No Stoppin' Now | USA's 2008 Paralympic Silver Medalist

In my spare time, I like to make music on my piano keyboard. It’s a pretty high-end board called a Yamaha Motif XS. I have another one which is an older version called a Yamaha Motif ES. They both are really cool and fun to play around with. The possibilities of making music are endless on these things. Since the keyboard does not speak to me as my computer does, I have to remember all of the buttons and maneuver around the screens by memory. It’s tough trying to keep all of the information in your head but as you continue to work on the keyboard, you get used to working in certain modes and everything becomes natural. You can do everything on these work station keyboards including recording voacls and recording music from external instruments/devices.

I play the keyboard and made this instrumental that I would like for you to hear. Take a listen and tell me what you think about it.

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Well, it’s been a while. I have been through so much since I’ve last written in the blog. For starters, my computer crashed at the beginning of March. Talk about a tragedy, especially since I didn’t have anything backed up so yes, I lost it all — music, files, everything. You only have to find out once, though. I have an external hard drive with all of my information up there now. So let’s talk…

When I last wrote, I was dealing heavily with initial workouts such as those hated bike workouts. They’re really good for athletes, but they’re painful to finish, but no pain, no gain. Is that how it goes? Hope so…

It’s now the beginning of July and the season is in full effect. I’ve been in three meets and have another coming up on July 17. My first meet landed us in Walnut, CA for the Mount Sac Relays. It’s definitely one of the biggest meets in the United States for track and field. I ran the 100m there and finished third with a time of 11.91. I can remember being a little disappointed after that race because I hadn’t ran like I did in practice, and my coach let me know that as soon as I was done. After regrouping, we traveled to Pennsylvania for the Penn relays where I ran the 100m again. I finished third once more, but ran an 11.88 this time. That was a little faster, but still, I felt as though I didn’t run as if I was in practice. I feel so much faster in practice and I’m very relaxed. As soon as we line up for the gun, everything speeds up and my thoughts begin to race. It’s just something I’ll have to continue to work on. It’s normal for me to be a little nervous before competing but I’m usually focused on the task at hand. Then again, this is my first year of really running the 100m with technical coaching. But hey, I’ll get it together; it just means I have to work a little harder. After Penn relays, I had to do a little traveling for track and field including a speech in Chicago, IL and an appearance in Atlanta, GA. Then, I returned home for one of my best friend’s wedding. That equaled five weekends in a row where I was on the road competing and handling business for track and field.

Once I made it back to San Diego, I came down with pneumonia. I’ve never been so sick in my life. If you don’t know about it, don’t find out because it had me out of training for two and a half weeks, and then I still had to stay out of training for a few more days. Thank God I made it through because I was actually getting kinda worried. Yes, I got worried about something, LOL. Some people think I don’t get worried for nothing, but that issue warranted some worrying.

So I made it through pneumonia, and then geared up for a jumpers meet here at the Olympic training center. I only jumped from a short approach meaning I took about ten steps instead of my usual sixteen. My furthest off of this approach was 6.20m which is about 20 ft, 4 in. For a first jump of the year, I was pretty happy but still thought I could have done better that day. I did accomplish my goal of getting my A standard for the year. As an athlete, you have standards that you must meet in order to gain or maintain certain privileges such as staying on the national team. You have an A standard, a B standard, and an emerging elite standard. Athletes with an A standard receive the highest level of support. National team members have a lot of benefits, one being able to train at the Olympic training center. So that was a plus for me, I retained my national team status for the end of this year and the upcoming year.

Since then I have been training hard for the upcoming meet in Colorado, but I’m focused and excited for 2010 because things are going to pick up tremendously. We have our national trials for the IPC World Championships that will be held in New Zealand in January of 2011. That’s what I want to be a part of and that’s what I plan to achieve.

There’s definitely more I have to share with you, but I’m going to get out of here and try to get some more updating done on the site. But that has been my life in a nutshell.

The last week of training was very tough. I was introduced to my first bike workout. Bike workout? Yeah, it sounds pretty simple, but under my Coach, Dan Pfaff, it’s no fun at all. This is how it worked. I had to pedal as fast as I could for ten seconds. You have to set your bike up so that you have a good amount of resistance. You have a minute rest in between each ten second pedaling. So get this, I had five sets of five 10 second repetitions, one minute in between each repetition and 3 minutes in between each set. After the second or third set, the legs feel really heavy. Once you get to the last set, your legs feel like they’re going to explode. Nevertheless, I got through the week doing bike workouts and they became slightly easy — just a tad, not much. It rained a lot last week, so that’s part of the reason why I had to do those workouts most of the week. But hey, when it’s all said and done, give me a Live Strong band, a bike, and call me Lance Armstrong cause I’m gonna pedal like a beast!

I’ll keep writing as usual. This post is short because there wasn’t too much going on last week. Like I said, the weather had a lot to do with last week’s workouts.

As I thought, week 2 was a lot more intense than the first. The track workouts picked up in length, but the weight room workouts are now a “beast.” I have to go in there six days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are dedicated for heavy weight lifting and Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday are for “body building.” Body building is made up of twelve exercises that you do in a sequence. After you do those twelve exercises, you have a couple minutes of rest and then you go at it again. By the end of the second set, you’re almost dead. The third and final set is tough, but that set is where champions are made. I’ll be a champion real soon LOL.

Oddly enough, it was cold and raining last week. I thought it was always sunny in San Diego, but there are days when it’s not warm outside. Actually, it’s been raining for the past few days. I had to turn on my heat last night. You definitely don’t turn that on much out here.

Surprisingly, it’s almost time to start competing. A couple more weeks and the outdoor season will start. I need a little more time for training and then I’ll be ready to get the ball rolling. It should be an exciting year competition wise.

As always, I’ll keep you posted. I need to try and find something to eat before I have to go to the weight room. Until the next time…

If you don’t know, starting up training after a long period of time off does not feel good. My first week of training was great but my body let me know how long of a break I took off. The crazy thing is, I got in San Diego on last Tuesday, and didn’t even start training until Thursday. So, I have this itching suspicion that this week, week two, will be even more fun.

I’m happy about how things are going so far though. I have a new training schedule, new goals to accomplish, and a high level of motivation for this upcoming season. My training days are longer than what they were last year, but I’ll get used to that with a little bit of time. Today, marks the beginning of my first full week of practice, so as I said before, it should be an interesting experience LOL. Hopefully, I’ll be able to hold up the whole week. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

And by the way, how about those North Carolina Tar Heels! Yeah baby! That’s how you beat up that Wolf Pack! Excuse me, but I had to throw that out there.

Wow, I’m finally back in sunny San Diego, California at the Olympic Training Center. It feels so good to be back. This is my home away from home. It’s hard to imagine leaving cold weather in Raleigh, NC and arriving in 70 to 80 degree weather. Amazing!

This is where it all begins in 2009. It’s time to begin the long journey for London 2012. It seems so far away, but the way time flies it’ll be here before I know it. Shockingly, this will be my first time seriously training and preparing for the next games. I mean, 2004, I was just getting in to all of this and didn’t know what to expect so I was doing my thing. From 2004 to 2008, I was attending ECU and had to focus on school, my social life, and training. Training took the back burner most of the time. Now, I’m 24, and serious about trying to be the best in all of my events. My guide runner, Wes, is here and ready to get the ball rolling. We have new coaches and a new program here at the training center so things are on the “up and up”. I’m excited.

Off the track, things are looking pretty good. The public speaking is going pretty well actually and I’m hoping to get more speeches in the near future. I love to stay busy.

I’m not sure if I’m ready to start training though. I’ve been at home eating up every signature southern dish/food possible. That includes Bojangles’ fried chicken, biscuits, and fries, mac and cheese, Hungry Howie’s pepperoni pizza, and the list goes on and on. The first couple weeks of training may be the worse ever LOL.

My room here is a total mess though. I need to get some organization in there. It’s hard to juggle all of it with such little space. I’ll get it done sometime in the next few days.

Even though I miss the food and home, I’ll be back in a few weeks to receive an award that I was nominated for. The banquet is called the Evening of Champions, and it will be at the Embassy Suites in Cary, NC. It’s on March 5, 2009. And yes, you may attend if you would like. You can find all of the information about the event at www.thesportscouncil.org.

On that note, I’m going to get out of here and see what I can find to eat.

Well, it’s a new year and it marks the beginning of training for the next games in 2012. Some of my friends have already started training, but not me. I’ve been enjoying my family and friends here in North Carolina. I’m eager to start though and get back in to the mix.

As you know, this day has been one that no one will ever forget. It has definitely been a historical day in American history and we all had the opportunity to witness President Barack Obama and his family get ready to take their home in the White House. Wow, can you believe it?

But can you believe this? We had snow in North Carolina for the first time in a few years. I think the last time we had snow, I was still attending East Carolina University. My roommates and I had plenty of fun. I can remember one time when my roommate Josh ran outside screaming and yelling about how it was snowing outside. My other roommate, Annmarie, ran out behind him excited to see what it looked like out there. Little did she know, Josh had run back inside and locked the door preventing her from getting back inside. It wasn’t snowing outside, but it was freezing cold, and she had her pajamas on. Talk about laughing. I was in our living room dying on the floor.

On this day, though, my mom was inside watching the Inaugural speech and events. Where was I? Outside enjoying the snow. One of my friends had texted me asking why I wasn’t watching the festivities on television. I told her I would meet President Obama in 2012 after we return from the Paralympic Games and take our White House visit. It was too nice in our neighborhood. There was snow everywhere. Cars drove by slowly and people walked around laughing and playing. You could hear the screams of children in their backyards playing and having fun.

But most importantly, I think the Olympic Committee will be very proud to know that I have a new friend and potential athlete for the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. His name is Meltin. I’m not sure what event he wants to try out, but look, he already has much confidence in making the team. He even has the USA hat and jacket. He’s “rockin’” it if I have to say so myself. I’ll have to call up my people and see who he needs to contact so we can get him on the slopes somewhere. I bet he’ll be a great Nordic skier or something, or maybe a speedster on the snowboard. Who knows? Just make sure you keep an eye out for Meltin in the 2010 Winter Games.

Read this article that was written in the ECU News Bureau. It talks about my training and how things have been going as of this year. Leave comments after you have read it.

While I’m writing this, I have to give a shout-out to my ECU family. I love you guys! To be specific, everyone at Campus Living, everyone at DSS, and all of my people in the RCLS department! I also want to thank everyone at Raleigh Parks and Rec. I love you too! Thanks for your support!

Oh yeah, and go Pirate football! You’re doing really good so far this year!

Here’s another interview that you must watch! It’s from the local Fox station here in San Diego:

Let me know what you think about it.

If you don’t already know, this is my second Paralympic games. I went to Athens in 2004, but I didn’t get a chance to attend the opening ceremonies because I had to compete the next day. This year, that isn’t the case. My competition doesn’t start until Monday.

Last night was ridiculous! All of U.S.A. sat outside of the stadium waiting to march inside the National Stadium (A.K.A. the Bird’s Nest). The crazy thing is while we were outside, we could still keep up with what was going on inside because there were television screens on the side of the building. While we waited, I was doing my usual, talking and joking around with other team mates.

It was finally our turn to begin walking in. There were tons of Chinese people greeting us and cheering us from both sides of the walk way and we weren’t even inside yet. There were tons of clapping hands and yelling voices applauding us.

We entered the tunnel. I could hear nothing but our delegation yelling “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” We made it through to the other side and everything opened. It was the national stadium full of spectators. I would assume majority of them were Chinese. It was sold out, 92,000 strong. I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed anything like that. We walked around the stadium on the track which was covered by some carpet material. I waved to the crowd and to our Chinese friends standing in the middle of the track. As soon as all of our people made it in, we took our seats in the stands.

I sat in my seat as the rest of the delegations marched in. Time kept passing, and more time kept passing, and then…the crowd erupted. It caught my attention very quickly. The PA announcer proudly announced that the Republic of China would be marching in next. The place went bananas! I’ve never heard so much cheering, screaming, and enjoyment like that in my life. They were really getting some major love. This had to have gone on for about 20 minutes or so.

Once everyone was seated, we all were entertained by talented Chinese musicians and dancers. I have a small video clip of some of the dancers that you can watch right here:

Overall, the show was outrageous. Never have I been a part of anything like that in my life. I’m glad I actually got a chance to attend it this year. And now, I’ll have to move my focus to my competition.

Like I said before, if you have comments or questions, leave them for me and I’ll respond. Check out the video clip as well.