The 3 letters that taught me these things actually came from the weirdest and most unexpected place. These 3 letters brought me to a place where I could express my talents. Even more important, it brought me to a place that many students never had to. It brought me to a place where I was forced to ask myself “how bad do I want this?”

You Figure Out The 3 Letters Yet?

If you have not I am talking about the TTC aka the bus (the ttc is the name of the public transit in Toronto.) You are probably asking me how the bus could teach me such important life lessons and I will explain how the bus partially made me everything I am today.

At the time I never realized but I thank my parents so much for encouraging me to go to a school that was nowhere near my home. It might sound crazy but the fact that I had to wake up at 5:50 every morning just to get to high school made a huge difference in my life. I got to school before most kids even woke up.

This taught me that when you want something in life you have to go get it. I wanted to go to a school that was known for track and all the schools around me were not up to par. Traveling that distance brought me to a place where I could excel, and earn myself a scholarship.

Up to this day I don’t have a car and I never have had one to call my own. I grind on the bus every day even though I could get a car if I really wanted to. Why? Because it reminds me of the grind, it reminds of the struggle and where I came from. Whenever someone is generous enough to let me sit in their car I appreciate the things that many people take for granted.

I used a little thing like taking the bus every day to become a very positive thing in my life and make me a better person. Think of where you are in your life now, and work backwards to all the events that brought you to where you are. How often do you stop to just appreciate those things?

We have a shirt coming out in the month of December for Parilexx and the shirt will speak to a lot of people out there. We spend a lot of time wanting more and more but sometimes we need to step back and be thankful for what we do have and just smile about it. We had to make a shirt to remind people of that. To everyone reading this keep working hard and never forget to use everything around you as motivation.

(original image by fedders4)

21 years I have been on this planet and when I reflect back and think about the things I have learned since I have been here the list actually blew my mind. I’m going to keep it as real as possible for these next 21 points.

1. Know That Most People Don’t Really Have Your Back

Don’t even bother to cry about this one just accept it. People will come and go in your life and you will do the same in others life. You will think you had the best friend in the world but in reality they were just in your life to teach you a valuable lesson and then you move on and so do they. As you get older you trust people less, because over the years you get tired of thinking you have real friends.

2.Wake Up Earlier Than Those Around You

There is nothing like that sweet 5 am grind. The best part is seeing everyone else crawl out of bed at 10 and you know you got 5 hours of work in before they woke up. There is something about waking up early that is a key trait in successful people. The only reason people don’t get up early is because they are lazy and we all have done it. There is no such thing as not being a morning person, that is just some bull you made up to stay in bed longer. I know this because that is how I get out of most parties I say “I’m not a night person” and no one believes me because they know it is bull.

3. Sh*t Happens

I hate to say it but you are not the only person with problems today. There is a whole planet full of people with problems. Don’t complain to others about them just take them with a grain of salt and bounce back. When I look back on my life there were no problems that I think were actually worth stressing over like I did. Not everything will go in your favor, but you can always make the best of things anyway.

4. Parents Are THE ONLY Advisors

With wisdom you start to realize you should not ask anyone a damn thing unless you really trust them. Parents are the only 2 people on this planet that can be so pissed at you that they want to slap you in your head, yet they will still hope for the best. I was blessed with two wonderful parents and though they may not think so I listen to them a lot. If I want the truth in a nice way I talk to my dad, and if I want it real I talk to my mom. Both of them have never told me anything to this day that could have led me down the wrong path. That does not mean everything they say is what I should do, it just means everything they say is worth at least considering.

5. Be Quiet

Think before you speak, be a great listener, and never be the loudest person in the room. Being a great listener is never an easy task because sometimes I just don’t want to listen. Listening always pays off more than talking does though. With all that you will show others a great humbleness in yourself. People respect those who are humble.

6. What Matters Can Change Big Time

You grow up thinking that what matters is what your friends think, how many people like you, how good you are sports and a whole bunch of other things. In the end all that matters is how many people have you helped. Once I got that everything in my life changed. I know longer wanted to run fast so people looked up to me, I wanted to do it because it would put me on a better stage to help other people.

7. Slap Yourself for Making Excuses

The only excuse you should ever have is excuses are inexcusable. Weak people make excuses. People who want a way out make excuses. When I make an excuse I literally am so upset at myself.

8. Accept That People Only Holler at You When They Need You

I do not see this as being that bad. I try hard to never seem like that type of person but I do not get mad when someone does not talk to me until then they need something. Life is about helping people so just look at it as more brownie points for yourself if you have to.

9. The People You Click With Hold On To

There are some people in this world that I have to avoid deep conversation with because I know we will talk forever and I will get nothing done. Everyone has people that they click very well with. I have a training partner I click well with, friends I click well with and even acquaintances that I click well with. These are the people you need to surround yourself with because you think of great things with these people and you feed your mind.

10. Get Tougher Skin

Learn to say no. Know that you don’t want to do something even though that is what everyone else is doing. It is always still challenge to me but you can’t always be the nice person, it will eventually lead you down a bad path.

11. Grades Don’t Mean a Thing

Completing college just shows that you can jump through hoops. It really does not show you know how to apply anything and most people can’t. They take unrealistic multiple choice tests and forget all the information as soon as they finish. This is not learning. I never define myself by my grades; to me it is about learning. Self-education is a very important thing to me, and it is what has really helped me advance and grow as a person.

12. Love is Essential

Love is magical. It can be love for a mate, love for you family, or just love for a close friend. Love is what makes so many loose ends in this world tie together. Love can give you a purpose but best of all love can make you smile and feel better than anything else can. Always find time to love everyday

13. Sports are Just Sports

In high school track was my life and I realized I should have never made it my life. I got punished for making it my life with numerous injuries because I put it above everything else. I never really found my true passion in running and started running for the right reasons until I realized I can’t make it my world. This does not mean that sports are not important they are, but they are just a part of your life. Your success in them does not define you in anyway. It is when you think that your success in sport defines the person that you are, and then you will begin to have problems.

14. Make Your Own Rules

People hate rules so much yet very few people ever choose to make their own. Live life how you want to live, set rules that are much different from others but they also put you on a different level. I set rules for myself that most other people could never live up to. In order to attain success you can’t live by the rules of society because they are much too low of standards. Sadly many people lower the bar to match it and fit in.

15. Lame People Win

Often in life it is the people who are considered to be boring who do the most damage. I totally understand why. Boring people have way to much work to do to have what others would consider fun. They are about handling their business. When I look back at my life in College or even back to high school, the boring things are what got me to where I am. Well what seemed to be exciting at the time was just what got me into trouble. I eventually learned to turn the boring things into my fun things and that is when my productivity sky rocketed.

16. The People Who think they are Unique are the Followers.

Most of the time I have found that people who preach about how they are so different from everyone, are usually the ones who know they are just like everyone. It goes with being humble I guess, if you are trend setter, be a trend setter in silence. It also goes with being the most talkative and loud mouth person in a room; it proves nothing to anyone that you can run your mouth. If you are really leading the heard, the sheep will know, you don’t need to tell them.

17. Do Things No One Understands

Sometimes you have to make choices that only you get. You can’t explain it you don’t have a reason but you just know you are following your heart. Life is not always about doing what other people want, because sometimes other people do not know what is best for you.

18. Laugh Everyday

Everyday should bring a new opportunity to laugh until you cry. It is makes you feel like a kid.

19. Reading Actually is Cool

You think that losers read books but this is far from true. People who have plans to take over the world read books. People who have self-discipline read books. People who know they need to feed their brain read books. I am definitely not talking about any text book, that is not reading that is jamming pointless information into your brain. I am talking books you decided to read on your own free will. These are the books that change people’s lives forever. I have read books that opened my eyes to so many different things that I can’t stop reading.

20. All You Need is Google

I don’t fill my head with useless information. From this people might think I am dumb because I barely remember things. This includes things I try to study, usually I won’t remember for the test and I do poorly. I say this if I can figure some stupid question out on Google in 30 seconds why would I fill my brain with it. I use my brain to think and think hard. I use it to think of things that others are incapable of. I use it to think of how to be better than I was the day before. It is that simple I use my brain to fill in what Google can’t tell me.

21. Communication is EVERYTHING

If you are good at communicating your thoughts and feelings to others in this world you will always be needed and wanted. Whenever there are problems 95% of the time they result from problems in communication. Once one thing is communicated wrong it is just broken telephone from there. Spend time thinking about your communication process. It does not mean you have to tell people everything but when you do, at least be aware of what you are saying and how they could take it.

(original image by maybii)

We all have to ask sometimes when it will be my time to shine. When will it be me in the lights? Why is it that things seem so much harder for me? Well I am here to say that only the people who are strong enough will ever find out the answers to those questions.

This track season taught me that things WILL NOT come to you on your own accord. We all want to be the best and we all want to be winners. Here is the fact that if everyone gets what they want no one gets what they want.

We cannot all win, we cannot all shine, we cannot all be happy at the same time.

When they say only the strong survive there is a reason for that. Too many people quit pushing forward before they allow themselves to have their time to shine. There breakout period is right around the corner. They just have one more year to go and they quit or stop trying.

Good times come and go man. I had so many rough breaks this track season with bad weather and rough winds. One thing I did do was prove to myself that I can run with and beat some of the best in the country.  I missed making it to nationals by .004 of a second. Talk about tough to swallow eh?

My good friend Byrce said it best though. Some people use that as fuel to quit because they did not get what they want. While the strong say hell no and come back next year like monsters. Make your choice.

(original image by killy)

I have come a long way in life but I still have a long way to go. These are the 12 mistakes that I look back on and just shake my head at.  I want Cover Ground readers to feel like they have X ray vision, and they can just see everything before it has a chance to happen.  Here they are, and don’t copy my mistakes please.

1.) Not Lifting From an Earlier Age

I did not begin weight lifting until my senior year of high school, and the first year is just getting the hang of it.  By the time I went to college I was the weakest on the team and surrounded by teammates who seemed like they had been lifting since their mom’s water broke.  There are too many myths out there about lifting being bad for you at an early age. If I could go back in time I would learn the fundamentals of lifting in grade 8.  Than by the start of high school I would be ready to begin lifting with decent form.

2.) Not Working to Play Football in the States

I was a good football player and I never really put any time into trying to get better at it. I was always labeled as too small but if I had started to lift a bit earlier it scares me to think of what I could have done on the gridiron….oh well.

3.) Not Reading More About Training & Sports

Since I began this blog, I have started to read so much more. The things that I have learned are mind blowing. I have become a better writer, and a wiser human as a result of it. I always say damn, imagine if I obtained this knowledge in high school.

4.) Having Patience with Injuries

I always tried to rush back from my injuries, and I always paid the price for doing so, with re injuries then happening. I know now that sometimes you need to just accept you are hurt and wait for when it is your time to return. When you do return, do not just jump back into things like you never left. Like a person your falling in love with, you need to take it slooooow.

5.) Expecting More Than I Received

I get in this mode after an injury where I feel robbed. I feel like I worked so hard and received nothing for it. I know now that there was a lesson out of it, another opportunity in life to learn. In reality the time I spent being pissed at life was time robbed from getting better.

6.) Wanting to Transfer Colleges

I was ungrateful, I could not see how good I had things. I knew things could be better, but that is life. Things can always be better if you are not thankful for what you have. My season looked so promising and I got injured and it upset me so much that I wanted to run away and never come back.  Running away never solves your problems; they have to be dealt with one day. When, is up to you.

7.) Not Listening to People Who Truly Care About Me

If you have parents that are truly looking out for your best interest than hear them out. Do not just shut down their ideas. If anyone who cares about you is trying to help, at least hear them out.  You do not have to do everything they say, but if you get one good piece of advice out of 100 pieces of bad advice was it not worth it?

8.) Not Starting Cover Ground Earlier

All I can say is if you have an idea go after it. Do not procrastinate, or make excuses. This may sound cliche but it’s right…Just DO IT!

9.) Always Trying to be Tough & Fight Injuries

I blame football for this. I will know something is wrong and not say anything until I’m really hurt. Do not do it! Tell someone when something is not feeling right. Many of my injuries could have been prevented if I had just opened my mouth.

10.) Wishing People Knew My Story

I use to spend so much time wishing that people knew what I have been through as an athlete.  I wanted them to know that I could have been so much further along if it were not for the setbacks.  Just typing this I feel stupid, because it does not matter what I been through, it matters where I am going.  On top of that everyone has struggles so if you think you are the only one with problems, GET OVER IT.

11.) Being Able to Focus in School Like I Do For Sports

Now, I do not get horrible grades, but neither am I an A student.  Honestly, I never thought school was important, and to a certain degree I still don’t but I do give it my all.  If school does not come easy to you like being an athlete does, keep working hard at it because education can change a lot about how people see you.

12.) Feeling in the Shadow of My Brother

I use to feel like everything I did was nothing compared to him. I went to world youth championships in 2007 and I came 7^th. I was the 7^th fastest kid in the world . I never felt like I accomplished anything because when my brother went and he came 2^nd.  If you feel like you are chasing after someone else accomplishments stop now. You have to live your own life and have your own journey.

(original image by esterburja)

I learned that you are truly only as good as your last race in track and field.  To be honest, this is what I love because right now I am down and no one remembers the things I have done.  All they know at this point is what happened in my last race. This makes me smile because I love a good challenge.

On July 13, 2010 I came out and ran my first race since hurting my hamstring in February 2010.  My best in the 100 is 10.48, which was run on a back that was fractured, which was my last 100 meter race dating back to May 14, 2009.  Fast forward 14 months and you have my come back race which was far off from my best at 10.79. Yes, I can get a lot faster, no doubt about it.  Am I upset at my performance, nooo way. When the run is put into perspective I am proud of what I have been able to accomplish.

I have been training on and off since February with on and off hamstring issues that might have been more mental than anything but it still turned into missed training time. This is the part of the year where other athletes are starting their peak phase and are getting ready to run as fast as ever. My training is no where near peaking; I am basically just running to get the remains of my season back.  The real challenge is going to be seeing what I can accomplish in the next 2 weeks of training before nationals. I made a bunch of mistakes in my race but they are things that I think I can easily fix with some focus during my training.

Will I get back to where I left off in February probably not, but my heart knows where I have been this year. The year has been one of the most challenging, educational, stressful, yet promising years of my life.  My main goal was to show that I can overcome the injury that I sustained, and that is what I did. The season is still far from over; I have no plans of giving up because that is not what I do.

I know where I went wrong this year and I know the mistakes I have made so I am more than prepared to get things right for the next season coming up. I am going to work harder than I ever have in my life but at the same time I am going to be smarter than I have ever been.  Mark my word, I am down right now and I am far from where I want to be. With that in mind I am far from out, I am going to step my game and Cover Ground up to the next level.

I am at a difficult point in my year right now. I have to sit here and watch times, see what other athletes are doing, and either say wow because of how well they do, or be like I could be right up there.  Either way I’m not sweating, I have accepted that my collegiate season is over and I am moving on to other things. My indoor season looked too promising to just let an injury end my season.

I am back in Canada now training my butt off for the summer season. My goal now moved from making it to NCAA nationals, to doing some damage with my brother at Canadian Nationals. I do not have class to worry about so now it is just about sleeping, eating, running and lifting. We will see where my journey to be great brings me next, stay tuned…

I learned some major things about being an athlete this indoor season. My goals that I set for myself were not attained but the things I did gain from this indoor season are worth more than that, and will help me far into my life plans.  I was hit with yet another road block in my path, but this road block for once was not a major road block. It was a minor road block, or speed bump I should say. My goal for this indoor season was to go to indoor nationals. That was the ultimate goal and I do not believe I was that far off that goal, but I am not ashamed to say I FAILED. I was not successful in completing this goal.

My indoor season started off well, I dropped a personal record my first three 60 meter runs out.  I didn’t get to run indoor track my freshman year of college because of my back injury that had plagued me. I can sit here and say MY BACK DID NOT BUG ME ONCE THIS YEAR. It was actually not the fall of my indoor season. This showed me that the hard work and time I put into fighting this back injury finally has paid off. The stretching at night, the countless extra exercises in the weight room, and  never skipping hurdle mobility drills paid off.  It may sound extra cliche but hard work pays off, if you put your all into it than you will eventually see results.

I also learned that I can not make mistakes in my routine that got me to the point where I was. The week of big 12 I focused so much on the race and the big meet coming up that I forgot to drink plenty water to keep myself hydrated. To make mattters worse I already do not like to eat or drink to much on meet day which resulted in one super dehydrated athlete. The result of that was a cramp at 30 meters that I attempted to run though further causing a hamstring strain. At the time this seemed like the end of the world for me. This was the second time I was hurt at big 12′s and it sucked to have something go wrong again. Everything seemed just right – my mother came to see me run, and the conference championships were at my home track.  It did not pan out the way I wanted. I will bounce back because I know that  I have to be patient and wait for my time.

On another good note I wanted to start establishing myself as a sprinter to watchout for at meets in the NCAA, and I would say I got this process moving forward. It is by no means where I want my presence to be at but again I must be patient. I did make it known that I will not be a pushover. I never lost any races to another collegiate athlete. I won one of the meets and at the other  two  I lost to Ivory Williams in one meet who ran the worlds fastest time of the year. At the other meet I lost to Ibrahim Kabia who made the final at the world indoor championships. I can not be to upset about those two losses.

Times for the Year

Cyclone Open

Heat – 6.85

Final -6.76

Bill Bergan Invitational

Heat – 6.81

Final – 6.72 (put me 18th in the NCAA at the time)

Cyclone Classic

Heat – 6.76

Final – 6.74

(original image by cylones.com)

This is a day in the life of an student-athlete in college in the States, and also one striving for great things on the track.

8:10- Wake up

8:30 -  Breakfast (eggs, big bowl of oatmeal), drink vital veggies in my water, take morning vitamins

9:00- Fill water bottle for the day, and get snacks ready for class time and leave for class

9:30- 11:30 (varies) – Class

12:00- Eat Lunch

12:30- Do homework

2:00- Get ready for practice (make protein drinks, get after practice snack and water)

2:30- Track Practice

5:00- Weights

6:00- Shower/ Training Room (Rehab, Ice Bath)

7:00- Make Dinner and Eat Dinner

8:20-  Relax (talk on the phone with zovel and/or parents)

9:00-  Finish up last bit of homework if I have any or Continue to relax

9:45- Foam roll and Stretching routine with a late snack

11:00- Lights out

My back injury has been a long road of struggles and it can not even be stressed how badly it hurt me. It ruined seasons, made me cry numerous times, and has taken away the chance to compete for Canada on numerous occasions. That’s ok though,  because over that time it built something that some people do not build their whole life; It built CHARACTER.

I had to deal with a problem that no one was a 100 percent sure how to fix, but I also had to learn to take responsibility for my part in things. I had to learn that life is not about blaming other people, because before you can blame anyone for anything you have to ask your self if you did everything you could do to prevent the situation. I realised I had not done everything I could have… I could have eaten better, slept better, partied less, stretched more and so many more things I could have made an effort to do, but I CHOOSE NOT TO.

While I was injured many people probably assumed I did what most injured athletes do sit on their butt and wait for someone to give them the magical cure. I was waiting for some magical cure that did not involve too much hard work for me, but I still put in a lot of work to get better. I was in my freshman year in college and I was as hungry as ever to get on that track and prove my worth.

Rehab Program

• no running so I did form drills all practice
• twice a week of pool workouts
• 6 days a week doing 4 glute exercises a day
• A lot of stretching
• Still did all my weight workouts except workouts that put any load on the spine
• Ankle stability 3 times a week
• Deep core work everyday

This was an excellent plan and it got me back on the track and feeling healthy. I came out of my first race running in 4 months with a pr in the 100m, went on to make the drake relays final as a freshman and be the only freshman in the 100 final at Big 12′s. This was not the end of the injury for me and I could not understand how or why.  There was another major lesson learned shortly after in this story.

Pt 3 coming up….

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.