Italy and Europe Begin

May 11-13, 2010 (Goppingen)

We decided to stay with my friend Katrin for a few days because Brent and I decide to take a trip to Madrid, Spain for the weekend. We did a little running, laundry, and just relaxed.

May 10, 2010 (Tubingen)

I rode with Julian Ade from Desenzano del Garda, Italy to Tubingen, Germany where I was stayed with my friend Jenny for the night. Tubingen is a small University town which is really cool because university town have lots to do. Tomorrow we will pick Brent up at 2pm and then go to dinner with Katrin and Jenny and go home to stay with Katrin for a few days before we move to Stuttgart to start training.

May 9, 2010 (2^nd Day Multistars)

Woke up at 4:30am and couldn’t fall asleep until 7:00am which gave me 1 hour asleep before I had to be up for breakfast and to compete. Caffeine will be my friend today. I felt great warming up for hurdles and it should because I ran 14.22 only .1 off my Personal best but this was into a 1.5 headwind. I moved closer to first winning the event and then after a huge personal best in the discus 48.80 (over 5 feet better) I moved into first place. I then went on to win the pole vault at 5.15 and then threw 56.40 in the pouring rain and fouled a throw that was a personal best. I then ran a 4:36 to hold of the bronze medalist of the Olympics to win with a 8141 score my third best all time and only 10 points off a second day best score. With the bad winds and rain I am very happy with the score and know that I will be ready to score very high in Gotzis in 3 weeks. Off to Stuttgart, Germany for 2 weeks of training.

Afterwards is always a good time for all the athletes because we have a celebration dinner where we can all hang out and blow off some steam. We had some good Italian wine and danced the night away before we have to take off the next day. I have made lots of new friends and reconnected with others at this decathlon. I now have a travel and training partner, my buddy Brent Newdick of New Zealand will be going with me to train in Stuttgart Germany

May 8, 2010 (1^st Day Multistars)

I woke up at 5am this morning for 2 hours before I could fall asleep again and slept for about another hour before I had to be up so I could get breakfast and make it to the track before we started at 11am. The rain has cleared for today and I hope it stays away for the weekend. I won my heat of the 100m with 11.25 but was not happy because it was a head wind and my legs from the jet lag did not have the strength to finish the race strong. Long Jump I ha to work hard to put up a 6.92 which is good for me. The winds are very bad for both events and then the rain came back as we were warming up for shot put. I had good warm-ups and it cleared as competition started and I threw 15.67m that was a half meter Personal best it was a huge throw that moved me closer to first place. High jump was below average and so was the 400m but I felt that I had empty legs from jet lag. I was fine though being in second at 4006 points sandwich between two of the worlds best from Cuba. Off to bed to put a great second day together.

May 7, 2010 (Italy)

I arrived in Desenzano Del Garda two days ago and have not done much but train and sleep. I have had a great season so far this year and training has been amazing. I feel great and so ready to take on the best in the world. Tomorrow I begin my decathlon in Desenzano and will be competing against the 2^nd and 5^th best guys in the World from Cuba. I have been constantly ranked lower then what I end up doing. I love being the underdog and working my ass off to prove I am better. Wish me luck on this decathlon.