Think about how much can change in your life in 12 years. Well for me, in the last 12 years many things have changed in my life, on the track, in the classroom, with my family and so much more. The one thing I have tried to keep constant is my presence on the track and field scene.
I have witnessed so many one hit wonders, guys who swear they have my number, kids who train everyday just hoping to take my spot, or people who just want to see me fall. I have seen great athletes quit for girls, school, to pursue other dreams, and some just because they were outright lazy. When I think about it from the time that I stepped on the track in 1996 until this day I AM STILL STANDING. As I get older the competition gets better and broader, but it does not scare me one bit because I know what I have gone through to get here.
I have survived a broken tibia that cracked through my growth plate that forced me into two surgeries. I bounced back from having one of the most severe cases of mono that doctors have ever seen – it came with extreme body temperture changes, body rash, extremely swollen lymp nodes, white chunky stuff in the back of my throat, and 20 pounds lost in my weight. This all happend to me right at that time between indoor and outdoor season of my sophmore year in highschool, but guess what I BOUNCED BACK. I never gave up on the season, people who are not still running track today figured I would never be able to get my season back together because I did not do NOTHING for 6 weeks at a crucial time of the year.
When I think about it, most people who would of experienced this would have given up. I will not give up because I want to keep standing the test of time. I want to be the last man standing every year. That same year that I had an amazing season and I shocked many people. But God was not done testing me, he wanted to see what I was really made of so at one of my last meets of the year I had an avulsion fracture of my hip that ended a promising season. Then, the next season was ended with the back injury that went on to end the next 2 years after that one…
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING… I am still running and I am still in the mind of my opponents. I work my butt off everyday because I know it is the only way to get to where I want to be. There is no short cut, or no fast way to get there. It’s like, I’m in Iowa and I need to get back home. There is no fast way to do it, no planes no cars, no help, I have to walk the journey one… step… at… a time. When I look back at where I have come from, and the amount of people I have seen come and go out of the game. I know that anything can be thrown at me and I will make it, because for me thats bigger than any gold medal.
