My New Spot

Wednesday marked an especially important day in my life (in the real world). As you know I have been staying with my cousin near Daytona Beach. Since I arrived here about a month ago I have constantly been on the hunt for jobs and places to live. Im excited to say that I finally have an amazing spot right near my training facility! It isn't my own apartment, but I will be renting a room out of a house on the West side of Orlando. I signed the lease, secured the deposit, and got my own keys to the spot. I can't wait to have my friends and family come visit especially my brothers David and Derek. Hopefully they will get to come down during their Christmas break, but we'll see how things unfold. Im headed to finish moving in and arranging everything now. My first lease and initial entry into the bill-paying life. Ahh well, I had to get ready for it sometime, right? I wish there was a scholarship for LIFE, lol.

Weights...again

It has been TOO long since I've been in the weight room! I can say that it has been almost 5 months since I've been in the weightroom consistently. By consistently I mean a two week streak. There is something absolutely wrong with this picture right? You would think so, but with facilities at school closed or "off limits" it is hard to get in any type of consistent workouts in the weightroom. That is due to A LOT of different issues, but for now I wont dwell on the past.

I started back on weights Tuesday, and it has been going very well so far. I know when we start full time with Coach Mitchell, he's gonna pound my body with not only tough workouts, but weights also. We decided that I should do some light stuff just to get back into the tune of things, so it wont take such a toll on my muscles with coach. Weights is something that I like to work at, but since the latter years of my collegiate years, have since lost power on the steel. This is one thing that I will need to truly focus on to be the world class athlete I dare to be.

Tuesday's workout was comprised of mostly upper body, starting out with some exercises from Howard that the strength trainer Travis taught me. He knows what he is doing but is short-staffed, and as far as weight equipment, undermanned. However, being at an HBCU such as HU athletes have to pull together to make things work, which I feel people do very well. So I started off with the olympic complex excercise with the bar to loosen up. Then I got right into the workout with some hang cleans supersetting with push ups. I do everything in 3 sets, these few weeks with low weight to tone and shock the muscles back into building stages. After that I did 3 sets of regular bench press followed by one set of negatives (bar is in top position and you count down to 6 on the way down to your chest then push it off fast back to the top). I then went into sets of curls, tricep pulldowns, and bent over wings. As a runner in general you must have to have a very strong core (front and back of body from thighs up to abs). As a hurdler you also need to work on your hips, groin, and low back especially. I ended up doing a hip abductor/adductor machine that really helps strengthen groin and hips for that driving action you get going into hurdles, and ability to keep that motion going, which gets increasingly harder at the last 3 hurdles. I ended off with two sets of a great abdominal workout called the Ab Complex, barbell roll-outs, and some of my own crunches tied into it.

I worked more lower body Thursday, but must admit that my body is adapting well to the steel. I could feel a stark difference in my legs when doing my morning runs, but was able to push though it due to my better endurance level. Week two of weights will start on Monday. Im headed to my cousin James' football game in a little while which should be pretty interesting. He is in the 9th grade, plays receiver, and I hear he is something to talk about so it will be good to see him in action.
PS I've gotta shorten these posts up huh?

Football Season

Over the past 3 years I must admit that I have been slippin on the sports updates. I didnt keep up with any college or professional football or basketball teams, which kind of upset me. As much as I wanted to be up until the wee morning hours watching each football game then post-game highlights I had other stuff to do. That other stuff was better known as homework and rest. I guess you could say that not having a TV helped to contribute to this issue too. However, since I have graduated I've been getting back into the football spirit that I once had WAY back in high school when I was known for good field speed and hard hitting (Corner/Strong Safety).

A couple weeks ago I started off watching th opening NFL game featuring the Pittsburg Steelers and Tennessee Titans game. It ended up being pretty enticing with a 3 point win over the Titans. That weekend started college football season hitting hard off the back with games like Miami vs. Florida State and Boise St and Oregon to name a few. After about three full weeks of college football, I have to admit...MIAMI is steadily becoming my favorite team. Of course I always like to see the Buckeyes play at the shoehorn, Wolverines at the Big House, and The USC Trojans, but Hurricane offense led by star Quaterback Jacory Harris is taking over my interest. To be a Sophomore starting quarterback with huge numbers adding to over 500 all purpose yards is amazing. I loved how they came in to Tallahassee and fought right down to the wire to defeat the Seminoles. Since then they haven't looked back. They had some big hits in there next game (including the clean-up hit on one of the kick returns) and are looking stronger every game.

Another HUGE game was the Fresno State Boise State game last night...talk about SERIOUS offense!! There was almost 1000 yards of total offense from both teams. That was one game where each team was OFF TO THE RACES!! Ryan Matthews ended up rushing for 234 yards from the RB position, and for every score that Fresno had it seemed like Boise St's Titus Young had an answer when it came down to the kick returns. With the early lead from an interception (Oskee!) in the 1st quarter Boise jumped out and stayed out. They scored about three times before Fresno got there head in the game. Neither quarterback really stunned me, but Moore from Boise obviously knew what he was doing. He read the defense pretty well, looked very comfortable in the pocket, and was pretty good on passing with 18 of 26 completions. Colburn on the other hand was off to a rocky start when he threw his 5th interception of the SEASON (I know what your thinking, already?) and lost the momentum early in the first. He didn't look very comfortable in the backfield, he held the ball too long on pass plays (which could be attributed to the lockdown DBs on Boise's side), looked very stand offish, and just didn't get into a nice groove until the second half. Fresno's star player Ryan Mathews ran three 60+ yard touchdowns in to keep the game relatively close for a moment before Boise ran off with the game. In the end Fresno State falls to a speedy and determined Boise State 51-34. Great game though!

Training

I have been conditioning by myself for about two weeks now and was getting harder every day. I think today though I may have gotten past a breaking point. I was out for a run by 830 this morning and it went much better than the past few weeks. Today I started off at a pretty smooth speed and noticed about 5 minutes in that had increased my endurance. Whew! this is a relief because I don't know how much longer I would have survived this FL heat when Im out of shape gasping for air. My breathing was much more controlled, showing improved conditioning. This allowed me to worry about other things like form and concentrated breathing. I only went for a short loop run around a few main roads, but felt really good endurance-wise. I did however start to catch a little soreness in both of my calfs, the left a little more than the other, and ended up stopping to stretch out near the end so I wouldn't catch a cramp.

The past two weeks have been pretty rigorous for me physically since I have been off doing absolutely nothing except working, enjoying the summer, and spending time with friends and loved ones for about two and a half months. I thought back to the past few years of conditioning that we went through before starting practice at Howard and didn't think I struggled this much. I had a good group of hard working guys right with me on those runs which made them more than just work. Im realizing how much your team, even in a primarily individualistic sport like Track, can really help you out, or through workouts for that matter. Im sure if I had a few people to go on the runs with I would be a little ahead of schedule as far as the training.

We're nearing our first practice so Im going to have to start getting in the weight room pretty seriously. This will be to keep the muscles fired for when we get into the real action with Coach Mitchell next month. I will only be doing some light excersices and heavy stretching at the guy to keep limber and strong. I am going to look for some places to lift in the area here, but will probably start tomorrow. Im looking forward to practice in a few weeks, but also hoping I don't "call Earl" the first day. Surprisingly, I've never threw up at any of my practices in the past (threw up after a few of them when I got home, but not at practice). Im hope Coach Mitchell is not going to break my streak, lol.

Aunt Nay

Yesterday was my Aunt Nay's Birthday. She is an astonishing 85 years wise, and still rolling. I started the day out going to the early church service then came back for a nap. I really wasn't planning on sleeping for 3 hours, but from all of my house searching the day before I was pretty tired. Luckily I woke up just in time to get down to the house where they were sitting the food out and gathering for prayer.

I was happy to finally meet my cousins Wonzel, Darryl, Willie, and Alvin. They're all older and have kids, but it was good to catch up with some more family. I met Willie's son who seemed like a pretty smart guy. He's about 16 or so and plays basketball and baseball. Also among the star studded guests were my cousin Jackie (Aunt Jackie she says to call her) and her husband Jimmy-Lee. They are truly hilarious; they always have stories to tell and are both pretty animated so I try to ease my way over whenever I hear an uproar that either of them are in middle of. I also met Netta and her grandchildren KK and Kameron. KK is a pretty little girl probably about 9 and her cute little brother Kameron is only about 3. He was crying a lot yesterday, but I know he is going to be a lil G when he grows up...it runs in the family.

Aunt Nay was in and out of the spotlight all afternoon because she was a little sick. She had a small cough and her nose was running, but that would not keep her from thanking all of the family for showing up on another special day for her. There was plenty of eathing going around, and Aunt Nay ate more than she usually does, which was good to see. Im sure she was up in Spirits with all of her cousins, nephews, and grandchildren around.

The whole ordeal only lasted about 5 hours before people started heading out, which I thought was pretty short for a family gathering. It was sunday and some people traveled from around Florida (Miami) to join us so I could see why they would leave a little earlier. I guess all good things come to and end, or at least a halt, at some point or another. I stood on the porch talking to Darryl, Wonzel, and Greg (Porsche's Husband) about track, fishing, and cars for a while.

I was probably one of the last people to leave the house that night at about 930. I was keeping Aunt Nay company after she said she couldn't sleep very well, and had decided to eat some chocolates someone had brought over. I decided to have a few pieces of coconut cake that Porsche made, that had everyone talking earlier that day. I think that was my first coconut cake that I've had and it was really good. Porsche is another one of the great cooks in the family. Im working on mine still. At half time of the Green Bay game I headed back down the street to take it down after a full day of excitement. All in all, today was a good day.

New Smyrna

This is a track blog, but since we haven't officially started practicing I figure that I may as well keep you up with other things. I think its about time to tell you a little about where Im staying. New Smyrna is a small town just South of Daytona. I don't think that everyone in the town knows each other, but there are people that everyone knows. For example, my cousin Ruby, who helps to run the town hall meetings that are held once or twice a month. People from the community come and voice their opinions about the happenings in and around the city from abandoned buildings to upcoming festivals. I had a chance to sit in on one the first day I arrived; the topic was about housing and development. There were representatives from three or four different development and construction companies discussing future projects. I thought it was good to get an inside scoop about some of the town news, so I went.

The city's nickname is Florida's Secret Pearl. I think its called this because less than 10 minutes away from one side of the town there is a beautiful beach, stretching as far as you can see in either direction. With the tropical weather here on the coast of the Atlantic there are usually lots of clouds in the sky and towards the evening by the beach really makes for a alluring presence. There are only about 24,000 people who live in New Smyrna, half of which are family, lol; or so it seems. Throughout the town there are at least 8 houses that belong to family members of mine: cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts, etc. I have always liked the thought of living near family. On one street there are 5 houses full of relatives. In another house a few blocks back resides another cousin, and there are three family houses on my Aunt Nay's street, including the house (still standing and in good condition) that my great great grandfather built from the ground up with his brother. It's great to actually gather around with everyone, eat, talk, and reminisce. I personally like hearing about all of the past stories and history lessons. Sometimes it feels like the young people today do not know enough about history, their ancestors, or even their more immediate family so I try to make it my duty to find out about ours.

My great great grandfather was said to have moved around here for work. The railroad was beginning to take over the country or at least the eastern coast in the mid 1800s, and so he worked developing it in this area. He loved to build and farm; it almost sounded like he had a whole plot filled with chickens, pigs, fresh fruit, and flowers. My Aunt Jackie said that he planted almost every kind of fruit you could think of, from tangerines and sugarcane to watermellon and grapes. All the kids would play outside and help pick the ripe fruit and they didn't even have to go inside to eat. If you think your three kids are a lot to handle, all in all there were about 16 kids I believe. There was a large orange tree directly outside the front house and you could pick one from right on the front portch. I sure wish they had all of those fruit trees now, I would be loving it (p.s. fruit is one of my favorite things to eat...all kinds).

My oldest relative here in New Smyrna is my Aunt Nayomi, who I have briefly talked about in a prior blog. She will be 85 years old on Sunday, and that is a great thing. "We have to take care of our elderly," my cousin Rie said to me one day while attending to Aunt Nay. I couldn't agree more because they posess immeasurable history and knowledge within and its great when that information is shared with others and passed down through the generations.

Headed back to Rie's house to get changed then head down to the beach for a quick workout...abs and a run. If you see me don't be afraid to say hey :)

Getting my feet wet

Starting out down the professional athlete road seems pretty tough from what I've already experienced and from stories that others have told. I have been getting up early every morning to start a list of things to do. Then I get in the Word and read a little and try to devote some time to pray also. After that I end up going for a 20-30 minute run to get my conditioning up before practice actually starts in October. This is something I definitely have to get used to: the blistering Florida sunshine. Around here it usually gets pretty hot right around 10am so I try to start my run before 9:30. This way I won't come back a total sweat towel. I do the runs every other day just to give my legs some recovery time. In between I do my strength days that include about 1,000 crunches and 100 push-ups, which isn't much now. Im just trying to shock the muscles since it has been too long since I have actually worked out. I have to ease back into this thing. I will probably start to increase my intensity as the month goes on so I can keep the muscles in shock and create muscle going into practice.

Since I moved with my family in New Smyrna I've been on the constant run. I have been commuting back and forth to Orlando looking for jobs, going to meetings with my coach or teammates, and trying to get more familiar with the areas. My major task thus far is to get a job. I would prefer one in my field of study (International Business and Finance) but I really just need something to pay the bills. So today I'm heading back to Orlando to put in a few more aps and meet another one of my teammates, Rudy, I believe.

Although I've had some pretty busy days I did find time to relax a little bit yesterday. After I woke up and took my car to the dealer to be serviced I decided to lounge around the house. I ended up going over my aunt Nay's house who lives down the street and chatted it up with her for a while. Now this is my grandmother's sister so she is full of wisdom; I figured I would try to get her to tell me a few history lessons from the family to see if I could grab hold of some of that wisdom. She had a lot going through her head and kept me listening, but in the end didn't say too much. I figured she was pretty tired, so I told her we would talk again sometime as she left to take a nap.

After talking with Aunt Nay I figured I would take a ride down to the beach and get my feet wet. Now we had something like beaches in Michigan, but to see the Atlantic ocean in a tropical enviornment was amazing! The clouds were parted in one section where the sun was shining bright, but the rest of the sky was filled with different sizes and shapes of clouds. I looked far out into the horizon and noticed a boat in the distance, probably a fishing boat. Then I looked down the coast and saw a few people trying to take hold of the waves with their surf boards while they eagerly waited for the perfect one. I just paused to take in the beautiful site. I wish I had a camera to show everyone, but thats another thing Im working on. Since there was no camera I felt the need to tell someone. So I texted one of the coolest and most beautiful young ladies I know from Howard University. I assured her she would love this place. Hopefully she'll come visit sometime!! I stayed awhile then decided I better take it back home and prepare for tomorrow: the job hunt continues

My 1st blog

So I feel like the blogging phenomenon has taken over the internet. Everywhere you look there is someone that is tweeting or updating their facebook status or blogging. I have been following a few blogs for a little while now, but never really took too much interest in it until a few days ago.

I was on the Autotrain from DC to FL and met some very nice people who had a lot to talk about. We all discussed where we were from and where we were headed. One guy was a retired Marines, living pretty well in Orlando, another was a young guy headed back to school (undergrad), and the last was a nice lady that was coming from NYC visiting her people. After I told them I was moving to start a track career in Orlando they were pretty excited, as most people are, to meet a soon-to-be famous person, lol. The lady was very excited and said that she would follow me and from then I figured it was about time to get on the blogging world.