The diary of a Runner's quest towards the Beijing Olympics!

      It's been about 12 hours since my 1st blog and after 2 runs, I'm both tired and ready to put yet another day that will bring me that much closer to my GOAL to bed. I must however take one last trip down "Flashback Drive", towards this past summer & fall.
     So as I mentioned I've been living/training in Boulder now for some time. I got here in the Fall of 2004, but wasn't officially moved here till the following year. Between 2004/2005 and this past summer (2007) I basically stayed put in Boulder and just trained and trained and trained under my old coach: Brad Hudson. We had a great relationship and great mutual respect. We also had a great group of athletes to train with, although I still did most of my training alone. I did a few races here and there, but never a complete season.
    All that changed this past summer when I finally decided that with the following year (2008) being an Olympic one, I better get out and (1) improve on some of my PB's  & most importantly (2) get used to racing again. This also happened to be right around the time when my old coach: Brad, had decided to move to Eugene, Oregon. This was essentially our goodbye, as I wasn't to keen on making a long distance relationship out of it. This left me free to explore other coaching opportunities but at the same time left me in a bit of a limbo as I was attempting to get going again towards Europe.
    Long story short I went over to Europe and really did a number on myself. I never got going really well and raced so pathetically that I not only saw it as a waste (at the time), but registered my 1st ever D.N.F (Did Not Finish) at a steeplechase in France, where I also injured my back. These were two things that I had never really done before and it more or less set the tone for the rest of my time there.
    A few good things came from the trip though. I got to meet my girlfriend Samia, who's an American Marathoner, and currently training for the Olympic Trials in that event taking place in Boston on April 20th, and also got to see what racing felt like (even if it wasn't from the point of view I had hoped for - as in the FRONT). All in all my time there wasn't all that bad, as it only made me hungrier for this year.
    Fast-forward ---->  I came back to the States after a brief holiday in and around Spain visiting family that I love very much, but hadn't seen in close to 6 years. This was also the longest amount of time in 3 years I had gone w/out running (13 straight days). I had won my final race -a small 1500m race in Belgium- and enjoyed my time off, but was eagerly looking fwd to getting back to real training.
    My 1st stop back in the U.S was New Jersey where my mom had moved to. I stayed with her there for a little over a week. The 1st few days of training were absolute HELL! I had managed to put on about 15lbs (was just shy of 160lbs) and was sore all over! I couldn't believe how out of (running wise) shape my body had gotten. I would go for a 35 or 40 min run along the ocean and the next day wake up feeling like I had been on the wrong end of a fight. This continued for some 10 days. All in all I ran 25 miles my 1st week back. My girlfriend Samia also came to visit us in NJ. It was great having her around as it was also her down time. She had just competed for team USA in Osaka, Japan in the marathon for the IAAF World Championships. We were both eagerly looking forward to 2008 and the possibility of both making the Olympic Games.
    My 2nd stop was Boulder, Colorado. I got back here on the 10th of September. Harlan & Lorraine had been great in allowing me to store some of my stuff in their garage while I was away. Now I found myself back and kinda LOST. I was lost in the sense that I had no coach, I had no idea who or where I would find and I also had no "home".  Luckily (if you believe in luck....I don't) for me, Harlan & Lorraine were more than happy to have me join their family until I found my direction. The only thing that was ever clear was where I wanted to go (Beijing, China in '08), I just couldn't tell you how I'd get there.
    Lorraine had mentioned a few coaches such as: Steve Jones (former Marathon World Record holder), Bobby McGee as well as Greg McMillan. Greg seemed like a good choice, as he was starting a new post-collegiate group out in Flagstaff, Arizona. Seeing how I had nothing to do and I was still in my pre-training build up (meaning getting in shape to actually train) I decided to drive out there with some friends that were also thinking about moving to the area.
    I enjoyed my stay and the guys on the team were great, but I didn't really get the same vibe/excitement while there that I got (and still do get) for Boulder. So that plan was out. I flew back to Boulder with once again very little clue as to the next step. Eventually it dawned on me that Lorraine should be my coach. Both she and Harlan had always been great people for me to bounce ideas off and I always felt that they had my best interest in mind. Add to the fact that Lorraine herself was a great runner and I was IN!
    I finally came out and asked her at a Collegiate cross country meet we were at. We talked about how we would approach training and what sort of things we would try. She always knew what I was up to while w/ Brad, so she had an idea of what I should do vs. what I had done and how to tweak things here and there in order to get the most out of my talents.
    So there you have it. Lorraine & I started our coach/athlete relationship the 1st week of October. The rest as they say, "Is history..." but this time I hope, it's history in the making. The next few months should tell a lot. Thanks for reading (or attempting to), I promise to try and keep the next blogs shorter. I figured in order to better understand where I'm going, one should know where I've been.

Peace & Love