Leaving Boston

For reasons I will not discuss in this blog, I am leaving the Boston area. I have decided it would be best were I to move and start elsewhere.

Coach and I are still on decent terms (as decent as they can be when his number one athlete gets up and leaves). We did not have some huge argument and cuss each other out, but after speaking about a couple issue over the course of some days, I came to the conclusion that it would be best if I moved on.

This is very hard for me to do, because i saw myself living in Boston for the next 4 or 5 years. I had it all planned out and coach was a part of that plan, but now i feel different. I prayed many nights, that i would be guided in the right direction, and morning after morning i woke up thinking it would probably be best to relocate. So I am doing so. It really is crazy how things can change so drastically in such a short period of time. But that is life.

Id like to thank everyone who helped me over the past year in Boston.

My bff (no homo) Dominik. If you know me, then you know Dominik. He has helped me out more than anyone. Not just this past year, but pretty much since i met him in 8th grade. He is a great friend and proves so everyday.

Id like to thank John and Rebbecca from Excel Sport and Fitness, the Gym i have trained at for the past year. John and Rebbecca have always treated me with the utmost respect and were always very professional. They allowed me to train at their wonderful facility in Waltham, MA for free and anytime i wanted or needed. Often at random hours of the night when the gym was not even open. This would not have been possible at another gym so i thank them.

Thanks to Dave Callum and the entire Greater Boston Track Club. They are a good group of people and i suggest anyone thinking of joining a track club in Boston to join the GBTC. They work hard, love the sport and many of them are good friends outside of the sport as well.

Thanks to Dr. Marchese my Chriopractor over at Marchese Sports Therapy in Woburn, MA. He is the best Dr. Ive ever worked with, he actually "adjusted" my back only 2 or 3 times in the entire year i saw him. He is not the stereotypical crack-your-back chiropractor. He is very knowledgeable in sports injuries and was very important in my staying healthy last year. Without him i would prob have stress fractures in both shins right now.

Marlow and Stephanie. They were my two biggest fans up here lol. They both made things fun and made the sometimes stressful times easy. They are both grown women, but live life to the fullest and find ways to make the best of times. They both workout quite often, and for no reason other than to stay in shape, and run the occasional marathon. I love seeing people who train so hard for the pure joy of it.

Shane (muscly arms/legs). He was my training partner in the gym for the most part. Even though he is a little weak-ass he still helped push my workouts haha. We had some fun times outside of the gym as well, and he is a good friend. He will be starting grad school next Fall, and i hope he chooses a school in NC, which is where i think i will be moving next, so we can continue having good times together.

I have to thank Evan, he introduced me to Carl and also served as training partner during the summer. I never got to hang out with him outside of training, but he was obviously very important to my success in 2008, as he introduced me to Carl.

To all the countless personalities at the gym, Ben, Matt, Tom, Curt and the rest who made training enjoyable.

And of course last but not least to Carl Valle. He invested a lot of time and money into helping me reach my dream of competing at the Olympics last year. There are not many coaches who are as dedicated to helping athletes reach their potential, and i was very fortunate to find Carl.

I have learned lots working with Carl over the past year and i will make sure to put to good use the things i learned. I did not just learn how to run faster and train better, but also learned a lot about the other side of sport, and life in general.

Thanks for everything coach, you are i great guy and i wish you all the best in the future.

I wish everyone the best of luck in the future, I thank them for the good times in Boston.

I will be moving to NC in the next couple days to live with a good friend of mine in Greenville. I was debating on moving to FL to be closer to family or to NC. I decided on NC and Greenville because i can start training immediately. I still plan on running indoors so i must get back on the track as soon as possible.

From Greenville I may move again, and if i do i will update the blog. Until i have made that decision, though, i wil not be updating the blog.

Thanks again to everyone who helped me achieve success over the past year. I will see you all around.

New Years Resolution

Today my lil hommie and teammate Carol Rodriguez started her own BLOG, and she spoke about her New Years resolution.

While i dont go crazy about making New Years resolutions, i did make one this year. I didnt sit and think about it for months, it kinda just came to me.

My New Years Resolution is to learn to cook 2 new meals every month. Its nothing track or training related (because i strive to get better all the time, not just for the New Year) but i think its a good resolution. Nothing that will haunt me at night if i fail to follow through, but a resolution that will be beneficial to my life haha.

At first i wanted to learn to cook a new meal a week, but i figured that might be a little much, and i probably wouldn't follow through with it.

I made the resolution because i like food, but lately I've gotten into the habit of eating the same thing.

But anyway, check out Carols blog as she get ready to blow up in the sport during her first professional season!

Running in NYC

My next meet will be this Friday at the Armory in NYC. It will be a 60 hurdle race and ill get at least 2 races so im happy. The goal is 7.75 and regardless of the competition i think ill get it.

I have to thank the David Callum and Greater Boston Track Club because they are the ones funding the trip to NYC. They have helped me out in the past and continue to do so today.

Im going to treat this meet as a "make-up" meet. This past Saturday didnt go as planned, but Friday i have a chance to make up for it and get back on track.

I have been confirmed for the Boston Indoor games in February and id like to be in the 7.6s by then. I know that with competition ill get there, but id like to be running 7.75- with next to no competition before then.

We will see what happens.

Tiger Invite

Today i ran at a local track meet. It was run pretty bad. I thought the meet was at 4pm, So we got there at 230pm. At 3pm you can hear crickets in the place though because there were like 5 people in the gym. Come to find out the meet is actually at 5pm.

So i warm up and get ready to run, only to find out 10 minutes before my race that there arent enough people for trials and finals, so of course we only ran a timed final. I went and sat down for 45 mintues because i decided i didnt care anymore. I was just gonna run through and finish the race because i wasnt excited anymore.

We finally ran and i ran 7.32 for the 55 hurdles. It converts to a 7.85 which is decent i guess seeing as, by the time i ran, i no longer cared.

I was a bit dissapointed though. The times id been running in practice indicate i should be running 7.75 or better(60 meters) right now, but under the circumstances i wasnt able to show it. I tend to run a tenth faster in the final and maybe, had i been able to run twice, i could have ran the 7.22 that i was aiming for. Now i have to wait until next week (maybe) if i run down in NYC. I know i should be able to run my fastest in the very first race, and i believe i could have ran 7.25 during my first race had i still been excited to race, but i guess we'll never know.

So the meet didnt go as planned but i still ran decent. Not excited, but i cant really be mad either. Hopefully this will be the last bootleg meet for the year.

i would post the video of the race, but i dont want to waste another 7.32 seconds of your lives haha.

A year in Review 2008

So the New Year is here and id like to take time to look at all that happened in 2008

After graduating from ECU i accepted a job offer in Lynn, MA to do Mechanical Design work at an Engineering firm.

so I...
-Moved to Boston on December 28th 2007.
-I stayed in the living room on a blow up mattress of my good friend Dominiks Apt.
-I officially gave up on track and field
-I searched for a coach in the Boston area because i missed track
-I met and started training with my current coach Carl Valle
-I woke up at 5am daily, worked from 7am-4pm. trained from 8pm-10pm and made it home by 10:30pm in time to eat dinner, shower and sleep.
-I showed up late for work and/or left work early in an effort to have more energy for practice.
-I was terminated from work due to the above problem.
-I started training "full-time" in March
-I lived off of $800 a month that PR would send whenever they were in the mood (on average every 3 months)
-I had a very understanding Landlord in Matt Sarbanis whos sister was a former Olympic and World Championship athlete herself. I was very lucky here, as i was forced to pay my landlord on average every-other month because PR never sent checks on time and he completely understood
-I started my track season at Mt. Sac relay with an Injury, and a time of 14+
-I continued to run piss-poor until May when i ran 13.64 in Ottawa, Canada.
-Coach Valle and I got on bad terms and we parted ways.
-Instead of running in Europe for the first time, i ran in Colombia at the CAC games, due to what happened with coach.
-I posted another PR at 13.61, and won Bronze at the CAC games with a 13.55w
-I decided to continue training with Carl, despite the nonsense that caused me to skip out on Europe.
-I won Gold at USATF into a very strong head wind (which for some reason is posted as a tail wind)
-I competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
-I ran like crap.
-I came home to another "late" check from PR and was not able to pay my landlord for August rent.
-I sold him my bed, my tv, my dressers etc.. for $700 and promised to pay him the final $100 (plus utilities) in the future
-I moved in with Coach Valle and others in Waltham, MA. Coach found some local sponsorships for me so i wouldnt have to worry about rent.
-I never received my August check from PR
-I started traing for my first indoor season since 2006
-Finally received a check from PR. Not Augusts check but a "to help you get by" check.
-I posted 2 Personal Best in 2 meets.
-I sit here hanging on by a thread but greatful for all that has happened.

WOW alot can happen in a Year.

I finally feel i am in the right situation to run fast though. I have dedicated my life to training for track and field and i am finally able to do so with no distractions. I dont have school, and i dont have work. I relax at home all day, train hard on the track and in the weight room, and repeat 6 days a week.

Ive been saying all year that 2008 was my "Get in there" year, and that 2009 will be my "Blow up" year. lol.

In 2008 I made the Olympics. This year i plan on establishing myself as one of the up and coming hurdlers in the world.

The year did not go exactly as planned, but i kept my eye on the prize and i accomplished just about everything i set out to accomplish. I am an official Olympian, which no one can ever take away from me, and im on my way to fulfilling my dreams.

I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and whatever is meant to be will be.

So Happy New Years to everyone, i hope your 2008 was as good as mine, and i hope 2009 will be even better for all!


Happy New Years!