix in New York, that was the first time I lined up in a race with Allen. I think I spent more time watching what he was doing in his warm up than I did warming up myself. After the competition, I got the opportunity to sit down with him and go over race film. His knowledge of what was going on blew me away and I made a mental note that if I wanted to be any good, I had to step my game up not only physically but mentally as well.

In ’06 he got hurt, but came back for Zurich and that’s when I actually got to see the non-hurdling side of Allen, how much of a jokester he is and how he kept everything light. He told me he was hoping to just run 13.30 and he went out and won the meet, destroying a great field out in lane seven. I was next to him in lane eight and he dragged me to a great performance as well. Later on that year at the Berlin Golden League, was the first time I had ever beaten Allen.

In ’07 again in Zurich, we walked the streets and talked about everything. His fall at the Olympics, contract stuff and training as well as non track stuff such as his love of motorcycles and his family, you know he had jokes too.

From that point on, we’ve been good friends. I will hit him up on the Blackberry and see what’s up, he’ll hit me up and congratulate me on my performances. We’ve even spent time on the Blackberry breaking down races on youtube.

When I came back last year off my injury, he was at my first meet back and we sat down in the dining area for hours just catching up and he was telling me about listening to my body more and becoming more in tune with exactly what I’m doing.

I have learned so much valuable information from Allen over the years. He went from a guy I was in awe of and badly wanted his autograph as a collegian, to a person I can call up at the drop of a hat. When he told me he was hanging up the spikes, I couldn’t believe it. I often joked telling him he couldn’t retire until I decided I was going to retire.

His status message on Blackberry is “I rode it ‘til the wheels fell off, literally” and that he did. I can only hope for the same type of longevity in my career. Allen had a great presence on the circuit and he’ll be missed for sure. Now that leaves my training partner and great friend Aubrey Herring as the oldest active American hurdler. He had a profound impact on my career and hopefully by the time I retire, somebody will say the same about me.

2010 USA Championships Race Video

2010-07-05T10:00:00.002-04:00

My race at the USA's, where I ran a then personal best of 12.93 (+1.7w)

12.90...Got the Fireworks Started Early!

2010-07-04T00:23:00.005-04:00

On the eve of the Fourth of July, a holiday known for fireworks, myself and a lot of other athletes got the fireworks started a day early out in Eugene, Oregon.

I am very happy with my performance today at the Nike Prefontaine Classic. I guess that would sound like a bit of an understatement, but even though I ran the American Record and produced the fastest time ever run on American soil, I am always looking for more ways to go faster.

I work my mom's nerves with that too LOL, I enjoy my previous performances for a short period of time and get to talking about ways I messed up in the race. She really dislikes that, but I can't help it. I think that is one thing that makes me a successful athlete, I strive for more and more and more always, no matter what I run.

As I sit in my hotel room and type this, it hasn't set in what I accomplished out at the track today. One thing I know for sure that totally blows me away when I think about it is, of all of the great 110 hurdlers this country has produced, from the Allen Johnson's to the Renaldo Niehimiah's to the Roger Kingdom's, I am the fastest hurdler to ever don the red, white and blue.

What's more remarkable is this is from me, a guy that was the 32 ranked hurdler in America in 2004, no hype out of high school or college and had to grind for every last thing I've gotten from this sport. I feel that I can be a real inspiration to younger athletes, you don't have to be the best coming up, but if you work hard and listen to the people that have your best interest at heart, you can be successful.

To the race itself, I felt very good in my warm up. In these one-off races, I try to warm up so hard so that when I get to the actual race, it feels like my second effort of the day. It is funny when I am in the back in the warm up area because that is where races are won and lost 90% of the time.

I don't remember very much from the race to be honest, but I knew when I was running that I was stepping!

I was far from shocked or surprised when I looked over at the clock and saw 12.90, I was waiting to hear what the wind on it was. I didn't think it was wind aided, but when he said "+1.6, legal wind" it just confirmed it and I was very happy.

I ran 12.89 windy in 2008 at the Olympic Trails and Brooks always says, what you can do windy, you can do legal and I almost did just that.

The most important thing is that I will come away from this meet still healthy and able to continue on my season. I am 100% genuine when I tell people that everytime I come to a meet, it is a celebration to me. The agony of being out nearly three months last year really made me appreciate what it is that I am doing and I have found competition to be much easier in the process.

I don't worry about competing or hoping to run fast etc, I just am happy for the fact that I have the opportunity to race over ten hurdles and show the world what I can do. I realize it is not my birthright to be out at any meet competing.

I absolutely love the crowds in Eugene! They are great. I don't know if people understand that we feed off the energy from the crowd, they fuel most of the performances that happen on the track.

This year's Prefontaine Classic was the best meet I have ever seen outside of an Olympic Games from a times standpoint. From the woman's 100 meters to the men's mile races, everybody was rolling! I was named athlete of the meet and awarded a plaque named in honor of the great Maria Mutola. Given all the great performances that took place today, really means a lot to me.

Now I will be returning home feeling even better than when I left. Won the US title again, ran a couple more sub 13's and will go back to Florida as the American Record holder. There is more left in the tank and a few tweaks I can make as well. I am looking forward to the rest of the season for sure!

**Photos courtesy of Errol Anderson**

The Show Goes On..

2010-07-03T00:59:00.004-04:00

Unlike most sports, in track and field after our Championship event, whether that be USA Champs, World Champs or Olympic Games, the season still goes on.

For me, the train has stopped in Eugene, Oregon for the Nike Prefontaine Classic.

After the National Championships, I flew out to the Nike campus in Beaverton, Oregon and had a great time out there basically resting and recovering.

I got in to Eugene on Thursday and I've been fairly busy since getting in, but I've enjoyed every moment of it.

The high school Nike Team Nationals were held Friday night, so myself and Shelly Ann Fraser were invited guest to judge a talent show between the competing teams. The teams sent in videos and we were on stage judging them "American Idol" style. It was a very good event!

I got today started with a great breakfast at the Pancake House, then had a meeting with Nike footwear, they're putting your boy together some more spikes, ones that won't drop until 2012, they look hot of course.

Friday afternoon I had a press conference to attend along with greats such as Bernard Lagat, Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Jen Suhr and Fraser. I thoroughly enjoy answering questions from the media. One thing that is shocking to me is how people seem to be surprised with the times that I've posted this season. All I do is remind them that my body of work at this point in the season in 2008 was much faster than at this point now. I tell them that I feel I'm just picking up where I left off in '08 and could have done the same thing last year if I was healthy.

That's the one thing I know about the sport and always have, it has a VERY short memory.

After a great practice session, I co-hosted one of my favorite events, Win With Integrity. Susan Hazzard does a great job putting this event on every time. At this event myself, Joanna Hayes, Ian Dobson, Natasha Hastings and Ato Bolden entertained the group of a couple hundred kids.

It's important to me to do my part in giving a little back to the community. Kids look up to us and I think we all have a background that at least one of the kids can relate to and you never know which one of the kids you may touch and inspire.

It's going to be an early start to the day tomorrow, I run at 1:45pm west coast time. It's an adjustment for us because 95% of the time, we don't run until the evening. The good thing is, I just came off of a meet where we ran early, so it won't be too much of a big deal to me.

I haven't competed in Pre since '06 so I'm looking forward to the competition tomorrow. I love the crowds at the meets here in Eugene, they definitely earned the title of "Track Town USA". I have great memories of this facility, the last time I was here was for the Olympic Trials in 2008 and I would have to say that was a great experience for me.

Every year, Nike has a world wide initiative. Last year it was cancer and select athletes wore the "Livestrong" uniforms, Lance Armstrong's brand. This year, we'll be rocking red shoe laces as a Nike (red) AIDS initiative.

So the Sub13 specials are ready to go!

Catch the meet on NBC tomorrow from 4:30-6:00pm eastern time. It's great fields across the board, this should be one of the best meets of the year.

2010 USA Champion! The Champ Is Here!

2010-06-27T21:56:00.008-04:00

Well I came out to Des Moines with one goal in mind and that was to go out and win the Championship.

I did just that, to the tune of 12.93 seconds (1.7w). It's a new personal best for me and moved me a few spots higher on the all time performance list. I am very happy about the performance and if you look at the time in a vacuum it's a hell of an effort.

I'm more happy with the process than anything else. Although I ran 13.25 (-0.1w) in the semis, was probably THE worst race I had run in a very long time. Once again the adjustments that me and Brooks made in between the semi and final along with the cussing out I got for running the prelim yesterday with poor technique was classic athlete/coach adjustment.

He was noticing problems with my lead leg mechanics, so we just focused on doing nothing but work on 36'' hurdles really in between the semi and final. I think my lead leg mechanics is something that is a strong point for me, so I can't afford to be losing that aspect of my race.

I feel it definitely got fixed for the final race. After watching the race, I was pretty satisfied with what I saw. One thing that was not good was the fact that I was hitting the first hurdle in both races today. I don't know why that kept happening, but you better believe we will get it straight for the future races.

I was hoping to be the Visa champion too, Bershawn Jackson ran 47.32 in the 400 hurdles so I had to run 12.97 or better to overtake him. Of course I ran 12.93, which everybody thought was enough, but I guess I had too much tailwind and they took points away, therefore I lost it by one point. It's ok, I'm just going to go to the USA Track and Field offices and get me one of them good ole reimbursement checks, probably call Doug Logan in the process and see if he can't put a little funds in the pot too.

So I came to the Championships and took care of business. Now I will travel to Portland tomorrow in preparations for the Prefontaine Classic out in Eugene, Oregon this upcoming Saturday.

I found the video of the final race on Universal Sports website and the NBC telecast was great, they had my mom on it and she was super crunk! I put the link at the bottom of the page.

RACE VIDEO HERE

First Round Down...Two More To Go!

2010-06-26T22:32:00.003-04:00

I've been having a great time out in Des Moines, interacting with the fans and really just celebrating the fact that I'm at the US Championships. I had a pretty full day yesterday, a great interview with NBC, talked to a group of kids with the Win With Integrity program, an on-air interview with a local radio station, an autograph signing session and of course practice.

My family drove nine hours from Denver to Des Moines and arrived yesterday. An RV full of the clan, you know my number one fan, my mom was excited to be here as always.

Today though, it was time to get to business. I ran the first of three rounds today and it is blazing hot in Des Moines, reminds me of being home in Orlando.

I was in the third of four heats and the gameplan for today was to go out and use as minimal amount of effort as possible to make it to the next round. I also noticed that all day the starter seemed to be holding the runners in the set position longer than usual, so I made it my point to sit in the blocks and not worry about trying to get out. They had to restart the previous heat a couple of times and a runner was thrown out the race for a false start, so I definitely wasn't going to be a dummy and not learn from someone else previous mistake.

The gun went off and I just got in to a very comfortable hurdling rhythm and survived without any mishaps and advanced on to tomorrow's semi final. The race was probably one of the easiest and most relaxed I have ever felt. We are running into some very stiff headwinds, but that's never something I concern myself with. Like I've said before, I prefer it this way as opposed to with a tail wind. I ran 13.58 (-2.1w) and have the fastest time going in to the semis.

Tomorrow at 12:30 central time, I will go off in one of two semi final heats, looking for a spot in the final. If all goes well, I'll be in the final looking for a shot at regaining the crown of national champion.

The semi final will air on ESPN from 1-2:30pm eastern and the final will be televised on NBC from 3-4pm eastern. Tune in!

Check out the race from the preliminary heat here:
CLICK HERE FOR RACE VIDEO

2010 US Championships On Deck!

2010-06-23T12:03:00.002-04:00

This is a competition that I have been looking forward to for quite a while. Many people have asked me why would I be looking forward to running at the US Championships in a year when it's no Olympic or World Championship team to make. The answer is always very easy to for me to answer and it's actually quite simple, I want to be the champion of THE best 110 hurdling country in the world, regardless of what the calendar year is.

I've been the US champion in the biggest of all years, the 2008 Olympic Trials as well as indoor that season with qualification for World Championships on the line. I didn't get the chance to defend my title last year as I was down with a well documented calf injury, so I am going to try to get my title back. I'm just as ready this year as I was in 2008. I'm feeling good, clearly my races leading up to this point have gone well, practice has been going great and more important than anything, I am 100% healthy.

A lot of athletes are choosing to skip out this year due to the perceived "off year" status. I don't subscribe to the "off year" notion at all. I'm a professional athlete, this is my job, so I feel that as long as I'm healthy, I should be celebrating every opportunity I get to compete. This job has afforded myself a great living and the ability to do what I love to do. If athletes are suffering through injuries or setbacks then by all means, sit this one out.

As track and field athletes, we often gripe about the coverage of our sport, so this is an opportunity to get a little TV time on some major networks, so you know I'm all over being in attendance for that!

I'm heading out on Thursday, going up to Des Moines, Iowa. I've never been to the state of Iowa, so it will be a first for me. My family is coming out to the Championship of course, I can't wait to get it going!

Check It Out On TV:
ESPN- June 25 8:00-10:00 pm eastern
ESPN- June 26 1:00-2:30 pm eastern
NBC - June 26 3:00-4:00 pm eastern
ESPN- June 27 1:00-2:30 pm eastern
NBC - June 27 3:00-4:00 pm eastern

Own Your Performance!...

2010-06-09T19:11:00.005-04:00

That's the slogan of my newly acquired supplement sponsor Rival-US, a sports nutrition company based out of Canada, formed by Dr. Darren Burke. Dr. Burke is a well respected scientist that has had many papers and research distributed world wide.

I have been with the company for a little over a month and it has been beneficial on both ends. Rival-Us has been in existence for a while now, but now they are entering in to the market in the United States. Several athletes over a variety of sports ranging from ice hockey to cycling. I'm happy to be apart of the team.

It is funny how the deal actually came actually came about. A former training partner of mine, Adrienne Power, a Canadian sprinter, contacted me out of the blue asking if I would be interested in a supplement deal. Of course I said yes.

As a professional athlete, I spend a lot of money on supplements, probably upwards of $2,000 a year, so securing a supplement sponsor has always been something I was interested in, I just didn't know the avenue in which to get that accomplished. It's funny how things work out. The compensation package they worked out for me was a big plus as well.

Dr. Burke and I emailed back and forth for a few days, he sent out some product to see if it was something I could see myself using. There are two very important things that this company possesses that other supplement companies I've used can't compare. One is the fact that I am always able to contact Dr. Burke directly at any time. If I have any issues or questions about a product, he's always a phone call or email away. The most important and critical, value added element Rival-Us brings to the table is the fact that every last batch of every last product is clinically tested and cetified not to contain any banned substances per World Anti Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee standards.

As an athlete that is tested very frequently (I've provided about 11 urine samples and three blood samples in 2010), it is imperative that I keep a clean record and with the other products I have been taking thoughout my career, I could have been playing with fire. I don't know what's really in this stuff I was taking. For every drug test I take, I'm always nervous, not knowing if maybe something I took could mix with something else and cause and adverse finding in my sample, I just never knew. I know I wasn't doing anything illegal, but I didn't want to be one of those athletes you hear about testing positive and they say they didn't know how, because 100% of the time I hear somebody say that, I think they're lying.

I work very hard and if that happened, that would not only be devastating, but very embarrassing, not only to me but my family. I think embarrassing my family is one of the worst things I could possibly do. I'm not the only one that's going to have to answer "What happened to David?". My mom and grandma champion me at church so much, how is that going to look when they have to answer questions about me being a dirty athlete? Then it will give all the naysayers and pundit's who think I am on some performance enhancement anyway (trust me, I've heard that, I just take it as a compliment) the "I knew it!" they are waiting for.

Now enters Dr. Burke and Rival-Us. I've taken three doping tests since I've been on their products and I don't even think about the test once the USADA sample collectors walk out of my front door.

It's amazing how Dr. Burke is revolutionizing the supplement game. Any time you order a product, you can look on the bottle for the lot number, go to the website and look up the "Certificate of Conformance" where it has been guaranteed certified by the SAEF. You talk about having a piece of mind now!

The products work great and I'm hoping this is a partnership that will continue throughout the course of the remainder of my career. Hopefully you'll see me soon in some advertisements for the products, you all know how I love being in stuff LOL.

This is a picture they desgined to commemorate my performance and they used it for an update on the website, check RIVAL-US out!

Track and Field News Interview

2010-06-07T21:51:00.003-04:00

Out at the Sacramento Relays, I had a chance to sit down with Jon Hendershott, a reporter for Track and Field News, one of my favorite websites to visit.

Here's the link:

Track and Field News Interview Click Here

I told Jon I need to do something to get the cover of the magazine! I guess if I can accomplish this mission of 12.85 that might be enough LOL.

Happy Retirement To A Great Man

2010-06-02T16:02:00.006-04:00

The man who gave me my shot at running Division I track and field at Howard University has announced his retirement from coaching.

I still vividly remember the first time I held a conversation with Coach Merritt. It was the week before the state regional championships and he called my house. I was pretty excited because I had sent Howard no less than four letters and never got a single response back. I figured they must have been good and really didn't need me.

Unbeknown to me, they didn't have a coach in place and they weren't good at all! At the conference meet spring of 2000, they only scored one point! so the first thing Merritt did when he was hired and read the letters was call me up. He flew out to the regional championship where I won the 110 hurdles in 14.14 as well as the 300 hurdles in 38.52 and anchored the 4x4 to a second place finish.

That 4x4 was pretty embarrassing because it was my first time running the event and my team was winning until I got walked down with 150 meters to go by the guy I beat in the 300 hurdles. I split about 51, that was the first time I had ever run around the track completely.

Me getting walked down at regionals

I was still named MVP of the region, it was also the day of my senior prom and Coach Merritt offered me a full scholarship right then and there. At that point, it was the happiest moment in my life.

I am still shocked that Howard was the only school to offer me a full scholarship. I ran 13.25 and 38.84 at the state meet a week later, then University of Colorado and Colorado State upped their offers from 50% to full, but it was too late. These college coaches better do some homework! Considering I was in Denver where we had probably two meets where it wasn't snowing or cold, I think the other 14.1s and 38 mids I was running were pretty good times.

Going out to Washington D.C. was a great experience. Coach Merritt was a cool, reserved kind of guy, but he also didn't play. I learned that the hard way my sophomore year when I called myself knowing the ropes or whatever. I decided I was going to attend practice when I wanted to, more often than not, I was hanging out on the Yard chilling. So he kicked me and my good friend Lance off the team altogether. He called our parents as well. I was shocked and completely embarrassed because I'm 19 years old and my coach is calling my mom. It was the first time I had any disciplinary problems

The only reason I ended up back on the team was Coach Merritt had a phone conversation with the coach from the University of Maryland and he convinced my coach to give us another chance. That ended up being the best thing that happened to me in my collegiate career. I ended up being suspended for some meets to start my sophomore season and I had to start training with his group which consisted of the long sprinters and mid-distance guys. That helped me in getting stronger with my hurdle race and my relay splits started getting faster as well. It was a great boost in helping me attain the four outdoor conference titles I won. I guess you can say that I have always been able to finish a hurdle race strong.

MEAC Champs my freshman year

He always had my best interest in mind as well. When it came time for me to leave school and prepare for the professional side of track and field, he explicitly told me "If you want to make it happen, you have to leave here. You've exhausted everything I can offer you as a coach." He was a very self aware individual and didn't have the vision of living in the potential reflective glory I could have provided if I became successful. You see it often with these other coaches.

The runners that came to Howard from 2001 to present also have to champion Coach Merritt's efforts. I remember as a freshman, I qualified to attend the USA Junior Championships that were being hosted in Richmond, VA in 2001, it was like a two hour drive from D.C. The school wouldn't allow me to go because it wasn't an NCAA sanction event so we had to fight with compliance and eventually they started allowing us to attend meets like USA indoor and outdoor championships, Olympic Trials, USA Juniors etc. I guess they never had people qualify for those type of events so they had no experience with the process, so I couldn't fully fault the compliance department.

What really upset me about the whole thing was during my freshman year, I was running down in the 14.1-14.2 range consistently all season long and ran windy 13.9 twice. 14.38 and 14.50 ended up making the Junior Pan Am team. Not to say that I would have made the team because in the hurdles, you never know, but I do feel that I had a legitimate shot to make it on the team that represented the U.S. down in Argentina that year.

They say things happen for a reason, at least in future years, it was never a problem. Several athletes after me have been able to attend such big meets and display their talents. We all have Coach Merritt to thank for that. It was important for me because we didn't have the biggest budget in the world, so I rarely had great competition to race against, so outside of the NCAA championships and USA championships, I was generally winning races by half a second on average. That's a main reason I am a proponent of the NCAA regional system (not the one they have now, but the old system).

Howard spring sports MVP banquet '04

The ten years that Michael Merritt spent at Howard University had a lot of ups and downs, but the ups far exceeded the downs, we went from a program that was scoring one point at conference to always finishing in the top half at the Championships during my time there. I don't keep up too much with what's going on up there any more, but I'm sure they aren't scoring just one point anymore!

The University just lost a good man today. I am forever grateful for Coach Merritt, you'll be missed!

I was going through my old photo albums getting pictures for this post and came across this from the Track and Field News, April 2004 edition, whoever Dwight A. Love is, he definitely had a hell of a foresight!

California Invitational Relays

2010-05-29T23:48:00.007-04:00

My week in Sacramento has come to an end.

I had a good time out here, starting with a few media ops earlier in the week as well as getting together with Sacramento High School track team and doing some light training with their hurdler, Tori Mason, before competing at the State meet. She ended up finishing fifth in the 100m hurdles and this is her first year competing in the event. She is a real talent.

The weather had been so off and on while I was out here, but on competition day, it was a very beautiful California spring day. Temperature was in the high 70s/low 80s and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, unfortunately for us runners, the winds were blowing in our faces at a strong clip.

I wasn't going to concern myself with what the wind was doing, I went and approached this race the same way I always do. Objective number one is always to win. I knew that running a fast time such as 13.0 was pretty impossible given the conditions, but winning is never impossible. This is why I am never in the business of chasing a time because depending on the conditions, you will be severely disappointed with what comes up on that scoreboard.

We had a pretty good field out there, Dexter Faulk and Aires Merritt, both of whom were ranked in the top 10 in the World in '09 as well, were in the race as well as former UCLA All-American Kevin Craddock.

I was crunk because when I check in, my bib number was 303, the area code for Denver, so I was reppin'! Those of you whole really know me, knows it doesn't take too much to get me fired up!

The gun went off and I ended up winning the race in 13.52 into a -3.6 headwind. Faulk was second and Craddock third, running 13.89 and 13.98.

That was the toughest race that I can remember running. The effort I had to put into that race is probably the equivalent to a race when I run 13.1. There is no such thing as coasting in a hurdle race, no matter how far in front of the competition you are because whether it is a -3.6 or +3.6 wind, the hurdle distance still stays the same. If you relent for a split second or lose focus, you may be watching the rest of the race from your back and up under a hurdle after you fall.

Personally, I'd rather run into a 3.6 than have it turned around and be a tail wind of 3.6. It is much more difficult for me in a race with that much tail wind. I feel that at the Olympic Trails when I ran 12.89 with a 3.2 tailwind, that was the most impressive race that I've run in my career. Given the fact that I was being pushed so close up on the hurdles, if I would have made the slightest mistake, I may not have finished that race. Being a bigger hurdler, I had to be so quick and technically sound and could not have afforded floating a hurdle or sliding my clip step in. Given that wind, 13.2 guys were still running 13.2 and 13.3 guys were still running 13.3 in that race.

If you look at my 13.52 performance in a vacuum, it's not very impressive, but given all the circumstances, I could not be disappointed with what came up on the results. After watching the race video, I am even more impressed with how I kept my technique tight because when we are running into headwinds, more often than not, people are getting splayed out over the hurdles and all wide because we have to work so much harder than normal.

After the race, I got to see my step brother Tre (Harold's son), who lives out in Sacramento, he just finished up college out in Philly, so I finally got to congratulate him on that. I hung out in the stands and took pictures, signed autographs and did interviews for TV and Track and Field News.

I would like to personally thank Greg Miller for all of his hospitality while I was out here, he took very good care of me and made sure that anything I needed, I had. I really had fun out here and I can't wait to be in attendance next season!

CHECK RACE VIDEO HERE:

California Invitational Relays Race Video

Changed Over to the Dark Side...

2010-05-26T23:43:00.002-04:00

I thought that I would never make the switch from a PC to a Mac, but as I type this post up, I am writing it on my new MacBook Pro.

Due to the issues I was running in to with my faithful Toshiba computer over in Asia this past trip, I figured it was time for a change.

My boy Kenta Bell and I are posted up in Sacramento in preparations for the California Relays this weekend, so the first stop I made was to the local Best Buy to check out computers. The first question I asked the guy was "what is the best computer you guys carry that is 13 inches or under?" His instant response was "MacBook Pro". To me, his response was too quick, so I went and asked another associate working in the camera area and she said the same thing. So I went back and engaged in about a half hour conversation with the first guy because I had tons of questions. I figured if I was going to make a switch this drastic (lol), I needed to be pretty thorough with this information. After conversing with him, I was convinced this was the right move.

To my pleasant surprise, the adjustment to this machine wasn't as difficult as I initially thought and I am loving the fact that the time it takes this computer to turn on in about 30 seconds, not all that loading up time with a PC. I'm loving how the computer works like an Ipod touch as well, you can operate everything from the trackpad.

I can't wait to figure out the ins and outs of the MacBook as well as other nuances of the computer. I'm happy now with my decision, I hope it stays that way. Now I have to cross my fingers for my slingbox action to be set up properly when I get home, if that doesn't work, this thing is going right back to the store!

Shanghai Diamond League Race Video

2010-05-24T19:28:00.003-04:00

1 David Oliver USA 12.99 WL, MR
2 Dongpeng Shi CHN 13.39
3 Xiang Liu CHN 13.40
4 Wenjun Xie CHN 13.58
5 Allen Johnson USA 13.65
6 Dwight Thomas JAM 13.75
7 Jing Yin CHN 13.95
8 Mike van Kruchten NED 14.01

- Ryan Brathwaite BAR DNF

Sub 13 Action Again!

2010-05-24T17:44:00.004-04:00

Shanghai, China, 9:40PM, I added my name in the books as the 42nd sub 13 performance in the history of the 110 hurdle event. Only 12 individuals have accounted for all of those performances and I've personally added my name three times.

I stopped the clock in 12.99 (-0.4w), winning the first Diamond League race for the 110 hurdles this season. In the process I broke the stadium record of 13.01 set by Dayron Robles back in 2007.

So far in my last three races, I have run seasons bests as well as broken the stadium records, all of which got exponentially harder to do. 13.34 in Puerto Rico, 13.14 in Korea and 13.01 in Shanghai.

The conditions at the meet weren't ideal, but I come from a school of thought that it doesn't matter how you feel, when your name is called, you have to perform.

Stepping out on that track Sunday night was amazing. Having Liu back in action in his hometown and hearing the crowd reaction to that as well as the introductions had me super crunk! The energy was crazy! I don't think people understand that we feed off that energy from the crowd and it fuels our performances. Maybe it doesn't for everybody, but I definitely feel it and that's why I think that meets like Shanghai, Zurich and New York in the sprints and Eugene and Brussels in the distance events generally produce great times. The crowds are ALL the way into the events.

When it came to the race though, once the crowd settled down, it was time to focus up. The gun went off and I got a better start than I had the other day in Korea and I felt like I had the race won by the time we got to hurdle three. I had a great warm up and I was able to carry that over to the race, sometimes you'll see people leave the race right over at the warm up stadium.

I felt like I faltered a bit coming off the tenth hurdle, like I rushed it trying to hurry to the finish line. I collapsed and was digging to the finish instead of driving thru the tape. As soon as i crossed I took a peak at the clock and it read 13.01 and my first thought was "Damn!" Being so close to sub 13 and equaling the record was good, but being so close was a quick disappointment.

That quickly changed by the time I received the flowers and looked at the main scoreboard and it read 1 David Oliver USA 12.99 -0.4 and I thought "Yes!!" To me it is light years between being one of many 13.0's to being one of so few 12.9's even if the difference may be only 12.99 to 13.01.

Chinese hurdlers Shi Dongpeng and Liu Xiang rounded out the podium, running 13.39 and 13.40 respectively. It was good seeing Liu back out there and competing well after a set back from injury. I have no doubt in my mind that whenever the next time I see him at a race, he will be ready to roll to something in the 13.1 range at least.

This morning in China, this picture was on the cover of every newspaper I saw. Even on the newspapers they have on plane had the picture gracing the cover, it definitely made for an interesting flight.
After a great Asian swing, I have now headed out to Sacramento for the California Relays that will be held this upcoming weekend.

Shanghai Diamond League

2010-05-23T10:45:00.004-04:00

The first stop for the 110 hurdles in the newly formed IAAF Diamond League takes us to Shanghai, China. I am pretty interested in how this first season will turn out, some positives I can see already is that this "League" is more inclusive of all the events and gives minor events a chance to shine and participate in competitions. They have an equal opportunity to make money just as some of your more marquee events.

I'm not sure how many of these Diamond League races I will be in, the next stop is in Rome June 10th and I'm 90% sure I won't compete there.
I enjoy being out here in Shanghai, even though I can not access the websites that I like to go on out here, the people here take such good care of you that you can overlook those minor speed bumps.

Allen Johnson and myself came in on the same flight from Korea and it was a mad house at the airport. The 110 hurdles is by far the most popular event in China for obvious reasons. I was joking that since at World Indoor Championships I was in the lane next to Liu Xiang, I was in several photos with him, so that made my celebrity in China go through the roof! But the fans here knew who I was long before that race in March. I was shocked at my first time in Shanghai in 2006, shooting a commercial for Nike with Liu, that they knew who I was. That was just my second season as a pro and I hadn't really accomplished very much at the time.

Back in 2008, my first year actually competing at this event, I was able to get the win, capping an outstanding season. Now in 2010, since this is my third major outing of the season, I am hoping this race will be the spring board, catapulting me to having a better season than the one I experienced in 2008.

When I first got out here, my first stop was the custom tailor boutique in the hotel lobby. I got myself four suits and eight button downs tailor made. I love the quality and exact fit of their products. In the States it takes a five week turnaround, but here, three days tops!

I also had a press conference with fellow hurdler Ryan Brathwaite, javelin champion Andreas Thorkildson, pole vault champion Steven Hooker, 100 meter champion Shelly Ann Fraser and the second fastest woman ever in the 100 meters, Carmelita Jeter. I think I lost 1,000 calories with all of the laughing we were doing in there. I had a great time.

I have been taught the Chinese phrase: who ma I, tau way which means: We love David Oliver. The locals have made me gifts as well.

For the race tonight, it of course will be a tough battle like always. I will face former world record holder and Olympic champion Liu Xiang, World champion Ryan Brathwaite, World Championship finalists Dwight Thomas of Jamiaca, Shi Dongpeng and Wei Ji both of China and the immortal Allen Johnson.

In the hurdle event, you rarely get the proverbial "day off" where you can just have a nice, relaxing race without putting out maximum effort to get the job done. This is why I take time off from racing after a tough stretch, I have to find time to re-charge my batteries. I learned that I will either take rest voluntarily or my body will make me take a break involuntarily. Staying healthy is the most important thing for me to do. I feel that when I am healthy I have the ability to contend for the win in every single race I step on the line for.

You can catch the meet on universalsports.com starting at 8am eastern time. I run at 9:40, check it out! Hope to have something good to talk about next time I update!!

Colorful Daegu Post-Meet...Finally

2010-05-20T22:23:00.006-04:00

Due to my computer being on the fritz Wednesday night after the meet, I couldn't update the blog with the post race review, now that I am in China, I am encountering issues due to the inability to access various websites including my blog, I'm sure it's probably because of government restrictions.

Now I have taken the circuitous route in updating the blog, thanks to the services of the Sub 13 Enterprises technical director McLean Cromer.

Wednesday night was a good night on the track for me, as I won the competition, defeating a pretty good field and ran a new world leading time of 13.11 (-0.2w). That time was also good enough to better Liu Xiang's previous meet record of 13.14 set in 2006. Any time you can take his name down off of a meet record, things are looking good.

Although the race was good from the standpoint of getting the win and running a decent time, it left a few things to be desired. I came out of the blocks squatting and not with my hips up, that in turn threw my first two to three hurdles off. That is a mistake that I make from time to time and I have really been trying to get that corrected, but I'll just spend a bit more time being conscious of it when I'm at practice.

On the flip side, I was impressed with my ability to break up the race and accelerated at the predetermined gear change zones. My last half was good. I never pressed during the competition either, which is easy to do when you know the caliber of the guys you are running against. It is very important to have supreme confidence in what you are doing and always feel that if you do your "stuff" the way you've been trained to, you'll always be in a position to have a shot at winning.

My training partner Dwight Thomas found himself on the podium again, finishing a strong third. That epitomizes what the basics of having a training partner is. When you come to a meet, the two of you should always finish on the podium baring something disastrous. So far at the three meets we have been at, we've finished 1-2, twice and 1-3 the third time. It's hard to finish 1-2 when you've got the world record holder and Olympic champ sandwiched between you, but I'm sure Brooks will be fine with the performances.

110m Hurdles Final
19 May 2010 20:25 Wind : -0.2m/s

RANK NAME NAT RESULT

1 David OLIVER USA 13.11 CR

2 Dayron ROBLES CUB 13.26

3 Dwight THOMAS JAM 13.40

4 David PAYNE USA 13.52
5 Ryan BRATHWAITE BAR 13.67

5 Tae-Kyoung PARK KOR 13.67

7 Allen JOHNSON USA 13.81

8 Hyeon-Woo LEE KOR 14.38

I have now traveled to Shanghai, China for a race this upcoming Sunday. I will shoot an update before the meet if I can!

Colorful Daegu Pre Championships Meet

2010-05-18T22:58:00.004-04:00

It was a very long 26 plus hours worth of traveling that took me from Orlando, Florida at 6am Sunday to San Fransisco to Seoul, Korea and finally arriving at my hotel in Daegu, Korea at 9:30pm Monday evening.

I am competing tonight out here at the site that will host our World Championships in 2011. It hasn't been the most pleasant of weather out here, as it has been overcast and raining non stop since I got here.

Mr. Sandman has been on me so tough since I arrived. I think I might have been up for all of eight hours on Tuesday, I slept that entire day away. When you think about it, all of our sleep patterns are off a bit. Saturday night, didn't sleep because with flights leaving at 6am, you had to be up and moving my about 3am and Sunday, whatever sleep you caught on the plane was what you got for that night.

The hurdle race out here is going to be super hot!

Dayron Robles, Cuba- World Record holder, Olympic and World Indoor Champion will be opening his season.

Ryan Brathwaite, Barbados- 2009 World Champion from Berlin

Allen Johnson, USA- Arguably the greatest 110 hurdler of all time

David Payne, USA- 2008 Olympic silver medalist,

Dwight Thomas, Jamaica- Duel threat, 4x1 relay medalist and has run 13.16

and of course:

YA BOY!!
No one is going to have the rest overlay on anyone else in the race honestly. We all were on the same flight to Daegu, so whoever travels the best and maximized their recovery will do well.

I don't have a particular time goal in mind, I'm going out to get the win straight up. Although we aren't all as fit as we will be in the next coming months, this will still be one of the best fields assembled this season hands down. Terrence Trammel was suppose to run, if that happened, you would have had every global medalist from the last three majors ('08. '09, '10) in the field.

Hit yall with an update after the competition.

Photo's From Ponce Meet

2010-05-12T18:32:00.007-04:00

I figured I would update a few pics from this past weekend in Puerto Rico.

Press conference action

Jeremy Wariner and I with a local fan, they really showed us a lot of love!

Last hurdle of the race action
Me and Dwight shutting down the engines

Feeling pretty good about the performance
The Central Florida Posse...100m hurdlers Damu Cherry and Kellie Wells, they look really small and I don't even have on my shoes LOL

Ponce Post Race

2010-05-09T12:04:00.003-04:00

I set my sights on breaking the track record although I didn't know what it was. Turns out the record was 13.35, set last season by my good friend David Payne. Last night though, I obliterated that record by running 13.12 (0.0w)

It was a very humid night out there, compounded by the fact that it decided it wanted to start raining. The air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife! You would never assume I trained in Florida, but this was something very different. While warming up, I had to take several breaks and time outs, I didn't know what was going on. You could wring the sweat out of my clothing! Now that I'm back home, I am afraid to even open that plastic bag I put those clothes in. I might not pass go or collect $200 dollars and go right to the incinerator and break out a new competition wardrobe!

I had a great warm-up and I knew I was ready. The time I posted is a very good time for me seeing that this was my third meet. In past years, I've had my third meet on the board by the first weekend in April. So things are progressing about how they should. Right now, I have the top four fastest times in the World.

Brooks was happy with the performance, my training partner Dwight Thomas got second in 13.41. I was slightly disappointed because toward the end of the race I made two technical mistakes that cost me time, one over the seventh hurdle and one over nine. The hurdles were coming up very fast and at this stage, I don't have the race callousness the be in total control, but that will come with more races.

I'm happy that I came out of the meet unscathed and healthy so I can work on what I need to get done this week at practice. It was great getting a chance to chill and converse with David Payne and Ryan Wilson, a guy I hadn't seen since September 2008.

OFFICIAL RESULT

Event 122  Men 110 Meter Hurdles
=====================================================================
     WORLD: @ 12.87  6/12/2008   Dayron Robles, Ostrava          
  Ponce GP: % 13.35  5/16/2009   David Payne, UNITED STATES      
  National: * 13.61  7/5/2008    HECTOR COTTO, CALI,COLOMBIA     
  Name                     Finals  Wind
========================================================
Finals                                                             
1 David Oliver             13.12% +0.0
2 Dwight Thomas            13.41  +0.0
3 David Payne              13.42  +0.0
4 Ryan Wilson              13.57  +0.0
5 Hector Cotto             13.88  +0.0
6 Andres Amador            14.23  +0.0
7 Favio Vaz Dos Santos     14.64  +0.0
8 Adalberto Amador         15.27  +0.0

Keeping With The Theme...

2010-05-08T12:20:00.002-04:00

Keeping with the theme of changing up the color way on the blog to match the current year's Nike competition uniforms, I have made the update for this year.

This year we've got purple, an electric yellow and black. Interesting I must say, but it's cool, whatever floats their boat up there in Beaverton, Oregon.

Ponce Grand Prix Preview

2010-05-08T11:45:00.003-04:00

Tonight, I am making my first appearance in a competition here in Ponce, Puerto Rico. I have never been down here before, whether it was for business or pleasure, and I have been thoroughly enjoying my time down here. Most of the training group has come down to the competition, Brooks, Xavier, Dwight Thomas, Moushami Robinson and myself all made the trip. It's fun when you have a lot of your training partners and coach at the competition.

I've been here since early Thursday, haven't done very much actually. Had a great training session Thursday, I've been enjoying the local cuisine also. I had a press conference yesterday with local hero, 400 hurdler Javier Culson and 400 meter runner Jeremy Wariner along with the local meet organizers.

You know I have ADHD, so I have a hard time paying constant attention in these press conferences especially when they aren't speaking English! Thank god for the blackberry lol...

After the presser, a group of us hit the mall, it didn't have very much to offer, but you know I was able to find something to swipe my card for. Then we hit the beach, it is very lovely out here, I definitely will find my way back down here for some leisure time for sure.

I don't run until around 10pm tonight. Pretty late I must say, so I will find a way to take a little nap this afternoon for sure. It should be a good race, David Payne is running as well as Dwight and Dexter Faulk. Training has been going great lately, I don't have a time goal in mind, but whatever the meet record is, I have set my goal to destroy it. I guess I better find out what it is because if it's something like 13 flat, I don't know about destroying that LOL.

Happy Golden Birthday!

2010-05-05T18:45:00.002-04:00

Today, my adorable nephew Khamari turned 5 years old! His birthday is 05/05/05, so it's his golden birthday. Man how time is flying. I miss him and my family a lot, being around maybe seven days out of the year is tough, especially times like birthdays and Mothers Day. They will have a big party for him this weekend probably over at Gramma Joyce's house, them kids will be tearing something up for sure!

Happy Birthday Mari!!

Justice Served

2010-04-29T22:52:00.002-04:00

After a long and arduous process, the two individuals who murdered my friend Bilal Russel last year in Arizona were found guilty on all charges. Those charges included burglary, attempted robbery and first degree murder.

About the time when the trial was beginning, I had finally gathered the courage to contact his mother and pledged my support as well as send my regrets and condolences. I have a hard time wrapping my head around why people put themselves in positions to find themselves behind bars.

People need to wake up. I'm glad the justice system did their job and although nothing will bring him back to his family, the perpetrators got what they deserve.

April is a joyous month for me, outdoor season's popping off, my birthday etc, but it's also filled with a lot a heartache.

Gone But Never Forgotten....

2010-04-14T20:22:00.002-04:00

My first personal experience with a close friend/relative passing away happened nine years ago today. Although many things in life have changed and I've matured, I will never forget what I was doing or where I was at when my mom delivered me the news. I was in a very celebratory mood, just finished running my first time under 14 seconds as a freshman at Howard.

I always say that life is a roller coaster, you've got to just hold on and ride the ups and downs, well this day went from the pinnacle and spiraled into the pits faster than it took me to start and finish the race that day.

I do not know the exact day he passed, but I remember this date because it was Saturday, Easter Sunday eve in 2001 and I was in the basement at my mothers house really trying to understand what the real meaning of life was and trying to understand why God would want a family such as the Cobb's, who are great, god-fearing individuals to have to grieve the loss of a child. I came to the conclusion that those are answers no one will ever know and it's best to just live your life to the fullest because you never really know.

I have an 8x10 photo of him along with a Christmas card his mom and dad gave to me in a picture frame prominently displayed in my room, so never a day goes by that he doesn't cross my mind. Rest in peace Andrew Charles Cobb II...god's angel

Photo of Mr and Mrs Cobb and myself

Opener @ Florida Relays

2010-04-03T21:19:00.002-04:00

This year, just like every other year I've been living in Florida, I went up to Gainesville for the Florida Relays.

This is one of my favorite meets, mainly because I'm so popular there lol. From the judges and referees to the high school and collegiate athletes. Even in this day and age of the internet and almost every race being on youtube, it's still funny to me the conversations I have with some of these high school kids about hurdling. They know all the results and they watch every race, they even give me grief about how I need to work on my start more. It's hilarious to me.

I ran the open 110 hurdle race on Friday. I produced a time of 13.32 (0.4 wind), which is actually the slowest time I had every run at this meet. I won the race though for the fifth year in a row. Generally coming into this race, I've had a couple of runs at Disney or last year I had opened up in Austrailia.

As far as opening times, 13.32 is about on par with what I normal drop. In '07 I ran a 13.26, '08 13.48, '09 13.29.

The last three hurdles seemed like they were set at 45'' I tell you, it feels like this every year. I don't know what it is about that first time competitively over ten hurdles that's so difficult.

RACE VIDEO

Saturday, I popped off the opening leg of the shuttle hurdle relay. None of my other training partners ran, so I was picked up by a team that trains across town with Dennis Mitchell. Of course we ended up winning the race in fashion! It felt great to go out and get another run over ten in. It doesn't take me too long to get into my race rhythm, so by the time I get ready to run the finals out at North Carolina A&T in a couple of weeks, I will be ready for sure.

I'll post up some pics as soon as Eric Mitchum forwards the ones he took to me.

Nike Spike Action

2010-03-30T17:26:00.003-04:00

I love wearing NIKE's and hopefully it'll be the only shoe sponsor I have during my career. I got some love with these fresh pair of personalized spikes, I was super crunk when I was opening up the boxes! We got "Oliver" on the left spike and "Sub13" on the right, pretty cool. I'll break out a pair in my outdoor season opener at Florida Relays this weekend in Gainesville. I'll have an update on that later on this week.

Enjoyed My Downtime!

2010-03-23T20:01:00.006-04:00

I am coming off a much needed one week break, fully away from the sport of track and field! I thoroughly enjoy the chances I get to get away from the sport. Everyone needs a break, no matter what your profession is.

While I was over in Doha competing, one of my good friends Lance Gross had a movie come out titled Our Family Wedding (how appropriate a title, seeing he'll be in this exact position in real life in a few months!). I couldn't wait to go and check it out and it was well worth the few dollars I dropped on tickets. I haven't laughed that hard in a movie in who knows how long. Although I was interrupted by USADA while trying to enjoy the movie, had me rushing home from the theater to take a blood test, I finished watching it later on.

I am happy for him and the successes he's seeing in his career, it's funny when I think back to our days up in Drew Hall at Howard, now we can all tell our mothers "mama I made it!!", but then again, our University breeds successful people across all fields, so it's not really a shock, but I'm glad that I am able to put my name up there on that list as well as someone I'm close with personally.

Everybody should go and support my boy and get your laugh on!

I had a cool little feature in the April issue of Essence Magazine too, you know I'm in to being in stuff, so I was happy LOL. I been catching a little flack from my training partners and friends, but that comes with the territory, I'll take it, I got broad shoulders

My off time climaxed when I went to check out three of my all time favorite artists, Jay-Z, Young Jeezy and Trey Songz during a stop on the Blueprint Three Tour! I was super crunk, I copped tickets in December I think. They shut it down! I love going to Jigga concerts, I've been to four I believe and I'm on my feet the entire time, leaving the venue horse too from shouting lyrics all night!

Now my off time is over and my first few practices back have been killer, but it's cool, gotta get ready to drop these bombs during the outdoor season!!

Video: World Champs 2010 60m Hurdles Final

2010-03-16T08:46:00.002-04:00

OFFICIAL RESULTS

1 Dayron ROBLES CUB 7.34 CR
2 Terrence TRAMMELL USA 7.36 NR
3 David OLIVER USA 7.44 PB
4 Evgeniy BORISOV RUS 7.51 SB
5 Petr SVOBODA CZE 7.58
6 Maurice WIGNALL JAM 7.60 SB
7 Xiang LIU CHN 7.65 SB
8 Dániel KISS HUN 7.81

Bronze Medal, Personal Best, All In A Day's Work!

2010-03-14T18:26:00.006-04:00

I went out in the final of the World Indoor Championships and ran 60 meters worth of hurdles faster than I had ever run before! I stopped the clock at 7.44, good enough for the bronze medal, behind a new championship record from Dayron Robles who ran 7.34 for gold and Terrence Trammel, who finished in silver with an American record of 7.36.

To backtrack, I did not run very well in my semi final heat, finishing second in 7.61. I made a few mistakes, especially at the start. I wasn't too upset or anything because the bottom line is you have to survive and advance through the rounds. By finishing second, I grabbed an automatic spot to the final.

After going back to the warm up area, Brooks and I had the chance to work out a few things that went wrong with my trigger hand out of the blocks. It was sweeping back aggressively, but I wouldn't bring it back through, so that was the point of emphasis in the 45 minutes I had before the final. Having your coach or at least another set of well trained eyes is so priceless at major competitions like this.

So due to my lackluster semi final performance, I drew lane eight. Going in to the final I was so relaxed. My focus was to try to beat Liu to the first hurdle and just run like hell for the final four because I would be out there racing by myself. I feel like I had a good start and I ended up running a clean race. I can't wait to re watch the race.

One thing that I knew I had on my side was the fact that my second race is ALWAYS better than my first of the day. I knew only a few others in the race have displayed that ability in the past and the comparison of our times from the semi final to the final display just that. Robles dropped .22 (7.56-7.34), Terrence .15 (7.51-7.36) and myself .17 (7.61-7.44). Everyone else in the field so minor improvement.

Winning this medal was so sweet! Coming off the devastating injury last year, not doing block starts or heavy hurdling until two weeks before my race in Glasgow to coming out and winning an indoor medal and running a personal best. I couldn't have asked for more.

We have a saying that all indoors can do is show you where outdoors is at, and I'm feeling majorly confident that this will be a GREAT outdoor season! People who know the event of hurdling, know that what I do indoor definitely reflects well on what I am capable of doing outdoor because I am a last five hurdle guy, not a starter.

I'm so ready to get outdoor season poppin'!!

Video World Championship 60m Hurdle Heats

2010-03-13T11:51:00.002-05:00

First round action from all five preliminary heats

Opening Round Down, Two More To Go!

2010-03-12T14:37:00.003-05:00

The first round went as me and Brooks planned. The objective for this round was to attack the first two hurdles and then just take it easy after that. My start was much better than it has been lately and I led from start to finish and stopped the clock at 7.60, equal fastest time of all runners today, Terrance Trammel also ran 7.60 in his heat.

I felt very good, the warm up was great and I felt so much more relaxed and loose here as opposed to when I ran in New Mexico, I think I was kind of tight for that competition. Ron Forbes was in my heat, he lived and trained with me for the '08-'09 season before moving back to Miami, it's good seeing him still competing, he also made it to the next round.

People seem to be counting me out in this competition, as they seem to believe it is just a three man race between Trammel, Robles and Liu Xiang, rightfully so, but I guess that's why we run the races and I hope to have a say in it before it all is said and done. I know I am a much better outdoor hurdler than an indoor one, but as long as we aren't doing starts to the first hurdle to decide the medals, I feel I have as good a chance as anyone to claim one of them!

I am off until the semi-finals on Sunday afternoon, the finals will be two hours after the semis. I am in the third and final heat. Until then, I will keep my eyes on the prize!!!
My training partner Novlene Williams-Mills made it to the final of the 400 which will be tomorrow afternoon. The schedule called for them to run prelims and semi-finals today! She ran 51.7 and has the second fastest time going to the finals, she'll definitely do well tomorrow!

World Indoor Champs Action!

2010-03-09T14:05:00.004-05:00

As I type this post, it is a little after 10pm local time, an eight hour time difference from the cozy confines of the first house on Emerald Green Ct. My body is almost in shut down mode.

The internet is pretty spotty in our apartments, but nonetheless, I got some action! The downside is that I don't know how much of my Slingbox I will be able to watch while out here, so I am going to be WAY out of the loop. Constant Blackberry messages to Aub will keep me slightly up to date.

I left home Sunday at 4:30 and arrived here in Doha at 7pm Monday evening. Most of the U.S. team arrived here last Thursday, I felt that ten days ahead of the final was far too much time to be in this environment personally. I would have been here stir crazy, plus I know my personal countdown, seeing that this is the fourth year I have made the trip out here to Doha to compete in some capacity.

Usually I would get here on Monday night and have to race Wednesday night. With that in mind, I have produced times of 13.14, 13.09 and 12.95 outdoors with that schedule. Granted this is a championship, but I try to treat every meet just like it's a regular competition, no need in trying to reinvent the wheel right? I travel well so I'll be fine.

The athletes village they have here is the best village I've been in out of all the team I made. We are in apartments, high jumper Jesse Williams is my roommate here, feels funny because this is the first team I've been on without my boy Kenta Bell.

The facilities are great here, real state of the art. The amazing thing is that gas cost 33 cents a gallon! I really need to fill up a couple of barrels and bring them back with me to the States!!

My first round goes off on Friday afternoon, I'm feeling great and ready to compete. I will have a pre race update before we go off.

USA Indoor Champs Wrap Up

2010-03-03T09:42:00.006-05:00

Things out in Albuquerque went as planned. I finished second in my hurdle race behind Terrence Trammell who ran a world leading time of 7.41. That finish qualified me for the World Indoor Championships in Doha, my fourth World Championship/Olympic team qualification. I still get amazed at the accomplishments I have made in my track and field career. I would have never believed all this would come about when I was in college, with no aspirations of doing anything track related as a career.

I guess I had a string of second place finishes throughout the weekend. Second fastest prelim time, second fastest semi-final time and a second place finish. I would have loved to get the win, but at the end of the day, whether you finish first or second, the wheels of the plane will touch down at Doha International Airport at the same time.

In the finals, I feel like I ran probably the best set of hurdles I've run indoors ever. I was still coming up to set when the gun went off which caught me off guard a bit and caused my start to be even worse than it usually is. I did a good job keeping my composure and made up a lot of ground and did what I had to do to make that team! I was very impressed with my lead leg action. I did not run my best race but I still had my fifth best performance indoors time wise. I was joking with Brooks, saying that my race would have been a hell of an outdoor one!

My coach has a philosophy which I have fully bought in to. If you have a great race, you're challenging the world record, if you have a good race, you win, if you have a bad race, you still make the podium/team and that's what happened this time.

Race video

USA Indoor Championships Underway Today!

2010-02-27T13:12:00.007-05:00

I've been out here in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a couple of days now. I've done a few press conferences and interviews since I've been out here. I didn't have the opportunity to go and talk to the local kids with the Win With Integrity Program unfortunately. That's something I look forward to doing when I come to the meets in the States, but I'll have another opportunity soon.

My mom and Harold made the six hour drive down from Denver and my boys Kelvin and Murph flew down too.

I'm excited to be back at a National Championship event, I miss both the indoor and outdoor championships in 2009. I love the competition that USA Nationals brings out of every competitor.

I have one race this afternoon, and two on Sunday. This event is our qualification for the World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar that will be hosted March 12-14. The top two in each event make the team.

Me and Valeria will open up at 3:30 mountain time, in heat one of three. We'll be starting in lane five. I've found myself a breast cancer wristband with the word strength on it, couldn't have found a better word. I'll be racing in it.

This is a video that was played in the area on the news from the press conference.

I will update the blog after the first round, hopefully everything goes as to plan!

Letter From the Heart

2010-02-24T10:51:00.005-05:00

As one of many athletes that is accessible through many social websites such as twitter, Facebook and my blog, I am never sure what type of messages I may receive. Most are of the congratulatory type or words of encouragement, you get a few that are negative and some that are indecent and lewd to say the least.

While checking my messages on Facebook, I came across a message titled "When You Run". I open it up, not really knowing what it may be about, then I read:

Dear David,
thank you for been an inspiration for many young and old people like me :) I never met you, and likely never will, but I have a favor to ask you.
My life, as i know it, has changed since last month. I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and now as a sequel of my surgery I will not be able to be as active as I used to be.
I miss the outdoor, the hiking, the cycling...but such is life.
One day, when you run will you think of me? so that for that one day I will be running too :)
Thank you
Valeria

When I finished reading these few sentences, I felt a wave of different emotions.
I felt sorry because Valeria is going through a life changing event.
I felt proud because she viewed me as being an inspiration, that in turn changed my feeling of being sorry for her, in to that of being in awe of her strength.
I felt surprised that she would think of me out of all of the people to ask to fulfill her very simple request.

Most of all, I felt an elevated sense of responsibility. That feeling came from me sitting back and realizing that we as public figures (i.e. athletes, entertainers etc) no matter how minor or how major have an responsibility, whether we like it or not, to the masses. When I go out and run a race, which is very minor in the grand scheme of life, the way that I present myself and act on and off the track, somebody is watching me. I may not be a big time NFL or NBA star or even a Usain Bolt in my sport, but I realize that I have a lot of fans and am viewed as sort of an inspiration to them in one way or another and I do not want to jeopardize that.

I responded back to Valeria with this:

Thank you for viewing me as an inspiration to people. I try to carry and handle myself in that position as well.

I have no problem with running for you! I am competing at the USA Indoor Championships in New Mexico and I will definitely run for you there!!

Keep in contact with me and I hope things turn around for you so that you will be able to get back to the active lifestyle you enjoyed!

So, I will be doing just that! My races that I am blessed to run out in Albuquerque, New Mexico will be run for Ms. Valeria Pagnon and I will find a pink breast cancer wrist band to wear in her honor! I appreciate her for making me aware of the unique situation that I am in as well.

ESPN Sports Nation Chat

2010-02-23T09:16:00.003-05:00

I had the opportunity to be a guest on ESPN SportsNation for an online chat yesterday. It was fun answering the questions people sent in, unfortunately we didn't have enough time to get to them all. Here's the transcript of the chat.

Chat with David Oliver

SportsNation

Welcome to SportsNation! USA Track and Field Olympian David Oliver stops by to chat as part of ESPN.com's tribute to Black History Month.

Oliver competes in the 110 meter hurdles during the outdoor track and field season and the 60 meter hurdles during the indoor season. At the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, David took home the bronze medal in the 110 hurdles with a time of 13.18 seconds.

As a four-time MEAC Outdoor Champion (2001-04) in the 110m hurdles, Oliver became Howard University's first ever two-time NCAA 1-A All-America selection and their first All-America selection since 1989 (Calvin Branch).

Send your questions now and join Oliver Monday at 12:30 p.m. ET!

More Special Guests: Previous chats | SportsNation

Buzzmaster
(12:02 PM)

David Oliver will be here at 12:30 p.m. ET to take your questions! Send them in now!

Buzzmaster
(12:23 PM)

David is here!

Jay (new york)

When and how did you become a hurdler?

David Oliver
(12:25 PM)

I became a hurdler by chance in high school. We ran a shuttle hurdle relay and I did well. My coach came up to me and said I had a new event to compete in. I was just running track to be with my friends. I took it serious and got pretty good at it and I am who I am right now.

Will (Denver)

did you feel pressure from your family to get into track? Having an Olympian as a mother must have been motivating.

David Oliver
(12:26 PM)

No, I never felt pressure from my mother. I didn't know anything about her competing in track and field until later. I found a box of her stuff and asked her about it. She said she was pretty good at track and I forgot about it. I was into football and basketball. But when I told her I was going into track, she was pretty happy about it.

Tim (Houston)

I heard you designed your track shoe with Nike. How much fun was that? Did you like the end result?

David Oliver
(12:27 PM)

It wasn't a track spike, it was a training shoe for after the Olympics. I liked the end result. It's always nice to get a few things recognized. I liked the process. It's something that the athletes do regularly in the sport. I still wear them. It's cool.

Wilson (NYC)

Where do you keep your medal? Do you ever wear it?

David Oliver
(12:28 PM)

I never wear my medal around. It's sitting in my dresser in the box. It's got some dust on the box. It's never going to be too too far away from me. It was good winning it and getting to reflect on where I've been and how far I've come. It's not posted up anywhere, just on my dresser collecting dust.

Vick (Mass)

do you feel that track is a young person's sport? How do like your chances in 2012?

David Oliver
(12:30 PM)

In the sprint's the 100, 200, it's probably a young person's event. With the hurdles, it takes a while to master it. If I stay healthy, then I think 2012 is a prospect. One guy on our team is 30 now and in 2012, I will be the same age.

Kyle (WA)

Being from Colorado, Washington, D.C. is far away. How did you decide that Howard was the place for you?

David Oliver
(12:30 PM)

Howard was the place for me, because I wanted to attend a black college, first and foremost. I did some research my sophomore year in high school and decided that Howard was the one for me. I needed the small class sizes. THat was probably the best choice I've made in my life.

David Oliver
(12:31 PM)

Being far the family, that was worse. I only went home in Christmas time and that was it. You learn about yourself if you don't go home. You learn to fend for yourself. Getting used to life as an adult.

Alicia (New Jersey)

I was a year behind you at Howard and I am so proud that you are doing big things

mathilde (douai, france)

how do you choose the meets you compete in?

David Oliver
(12:33 PM)

I sit down with my agent and my coach and see how training has been going. We pick and choose based on the phases of training we're in. For the indoor season, we picked a few. For the outdoor season, we'll see if I need to take a week or two off and see how the training is going. When I go to competitions, people are watching you. If you do bad, they'll talk about you, when you're expected to win. It's no longer acceptable to go to a meet and get 6th.

Carnegie Tirado (Howard University)

Whas poppin Dave,like you I also play football and run track here at Howard and I have the same hurdle coach as you did when you were here (Grigsby) what was your favorite thing about her. On and off the track.

David Oliver
(12:34 PM)

My favorite thing was that she was young at the time, but she was very knowledgable. She knew exactly what I needed to do to improve on things. She gave me the building blocks to make sure I wasn't doing too many things bad. Her knowledge of the event and how to be good. She was into learning the event and trying to get better. That's what I was doing too. Now she can probably help you a lot more because of what she went through helping us learn.

Kenny D. (Eugene, Oregon)

What kind of off season cross training do you do, if any?

David Oliver
(12:35 PM)

I don't do any cross training. In the offseason, the most training I do is getting out of bed and walking to the kitchen. We only get a few weeks off. You're going for so long. When I'm taking time off, I'm turning my six pack into a keg. I'm not doing anything.

victor (monroe,la)

who was your favorite athletes of all time? and i like your speed.

David Oliver
(12:36 PM)

Oooh, man. That's a good question. I'd probably say a Muhammed Ali. He was trancedent of the sport. He was an entertainer and a social activist. A guy like him for not just his in the ring qualities. I really like hearing his stories. I watch him all of the time.

Karl (Chicago)

How did going to a black college help you?

David Oliver
(12:38 PM)

It helped for one, because we weren't working with top notch facilities as far as my athletic career. When I moved down here to Florida and had the facilities I have now, I really appreciate it. I know it's not a birth rite to have what I have now. That definitely helped me. And just the focus that you have to have in order to make it on this level. I learned how to do a lot of losing at first. Whenever you learn how to lose, you appreciate the winning. It taught me how to appreciate everything in life and not take it for granted.

Jason (Denver Co)

How tall are you and is your height an advantage or disadvantage in your event

David Oliver
(12:39 PM)

I'm 6-3 and I weigh 208. The height is a gift and a curse. The gift is that I don't have to spend very much time on hurdling, but the curse is that I can not go full speed in between and I can't get too close. I have to really contain my speed as opposed to smaller guys that can flat out sprint the entire way. I take being tall over being short any day of the week.

Brad (Gadsden,Alabama)

David, What is your favorite winter olympics event?

David Oliver
(12:40 PM)

It's the speed skating on the long track. I like Shani Davis. I'm a fan of his. It was good to see him win the gold. That's one of my favorite events. Along with the ice hockey. USA beat Canada last night. That was exciting.

Jay (new york)

If you werent a hurdler, what other sprinting and/or field event would you do?

David Oliver
(12:41 PM)

If it wasn't for the hurdles, I wouldn't be in the sport. I'm not fast enough in the 100 or 200. No one would ever pay me to watch me run the 100. If I wasn't in hurdles, I'd probably have a regular job. What I wish I could try? The decathlon. But I don't know about the pole vault.

Carnegie Tirado (Howard University)

Do you miss anything about Howard? If so what?

David Oliver
(12:42 PM)

It would probably just be the environment. Getting to hang out with my friends all the time. We don't get a chance to hang out a lot these days. That was the best aspect of college. They are friends that I had for life. I talk to them still, but we don't get to spend time together like we used to.

David Oliver
(12:43 PM)

Check me out at the U.S. Indoor championships this weekend. It's on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Thanks for supporting me.

Photo District News

2010-02-22T13:22:00.001-05:00

USA Track & Field Spots Strength and Beauty with Olympic Medalists

Jan 19, 2010

Photo by Harold Lee Miller

Last December, USA Track & Field brought in Olympic medalists Sanya Richards, David Oliver, Kerron Clement and Hyleas Fountain for a series of billboard images to run in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Des Moines, Iowa to coincide with the USA Indoor Track & Field Championships and the USA Track& Field Outdoor Championship, both part of its Visa Championship Series. Creative Director David Stanton of Indianapolis agency Williams Randall, USATF's Sr. Director of Marketing Ivan Cropper and Nike's Federations Manager Rob Lotwis wanted images that conveyed strength and dominance, the qualities that put these athletes at the top of their sports.

Stanton recommended advertising photographer Harold Lee Miller of Chicago, Illinois. "I've been a fan of Harold Miller's work for many years, and I've worked with him numerous times. He's flexible, creative and always delivers amazing images," says Stanton. When USATF saw Miller's Web site, they knew they found the right photographer and team player for the job. Miller is known for imagery that is dramatic and employs interesting lighting. His work shows emotion, strength and power, combined with beauty - all the attributes needed for a series of photographs of Olympic-medal winners.

Needless to say, the job presented quite a few challenges to Miller. Cropper and his marketing team selected the athletes to be photographed and handled all the schedule coordination. Miller photographed the athletes while they were in Indianapolis for the December 2009 USATF Annual Meeting. The client needed to walk away from the shoot with graphic images that were simple yet bold, and they had to be versatile for outdoor and print for event-promotion usages. They also needed images that could be used for selling team gear and fan merchandise.

Miller had only four hours to shoot multiple images of the athletes. Hair, makeup, wardrobe changes all had to done very quickly. He and his production team shot the athletes on a white sweep in different groupings and then individually and had to pose everyone for various images that the clients wanted. Cropper of USATF wanted the billboard images to show strength and dominance, but he also wanted versions for their Web site that would project a sense of fun and friendliness. This meant that Miller had to direct both the posing and facial expressions to achieve all the required attitudes. He tried to shoot them in such a way that he could marry them with backgrounds that would work with the athletes' expressions and poses, and create a compelling image - not just a bunch of pictures stripped into stock backgrounds. This meant a variety of expressions, camera angles and poses to give him some flexibility in post production. Stanton adds, "We found the athletes relaxed and comfortable in front of the camera as we experimented with a variety of poses and expressions. Harold did a great job capturing both their serious competitive spirit and their lighter side."

Miller had the studio shots CGI'd with backgrounds he shot in Arizona and altered color, contrast and brightness between the studio and background images to create the low-key, dramatic images he had visualized.

"These athletes are conscious of their own, personal 'brand' as champions, and they were definitely interested in how they looked, as well as how the images portrayed them," says Miller. Collaboration among everyone was a must during the shoot in order to achieve the desired objectives, while also keeping the athletes comfortable with what was being asked of them. Miller managed it all and met everyone's expectations with great success. A true team effort and his magic can be seen in the final images.

1980 Brenda Chambers

2010-02-17T13:10:00.006-05:00

Back in her heyday, my mom was a hell of an athlete. I really wasn't aware of this fact until I was much older.

She represented the USA out in Beijing, China in the summer of 1980, the year the USA Olympic Committee decided to boycott the Olympic Games in Moscow, Russia. The USA was protesting the Russian war in Afghanistan, how funny.

A guy by the name of Barton Williams, a hurdler on the squad, forwarded me a couple pictures of my mom from the team's time out in China.

Dolly Fleetwood, Linda Forda, my mom and Barton Williams

The current President of USA Track and Field Stephanie Hightower, Gwyn Loud, Forda and Bren

Bren out in the streets of Beijing stuntin' lol
These pics are real old school, I was two years away from being born yet, I wonder if my mom has ever seen these!

Too bad I don't have any racing photos!

Been A Day to Forget!

2010-02-10T19:09:00.002-05:00

The meet was some b.s. first and foremost.

They hit me with a faulty false start and I didn't even move in my blocks! After the gun went off the first time and they called us back, nobody got put out. The second time the gun went off, they kicked me out and I was totally incredulous. Usually when you false start, you know you did it, but I thought to myself "I wonder who that was on" then they put me out, I couldn't believe it. There was another false start and no one got put out, then on the fourth try, the race went off.

Everybody I saw after that, Robles coach, agents, meet people, people that watched the telecast were asking me why I got put out. They all said the same thing, "But you didn't move", they were as confused about the situation as I was.

People were saying that they would be pretty pissed if it were them, but I'm not tripping. At the end of the day, there is no recourse of action that I could have taken and there is nothing that I could have done, once a decision is made, then that is final. I don't waste my energy getting mad over stuff I can't control, just gotta shake it off and move forward. Sweden just wasn't a good look for your boy this season.

I am still in support of the new ruling that the IAAF has made. I just wish there was some sort of protocol the starters had to adhere too. In championship events, I wouldn't mind if they went back to the old ruling either. But all in all, I know what happened and I wouldn't look for it to be an issue again, but I guess I can't control that either, I HOPE that this situation will not arise again.

That was only the start of the downward spiral today.

Aub hits me up before I head to the track to inform me that the people who come to clean my pool, inexplicable broke the water sprinkler off the side of my house! So water was flooding the yard and they had to cut off the water to the house. I feel sorry for Aub and Joel because they are still training and have to find a way to take a shower. They still haven't come to fix it yet.

I then get an email stating that Continental Airlines has changed my flight from tomorrow to Sunday the 14th due to weather in Newark. I'm thinking to myself, what next? There is no way I am going to be chilling in Stockholm until the 14th, so hopefully I will find my way home on Friday because Thursday seems out of the question at this point. In the morning I will have some information I hope.

I'm glad February 10, 2010 is over and I don't have to revisit this day again. I handle adversity very well, another key trait in being a professional athlete. I treat things like this the same way I treat those 400s I have to run at practice, I just put my head down and think to myself "This can't last forever, it's got to end at some point and time!"

Last Stop on My European Ride

2010-02-10T07:57:00.003-05:00

Tonight, the GE Galan in Stockholm, Sweden will be my last race in Europe during this indoor season.

Things progressed as we had hoped, so my coach and I decided to cut the trip a little short. The most important thing was for me to get back out and get the competitive juices flowing and knock some of the rust off.

If you've been checking out the blog, you know that so far after every competition, I've produced a new season's best and I hop to continue the trend out here and leave Europe with a bang.

The key will be for me to get a very aggressive warm up. This competition is just a one off race, no prelim heats before, just a straight final. Sometimes, warming up for indoor meets are usually hit or miss. Occasionally I'll be able to get over some hurdles in the warm up area, most times all you have is a small room to jog around in. Improvisation is a key, but to me a characteristic of a professional athlete is having the ability to make adjustments on the fly and I always find a way.

The field here will feature another match up between myself and Olympic Champion Dayron Robles. I think that the world leading mark will probably be lowered again tonight and hopefully, unlike in Stuttgart, it will be lowered by me!

Last time I raced in Stockholm's Globe Arena was three years ago, finishing second to...you guessed it, but it wasn't that close, 7.48 to 7.61. At the time, that was one of my best performances indoor. Clearly, I'm not the same runner now as I was in 2007.

IAAF PREVIEW HERE

Wish me well! I will update after the competition

Gothenburg Video Footage

2010-02-08T12:14:00.004-05:00

Here's video footage from the Samsunggalan in Gothenburg last week.

PRE-MEET PRESS CONFERENCE

INTERVIEW WITH FLOTRACK EUROPE AFFILIATE

POST RACE INTERVIEW (WITH PRELIM AND FINAL RACE FOOTAGE)

Dear Mama, You Are Appreciated!!

2010-02-07T09:12:00.002-05:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BREN!!

Dear Mama, a song by one of my favorite artists 2pac, is my favorite song of all time and it reflects my sentiments exactly.

For a woman it's not easy to raise a man on your own, but you did a hell of a job! I am thankful for the way you raised me and what you instilled in me. Back in '05 when it seemed I was hopeless and unsure about doing this track thing, you said the words that got me back in focus.

"Everything will be alright if you hold on, everyday is a struggle gotta roll on."

There's no way I can pay you back, but the plan is show you that I understand, you are appreciated! Place no one above you, sweet lady, don't you know we love you Bren! Happy birthday!

Close, But No Cigar...

2010-02-07T07:14:00.002-05:00

In the first match up of the season between two of the top hurdlers in the World, I came up a little on the short end of the stick. In the finals, I tasted defeat to Robles 7.48 to 7.49. This race just added to the list of races we've had that has come down to a tenth of a second difference.

I am pretty happy with my performance out there last night. Here's the rundown of what happened:

The night started out with the Presentation of the Stars, myself along with a other top level athletes such as Dwight Phillips, Robles, Lolo Jones, Meseret Defar to name a few, were brought out and introduced to the fans. The down side of the event was it was 30 minutes late, so instead of being at 5:30, it started at 6, and I hadn't started my warmup yet and had to be back to the track at 6:45! So instead of getting my normal hour and half or so, I had to cut it down severely. I definitely don't mind doing those presentations at all! I remember when nobody wanted to invite me to anything.

I hit a quick warmup and the luxury of having rounds is that I could just get the kinks out in the race. In the heats, I finished second, coming across the line in 7.63, behind Svoboda who ran 7.57. One of my goals was to run a good time in both rounds, but I figured that wasn't going to happen. I didn't care too much, at the end of the day, I never thought I was in doubt to make the finals, so maximum effort wasn't needed.

In the finals, Svoboda, the fastest in the heats, was in lane four, Robles in five, myself in six, Dwight Thomas, who ended up finishing third went in seven.

Clearly that side of the track was going to have the heat.

The gun went off, and I was looking at Robles back already at hurdle one. I never panic when situations like that arise, that's a position that I've found myself in plenty of times and I know how to handle myself. I slowly started making up ground during the course of the race, but we're only racing over five hurdles, so my time runs out sooner rather than later. It came down to the lean, and I caught an L by one hundredth of a second....again. I lost in '08 12.97 to 12.98 in Zurich.

I love when I race against him because we always put up good performances and you've got to be on your A game to win. 7.48 and 7.49 are the top two times in the World so far this season. I didn't accomplish everything I set out to try to accomplish but I am happy with the performance. We meet again in a few days out in Stockholm, should be another good one.

Sparkassen Cup 2010

2010-02-06T08:41:00.003-05:00

In a few short hours, I'll be lacing up the racing spikes again, this time in Stuttgart, Germany.

I enjoy racing in this city that contains so much history within the sport. I won the last outdoor race in the historic Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which has been converted into a soccer only stadium, back at World Athletic Final in '08.

Where I am competing at tonight is the venue that I was able to produce my personal best time last season in a great race. I was also named MVP of the meet.
This year's race will be of the highly competitive variety. In the race this year will be the outdoor world record holder and Olympic gold medalist Dayron Robles from Cuba (7.33), 1996 Olympic gold medalist Allen Johnson (7.36), the current second fastest indoor hurdler in the world Peter Svoboda (7.50) and of course me (7.45).

Here, I will again have two races, prelims and finals. I have changed a few things up with my starting blocks in an attempt to get in a better position on my exit out, so I will try it in the first round and see what happens.

We will see what happens at the end of the day, but I'm shooting for the win of course, a quick time in both rounds and most importantly, to clean up some technical things that I can build upon and will carry me through the season.

I'll update with the result!

Glasgow Race Video

2010-02-04T16:40:00.004-05:00

Season opening race in Glasgow

LARGER VIEW OF VIDEO HERE

On To The Next One...

2010-02-04T16:17:00.002-05:00

One of my all time favorite performing artists, Jay-Z said it best. "On to the next one".

Things out in Gothenburg were truly up and down. I went out after having a positive practice the day before to perform a task and I didn't get the opportunity to do that to the full extent.

The positive was, in the prelim heats, I ran a seasons best time of 7.57. I was very relaxed and didn't push it, just tried to work on some technical things as I figured it wouldn't be very hard to make it to the next round. The second fastest time out of the heats was 7.72. I was very pleased and very excited to get the final race underway.

Here's where the bad comes in. The final gun goes off and I never get a rhythm or the chance to produce due to a fellow hurdler hitting my trail arm over the first three hurdles, knocking my balance off and I fought an uphill battle from the start. Hurdlers out there know that trail arm is where you get that power for momentum to the next hurdle and that's your balance arm.

I ended up finishing second, running 7.72 with the winner running a time of 7.70. I think it might have been early in my senior year of college the last time I had a time that slow come up next to my name. Of course extenuating circumstance existed in this race, but when we run, our results are just like a painter signing his or her name at the bottom of a painting, you have to own that no matter what happened.

I was extremely upset at the end of the race and those that know me personally know exactly how I get. I just hate wasted opportunities. If I would have run that time on my own accord, then I would have no problem with it. Even though the Samsung Galan isn't the end all, be all, I think it is important that I treat every race like it may be my last. My experiences last year made me enjoy being able to compete even more. I'm not tripping off of it any longer and my focus is now squarely ahead on my next competition.

But like I said in the opener, it's on to the next one, that next one being in Stuttgart, Germany, a place that I have had a lot of success over my career. I will blog about that probably tomorrow.

The Train Rolls On...

2010-02-02T06:32:00.004-05:00

I've been posting up in Gothenburg, Sweden for the last couple of days, preparing for the Samsung Gala.

This is my second appearance at this competition, last year I was able to produce a 7.56 performance. This time around I feel that I am prepared to have a better time than last year.

This picture was from the race last year, where me, Joel and Aub came 1-2-3.
I haven't done much since I got out here. It's real cold outside and snowing, so you know what that means for me...inside, in the warmth of my bed watching Slingbox all day!

I had a press conference yesterday before I went to training, that was pretty interesting. I enjoy the media for sure. Practice went extremely well yesterday, Brooks is putting a load on me though, I guess he was serious when he said we are going to train right through these indoor meets. He has a plan and as long as I stay the course and follow it exactly, it always works. I can see a lot more clearly now what the plan of action is, opposed to a few months ago.

I like being here because it is located near everything. I made a couple late night runs to 7-11 which is a 3o second walk and of course McDonald's is right next door. I don't know what it is about the food over here, but it doesn't stick to my ribs like when I eat at home! I'll eat a nice dinner, then a few hours later I'm starving like I never ate.

I also like this competition because I have a chance to run two rounds, a preliminary heat and then the final. The preliminary goes off at 6:30 local (12:30 eastern) and the final is at 9pm. I would have liked the races to be about an hour or less apart, when it is spread out like this, you tend to loose the effect of running a prelim because you have to completely warm up again and the elasticity and lubrication you got running the prelim is lost. At the end of the day, you deal with what is presented to you and make your adjustments.

I will update after the competition, wish me well!

Five Nations Meet Recap

2010-01-30T15:40:00.004-05:00

I went out in my first race of the season, ran a good race and more importantly, brought Team USA our first win of the day and five points.

I ran 7.58, which is my fastest season opener of my career, clear training has me on the right path. My previous best was 7.60 from 2008. It's always big to me to come out and have a good race to start the season off, it's important because I use these early meets as reinforcement of what I have been doing in practice. You don't want to start out preforming bad because then self doubt creeps in pertaining to what you have been doing for the last few months.

I didn't run particularly well from the start, my blocks weren't the greatest, but my hurdling felt like I never missed a beat. It felt great to knock a little of that race rust off, I hadn't had a race at 100% since May 2009. My quickness in between the hurdles will improve the more I get out there and work on it in a race. All in all, I am very happy with my performance.

My training partner Novlene Williams-Mills led the Commonwealth Select team to a victory in the 400m. She hadn't run an indoor 400 since around 2006 I believe. She had a great performance and things are looking great for her for the upcoming season.

Unfortunately, Team USA lost the title to the Great Britain team by two points. Maybe we'll get the win next year.

Scotland showed your boy so much love out here! They had a full page article on me in the paper yesterday. You know I cut it out and will take that home with me!

Unfortunately, I have to bid Glasgow adieu...I'm heading up to Gothenburg, Sweden in the morning to get ready for my next competition. Things started out well and now I have to keep them going on the same path!

Glasgow Arrival/ Celtic F.C. Match

2010-01-28T17:44:00.005-05:00

Flying in to Glasgow or the U.K. period for that matter is the easiest flight I ever take! I had a quick layover in Newark, then six hours over the Atlantic. Not bad at all, especially compared to those flights to Doha, China, Australia, Greece etc.

The downside to that trip is that it's impossible to get good sleep on the flight, you might get a couple hours at best.

I was excited about the trip, not only am I getting ready for my first competition of 2010, but the organizers got together with the Celtic football club and flew me in for some press engagements as well as being named the guest of honor by the club, so I was going to take in my first European football match!

Upon my arrival at Celtic Park, they presented me with my own personalized Celtic jersey. I was super crunk about that! I took a tour of the stadium and met with fellow American Dominic Cervi who is a goal keeper on the team. He also represented team USA in the Beijing Olympics.

We had a few photo ops and I had a couple of interviews to do.

The game was played very well by the home team, but they ended up falling 2-1 as the road Hibernian side scored the winning goal in extra time. The stadium was devastated. Soccer matches in person are a great event to attend, the stadium rocks for the ENTIRE game, I had never experienced anything of that nature before.

After the game I had to make a McDonalds run for sure! I was pretty tired and definitely got a great night of sleep. Brooks and Novelene arrived from the States today, I had a good workout at the facility and I'm feeling ready to get things underway.

The competition is on Saturday, I will have a meet update Friday or early Saturday.

I'm Back!!!!

2010-01-26T12:00:00.007-05:00

First off let me apologize for being gone for so long, hopefully you guys missed me a little! LOL.

There was really no reason for me going so long without writing on my blog, maybe I was suffering from writers block or I didn't have anything of interest to write about. Who knows, but I promise it won't happen again!

I am getting ready to head over to Europe for the indoor season in the next few hours, I am really excited to get back into the competition season, seeing that I had been in and out of competition sporadically during the '09 season.

I am opening up in Glasgow, representing the USA in a five nations match meet this Saturday. From there I will have stops in Gothenburg, Sweden, Stuttgart, Germany and Stockholm, Sweden.

I will face off with Olympic gold medalist and world record holder Dayron Robles in a couple of meets, that should be pretty exciting.

Training has been going great, I had an injury free fall of training and I'm feeling great!

I will keep everyone updated with what's going on.

Here's a rundown of what I have been doing the last six weeks or so:

I went to Indianapolis for the USA Track and Field convention, had a blast out there. I did a photo shoot with World Champions Sanya Richards and Kerron Clement, Olympic silver medalist Hyleas Fountain and America's best shot putter Michelle Carter.

I got up with former teammate and current Colts safety Antoine Bethea, while out there as well, we had some good times. I also caught the game they played against the Titans. Go get another one of those rings down in Miami!!

I had a photoshoot down in Orlando for Essence Magazine, shot my Michael Cairns, which was a lot of fun, I love taking pictures!

You know I had to go home and see the family for Christmas! I love going back to Denver, that's really the only time of the year that everyone gets together
New Years was poppin' as well, kicking it with my brother and a few of my close friends. I loved the time we spent, but I need to go back an try to get some of the money I lost back!!! One thing I learned is that Lance is clearly the luckiest person I know, my brother isn't far behind him! Bet on whatever they bet on, I know for next time.

You know, other than that, nothing much has been going on aside from the normal training, chilling and doing nothing in my life!

Some great news I got yesterday is that my lovely mother is going back to college to finish up her degree!! I am very happy for her.

I am about to roll to the airport in about an hour, but I will be back updating my blog often, just like in the past. Again I apologize for my absence, I had several people get on me about being gone, but.....I'm baaaaack!!

C Lo...

2009-12-08T22:12:00.002-05:00

I wish I could say that taking ice baths were unnecessary, but I'd definitely be lying to you. It does hurt though, but like they say, no pain no gain (which is a bunch of b.s. I train smarter not harder lol).

I don't enjoy doing them, but it's important to get that lactic and other toxins squeezed out of your system, plus I feel refreshed after doing them. You get use to them after a while really, but don't neglect hitting the hot baths in there too, I love doing those.

As far as coming through Dallas, I never come there, if the Mayweather v Pacquio fight is there, then I'll be in town for sure, don't want to miss that (depending on when they fight, might be in Europe or something)

EnquirengMinds Part II

2009-12-08T21:52:00.004-05:00

LOL, "sit in the lobby and swap lies" is kind of funny. I call it that just in fun, I don't think anybody really sits in there and tells a bunch of lies, but it wouldn't surprise me.

I don't have a clear idea of what I truly think I will be doing after my track career is over, but I want to move to Ft. Lauderdale and join the fire department there as well as get on as a high school coach. I tell everybody that asks me that and they always think I'm playing for some reason. This past weekend, Lolo Jones was giving me a hard time about it.

I wanted to be a fireman when I was younger and thankfully running track has placed me in a position financially that I won't have to hurt for money when I retire, so I can live out what I saw myself doing as a kid. Plus it is a great job and you're in a position to help others out and doing a civil duty is a pretty cool idea.

I want to coach in high school so I can pass on the knowledge I have as far as getting the kids in to college first and foremost. I think that is very important and I wish someone would have been there to show me the ropes about what it took to get a college scholarship. I took a lot of that on myself. I remember taking a book out of the library, getting the address to every college I thought about attending and wrote letters to all of them. I had first period off my senior year, so I'd sit in the library for the period with my homeboy Kelvin and type up and print off letters. Man, I don't know how much money I spent on stamps that year!

Thanks for asking!

LaLa

2009-12-02T12:55:00.004-05:00

You've been a loyal reader of the blog for a minute, so as you can imagine, my day to day activities consist of me doing absolutely nothing! Outside of the traveling for the season, I try to do the bare minimum LOL.

Here's a sample day:

Wake up at some time between 10 and 11
Take my morning supplements, hit my protein shake
Eat
Watch ESPN First Take, while on the computer
Respond back to emails
Go get my massages or chiropractic depending on the day
Hit practice at 4
Shower
Eat
Watch more TV and internet
Go to sleep

Typical day, every day, gotta love it!!

Here's a typical day on the road:

Wake up for breakfast depending on the place, some spots it's not even worth trying to make it to breakfast to eat runny eggs.
Watch Slingbox
Go to lunch
Sign autographs for the crowd outside the hotel
Hit the track for practice
Sign autographs for the crowd waiting outside the hotel again
Shower and get a massage
Sit in the lobby and swap lies with people til dinner
Eat
Take an ice bath
Watch Slingbox til I go to sleep

Pretty fascinating isn't it...

I don't have much coming up as far as social events. I've got to go to Indianapolis for the USATF convention. I have to do a photoshoot and talk to kids as apart of the Win With Integrity Program. Should be fun! I'll update some pictures and stuff from the events.

Thanks!

Jalana...

2009-11-28T14:53:00.002-05:00

I am a believer in both long-term goals as well as capitalizing on opportunities as they present themselves.

I feel in order to be successful in any avenue or venture, goals are important. In order for me to say that I want to go to the Olympics again or something like that, I have to set the gears in motion now to set that up in a few years. You're not going to be able to roll of your couch in the spring of 2012 and say "Hey, I think I am going to shoot for the Olympics." More often than not, you won't achieve that because if it were that easy to do, your goal wasn't challenging enough to be a goal in the first place.

I set long term goals that are difficult to achieve because if something were easy, everybody would do it.

Opportunities that come about by chance are equally as important. I have had several chance meetings/opportunities that presented themselves that allowed me to capitalize on a long term goal I set for myself. The most important of these were when I met my current coach Brooks Johnson out in Sacramento in 2004. Without such a meeting/opportunity, it's no telling what I may be doing right now. I may have met another coach without as much knowledge and been out of the sport by now.

Great question

EnquirengMinds...

2009-11-28T14:45:00.002-05:00

I don't have any meets lined up at this point, maybe in another month or so I will have a concrete idea of what I am going to be doing this indoor season. As far as outdoors goes, I won't have a grip on that until late January, early February for sure.

I am very private, and I wish I could say you won your bet, but it looks like you will be offering up that dinner to whomever it is you were betting.

I have questions for you: Why is inquiring minds spelled like that and why would you make a bet on something like that?

Happy Thanksgiving '09...

2009-11-26T21:17:00.003-05:00

I know I have been away from the blog for a few weeks, I've been suffering from writers block, but you can help me generate some new posts, just ask a question and I'll answer it, I'm sure that will be able to get my mind moving until the season starts back up.

It's Thanksgiving and it's a time to give extra thanks for the blessings that have been bestowed upon us. There are less fortunate people in this world than you and it is important to remember that when things are going rough, a lot of people have it a lot rougher than you!

There are so many things in my life that I am thankful for, from you loyal readers and fans to being brought up by the most amazing person in the world.

On a training note, things are going very well, I have been out training for two months and I have no injury symptoms and that is something I am very thankful for.

My top five most thankful things are (in not particular order):

- The God given talent and blessings that I have been given
- My family and close friends
- My mom meeting a great guy and finally getting to enjoy the finer things in life
- Being myself and not having to live this life as someone else
- My fans

I am thankful for everything at all times, but this day just magnifies the importance of giving thanks and realizing where all blessings come from.

Sub13 Speed Camp Video

2009-10-31T20:13:00.003-04:00

McLean put his savvy high tech skills to work and made a video recapping the camp I hosted in Denver. He got all the footage he shot, chopped it up and made a finished product. Thanks a lot!!

Deborah Shepherd, Our Angel

2009-10-22T20:59:00.004-04:00

Charles Shepherd, one of my best friends, my suite-mate throughout college and just an all around great guy is currently mourning the loss of his mother Deborah Shepherd. She had been sick for a while and battled long and hard, my heart hurts.

He is the father of two amazing children and married to a lovely wife who's beautiful inside and out. I can not imagine the suffering that he is going through right now. I can't think of the
pain that I'd be going through if I lost my mother.

Mrs Shepherd took care of us so well back when we were freshmen in Drew Hall. I use to destroy the care packages she would send, talk about going through boxes of Reeses Peanut butter Cups and all kinds of snacks! I was an adopted son of hers, always having Shep forward my requests for the next package.

Although I had talked to her for years, I finally got to meet her at Charles and Robina's wedding in 2005 and she was all that I expected and more.

Today, make sure you hug your mother extra tight and if you can't do that, just place a call, tell them you love them and make sure they understand how much they mean to you! If you may not be on speaking terms with them, it's time for that to end, life is too short. Without them, we have no life.

I will keep the Shepherd family in my prayers.

David Oliver/Sub 13 Ent Speed Camp

2009-10-14T21:13:00.006-04:00

Over the weekend, I had the honor of hosting a speed and agility camp in my hometown of Denver, Colorado. I took a trip out there and brought along two of my good friends, Kenta Bell and Mclean Cromer, who agreed to volunteer to help me out for the camp.

When we all got in on Friday, you know my first stop was over to Bren's house! Had to see my favorite person in the world!
Friday evening, we hosted a meet and greet at my mom's house for all of the people who decided to volunteer to assist my efforts. I had a good time meeting some coaches in the area and listening to them share old stories about my coach Brooks. He sure is a legend in this track game.

I knew it was suppose to be kind of chilly in Denver, but I really wasn't ready for what awaited us on Saturday when I got up to get ready for the camp.
It was a blanket of snow and ice out! The rental car had no ice scraper in it, so me and McLean were outside for about 15 minutes with hotel key cards trying to scrape the ice off the windows of the car. That was pure hell! Ask me where Kenta was at during this process and the answer would be, inside the lobby drinking coffee.

I am glad that my mom and Harold were forward thinking because they reserved the football field as well as the gym in case of inclement weather. We had about 50 plus kids pre-registered for the event, but I was pretty worried about if anyone would show due to the weather!

It was great to be back at my old high school, Denver East and I am appreciative that they allowed me to use their facilities to put on my camp as well. It felt weird looking at my old dressing area in the football locker room and being back in the gym, a place I hadn't seen since 2000.

We got to the school about an hour early to set up and get everything together for when everybody started to arrive.
Even though the weather wasn't favorable, we still had about 30 kids and 12 volunteers out at the site. The kids were very attentive and really eager to learn some new stuff and listen to what it is all of us had to say to them.Harold took the kids through an informative dynamic warm up session and walked them through it step by step so that they could really understand what they were doing and why they were doing it.

After the warm up, we got right in to basic running mechanics and form. After the kids got a grasp on the technical aspects, they broke in to different groups and headed over to the stations that were set up. We had two different ladder drills, square cone drill, straight line cone drill, jump rope etc.

Legendary high school coach Don Gatewood came out and really took a hands on approach with the kids. He is in the Colorado High School Hall of Fame and in the USA Track and Field hall of fame as well. It was a great pleasure having someone of his stature come out and lend a hand to the efforts.
My best friend Kelvin Doyle, a former Michigan State football player took the kids through the cone drills working on their agility.Kenta got the kids bounding better than they ever had! After his instruction, you could see the kids really grasp the concepts he was presenting to them.You know I hopped in and got the kids working on their arm action. Once you get the arms together, then everything else falls in to place.My sister came by and lent a hand watching over the babies.After we ended, the kids all received an autographed picture, camp t-shirt and camp water bottle. Big thanks to Randy, Rich and McLean for the design and product.

I really wanted to do something for the community that helped me reach the level of accomplishment I have so far. It is really important that you give something back to the community. Hosting this camp offered me a great reflection point on my life. I really understand how the kids look up to me so much and would love to accomplish the things I have and do the things that I have done. I may take going over to Europe summer after summer for granted for instance, but it means the world to the little ones. I never really realize it until I actually got with them this weekend. Being a positive black male role model in the area is something that I look forward to. I spoke to them as a group and really let them know the importance of getting their education and going to college, which to me, is one of the most important things you can do in life.

To try to help them with that goal, I am starting a scholarship fund to assist in their efforts to attend college. It will start out as something small, just providing book scholarships to kids this spring/summer, but I hope to grow that as well in the future.

I had such a blast putting on this camp! It couldn't have possibly went off as smooth as it did without Harold and my mom at the forefront getting the information out to all the people that needed it.

A real big thanks to Coach Gatewood, Coach Vaden, Chris Turner, Gary, Kellen, Farley and Cameron Burl, George Crunkelton, Yolanda, Justin and Steve Johnson, Annette Tannander and Carl McKinley for coming out and helping me put on this wonderful event. I can't wait until next year to do it even digger and better!

D.O. The King = 12.85

2011 Season Recap and Extra Blabberings LOL

New USOC Blogger

Top 5, Greatest of All TIme

Fin!

Continental Cup, Almost Won It!

Captain America Is What They Call Me!

Another Race, Another Win, Fast Time and Meet Record!

Back At It Again...

Sub13 Commentary

Crunk Juice 8/23/10

Fantasy Football Time!

Went Out With A Bang...

Screamin' Let's Get It From Another Planet!!

My Arrival In The Home of Chocolate!

Video of My 13.06 Race In London/Interview

Wrapped Up the Diamond League Title!!

Bridging the Hurdling Gap

Made The Cover!

My 13.01 In Monaco Race Video

Monaco Post Race Interview

I'm Sitting On Top Of The World...

Let's Go Get 'Em Again...

My American Record Race Video

What You Run Windy, You Can Run Legally...

Paris Diamond League...Let's Go!!!

The G.O.A.T. Is Calling It A Career...

2010 USA Championships Race Video

12.90...Got the Fireworks Started Early!

The Show Goes On..

2010 USA Champion! The Champ Is Here!

First Round Down...Two More To Go!

2010 US Championships On Deck!

Own Your Performance!...

Track and Field News Interview

Happy Retirement To A Great Man

California Invitational Relays

Changed Over to the Dark Side...

Shanghai Diamond League Race Video

Sub 13 Action Again!

Shanghai Diamond League

Colorful Daegu Post-Meet...Finally

Colorful Daegu Pre Championships Meet

Photo's From Ponce Meet

Ponce Post Race

Keeping With The Theme...

Ponce Grand Prix Preview

Happy Golden Birthday!

Justice Served

Gone But Never Forgotten....

Opener @ Florida Relays

Nike Spike Action

Enjoyed My Downtime!

Video: World Champs 2010 60m Hurdles Final

Bronze Medal, Personal Best, All In A Day's Work!

Video World Championship 60m Hurdle Heats

Opening Round Down, Two More To Go!

World Indoor Champs Action!

USA Indoor Champs Wrap Up

USA Indoor Championships Underway Today!

Letter From the Heart

ESPN Sports Nation Chat

Chat with David Oliver

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