Jesse Owens and GVSU

I have raced twice since I last posted. One of the races was one that I had in mind for quite a while, which also was a goal of my coach and I to be able to run a certain time and win the Jesse Owens Classic. The second was two days of last chance meets (for the university athletes).

My goal going into Jesse Owens was to win. I can give many excuses as to why this did not happen but it is better to just say it did not. I finished 4th with a time of 14.50, which was not particularly the spectacular performance I was hoping for. Finishing 4th in this meet was by far my best performance but places don’t mean much to me this year, it is the time which is important. I went home knowing I had some work to do and I was hoping the weather would allow for me to do so.

I practiced and worked on what me and my coach saw as the fault at JO. I was made aware of two meets at Grand Valley State University which would take place in succession. These two meets were called the "Second to Last Chance" and "Last Chance Meet". I planned on racing both day, expecting to run well but also use the races to work on my race endurance.

Day 1 (Friday) - Heats round I was feeling good but ran a comfortable 14.57. Finals round I was ready to win. I had raced GVSU's top guy before and he always runs well against me. I set my mind right and wanted to take him down, and ended up running a career best, by .24, 14.15 but came second.

Day 2 (Saturday) - Not many people showed up for this day, so the 4 who were racing the 110 hurdles were only allowed a timed final. I ended up winning with a 14.5. I was not feeling great because of the quick turnaround along with the fact that I struggled finding a place to stay the night, not getting to bed until past midnight at a last second hotel room.

I returned this week to Avondale High School to put in some quality work with quality weather, although it has not been great yet (rain and cooler temps again).

This week’s performance list in Germany shows my time as the 6th best in Germany so far, and I am planning on making some more major improvements by the time the Championship comes around late in July.

I get this weekend off from racing but will return to racing next weekend, starting my Canadian races at Windsor.