May 27, 2004
For those who don't know me but see me everyday, I'm the maitre d' at the University Club in Reynolds Alumni Center (stop by and say hi) for three hours out of my day. It's a normal job where I'm not the boss. It's great, because it is a sanity break from thinking about track all the time.
This week I was in L.A. for the Home Depot Invitational. Los Angeles, city of angels, and more plastic surgeons than anywhere else in the world. For this meet, I had to leave Columbia at 3 a.m. to make it to St. Louis for a 6 a.m. flight to L.A. Not many people on I-70 at that time of morning. By the time I got on the plane, I was ready to crash - fall asleep, that is - and I did until I landed at LAX. This time I got star treatment, getting picked up in a limo and staying in a hotel on the beach with a great view of the Pacific and Long Beach Harbor.
As I looked out my bedroom window I could see cruise liners and cargo ships coming in from the far corners of the world. The water looks very inviting. There is something about open water and a walk on the beach that just gives me peace of mind and allows me to enjoy the beautiful things in life.
In the race, I finished third with a time of 1 minute, 47 seconds, which is my season's best so far. I didn't feel the greatest in my race, but I sucked it up and gave all I could for the day. I came through the first 400 meters slower than last week, but I finally got going fast about 150 meters from the finish line. I could smell the finish line and knew I had a shot at winning. I missed second place by one-hundreth of a second, finishing behind Elliott Blount. Jebreh Harris won with a time of 1:46.82.
This race is yet another step to my Olympic dream, and I'm getting closer. The thing that I'm learning is that I just have to have faith in what I'm doing out there and stay closer to the front of my races, so I can give myself a chance to win.
Next week's meet takes me back to the west coast, this time to Palo Alto, Calif., for the U.S. Open track meet. You can catch it on ESPN2.