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| Marvin Bracy is the 2014 World Indoor Championships 60 meter Silver Medalist. He won the 2014 U.S. Indoor Championship at 60 meters after winning the same sprint at Boston’s New Balance Grand Prix and the Millrose Games in New York City. In his brief collegiate career running for Florida State, Marvin had big indoor 60 meter wins in 2013 at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational, Tyson Invitational and ACC Indoor Championships. He competed in the 2012 United States Olympic Trials. In 2011 Marvin won at 100 meters at the USA Track and Field Junior Championships, adidas Grand Prix ‘Dream 100’ and Pan Am Juniors. He was named to the All-USA high school track and field team by USA Today in 2010 and 2011. The two-sport star participated in the 2012 Under Armour All-America Football Game. He was the 2012 Orlando Sentinel Athlete of the Year. Marvin won five FHSAA Florida Class 4A titles at 100 and 200 meters while competing for Boone High School in Orlando, Florida. His personal best times are: 60 meters - 6.48; 100 meters - 10.09 and 200 meters - 21.02. Marvin is a professional athlete sponsored by adidas and continues his collegiate studies at a local central Florida community college. He was gracious to spend fifty minutes on the phone just ten days after the 2014 World Indoor Championships. |
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| GCR: | Just two years ago you were competing at Orlando, Florida’s Boone High School and now you are the IAAF World Indoor 60m Silver Medalist. Some athletes work for years and years as a pro before they earn their first medal on the world stage. How does it feel to succeed on this level at only age twenty? |
| MB | It’s a great feeling. I have a great coach. I have a great training group and they instilled in me a great mind that I can work very hard and that this is what we work for. Everything we were doing and all the advice from our coach has all fallen together. |
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| GCR: | It’s interesting that you mention your training group as I know that you are training in Clermont, Florida with many excellent runners. How much does it help you to have so many good runners with you for competitiveness, going to a higher level and to learn from based on their experience? |
| MB | It is great to be able to learn from the USA Record Holder who has been on a bunch of teams. Tyson Gay is a great guy and it is nice to learn from him and others. It’s like a track meet every time we step on the track. I get coached up and it feels like a meet at the same time. |
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| GCR: | You have worked with a personal coach, Ricky Argro, for several years going back to high school. Is he still a part of your team? |
| MB | He is a part of my team though he isn’t my coach any more. When it was time for me to go pro I went with Coach Lance Brauman and he is one of the best coaches there is. As far as Coach Ricky, we are still close and talk a lot. Sometimes I have him watch me and see if he notices anything that can be helpful with my arms or foot placement. |
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| GCR: | Let’s talk about the World Championships at Sopot, Poland. How exciting was it to be at your first World Championships and to be a part of the U.S. team? |
| MB | It was a wonderful experience. I was a little more nervous than excited. I’m always nervous before a race, but this was the big dance. I had fun and enjoyed myself. I thought I could win if I took care of my business, but it was my first World Championships and I feel I did what I was supposed to do. |
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| GCR: | You did have a good shot at the Gold Medal and a Silver Medal is nothing to knock, but when you are just a couple hundredths of a second away from Gold do you look at it as an opportunity lost or more fuel for the fire next time? |
| MB | Definitely more fuel for the fire next time. I didn’t go in taking it for granted thinking that I was the favorite and was going to win the race. I knew that my opponents could run and that people were ready to PR every race. So I tried to run my race and do the best I could and that’s what got me the Silver Medal. I have to work harder and train smarter so that next time I can get Gold. |
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| GCR: | It’s such a short race and the next four finishers were all only one hundredth of a second behind you. How important is every little thing you do right or you don’t do right indoors because you need this increased perfection indoors to race your best? |
| MB | It is very important. I kind of got spared a bit by the grace of God as in the very first round I had a 0.216 reaction time to the gun and was able to maintain my composure, get to the front of the group and make it to the semis. Then in the semis I came out fast, had a great race and had one of the top times going into the finals. And then in the finals I was able to keep my composure with guys surrounding me at the finish line and I did a good dip to get on the medal stand. |
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| GCR: | Take us through the World Championships 60 meter final, breaking down your start in detail and then what was happening in your mind during the race. |
| MB | I just kept telling myself at the starting line when we went to our marks, ‘Be a champion, be a champion – you can run with these guys.’ Since I’m always nervous, I calmed myself down. I knew I needed a good start, so when the starter said, ‘set,’ I was patient. I got out and had a good start. At thirty meters I was just about leading. That’s when Kilty kind of took the lead a little bit. We were step for step, step for step and the last seven or eight meters is when I kind of lost it. I did what I did in Boston and tightened up and decided I would try to hold everybody off. I had never seen Kilty, but I saw Gerald behind me and thought I had won. When I saw it on the Jumbotron afterward I saw what happened. I thought I had won, but it happens to the best of us. |
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| GCR: | Do you like the intensity and focus indoors since you are only running six and a half seconds compared to ten seconds in 100 meters outdoors or do you like it better outdoors with the extra three-and-half seconds where you have a little bit more time? |
| MB | I’m kind of caught in a bind because indoors if I get out well I know I can win the race. If I don’t, the race can be over. In the 100 meters there is some time to get back. I think I do like the 100 meters more and that it is more exciting. |
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| GCR: | What were your thoughts when you walked on the track with the U.S. flag after the race and on the podium when you received your medal? |
| MB | I still couldn’t believe it all. It capped off a great season. I wanted to get the Gold, but got the Silver. It was a long season of a month-and-half so to cap it off mentally and physically I felt beat. I was happy the journey was over indoors and I was ready for outdoors. |
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| GCR: | You were in great form this indoor season and won at the Boston New Balance Grand Prix and Millrose Games in New York City. What was key to your consistent success the past few months? |
| MB | I went to Russia for my very first 60 meter race and only got third place. After that I kept telling myself, ‘I don’t want to lose again.’ Nobody wants to lose and I told myself to work harder. I was working hard up to that point, but stepped it up a notch and trained smarter. I utilized every piece of my talent and that’s what got me to the top. |
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| GCR: | Did you enjoy watching many of the other events and did you get a chance to sightsee much in Poland? |
| MB | The meet was on TV and so when I wasn’t at the meet I was watching. Also, they had a big Jumbotron at the stadium in the back where we could watch. I enjoyed rooting on some of the other athletes. |
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| GCR: | I have some Polish heritage, so I’m wondering if you enjoyed some Polish food like pierogies and golabki while you were there? |
| MB | Actually I didn’t. I’ve kind of got this thing about food – if I don’t know what it is, I don’t eat it. I ate as close to American food as I could. I’m an extremist as I eat the same thing every day. |
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| GCR: | What is your nutritional program throughout the day to keep fueling your body properly? |
| MB | To be honest I usually eat better, but since I’ve been travelling more it has fallen off. I like to buy groceries and come home. I don’t eat badly, but it could be better. |
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| GCR: | Do you try to load up on fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains? |
| MB | I eat a lot of fruit but am not so fond of many vegetables so I can improve there. |
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| GCR: | To make it to the World Championships you won the U.S. Championship. How exciting was it to win and to know that you would be representing your country for the first time at a World Championships or Olympics? |
| MB | That meant so much to me. It meant more to actually make it to Worlds. It was an honor to make the team and to win at USAs. As the favorite it felt good to know that I could keep it up in tight situations and rise to the occasion. |
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| GCR: | If we step back a year ago, you were a freshman at Florida State who played football and ran track. What were the primary reasons that you decided to leave FSU and turn professional as a track and field athlete? |
| MB | There was a lot of inside stuff that went on, but to make a long story short it seemed like it would benefit me more to leave so that I could get healthy. I got hurt my senior year in high school and it never healed. It became a major issue and I hurt myself twice at Florida State. I got the attention I needed, but it wasn’t working and I needed an alternative. |
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| GCR: | Was it difficult to train and to compete in two different collegiate sports with conflicting practice schedules and responsibilities, especially with that hamstring injury that hit you late in the 100 meter final at the Florida State track meet your senior year? |
| MB | Not really because the track coach knew the stipulations. He told me that after our football bowl game I could have a week off and then start coming to practice. I took my week off, enjoyed myself and then came to practice. I didn’t have any problems until spring football arrived and there were articles discussing how I wasn’t attending spring football practice. But I was told I didn’t have to as I wanted to run track. I did what I could in track, so that was the only conflict I had. It wasn’t like it was too hard physically. |
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| GCR: | In an interview after you won the Pan Am Junior Games 100 meters in 2011 you said that football was your true love. How hard was it to make the decision to leave your football dreams for now to focus on your sprinting talent? |
| MB | I had about three weeks from the day I made up my mind until the day I actually left Florida State to change my mind. It was by far the hardest thing I ever went through. One day I would wake up and think that I was making the biggest decision for me and I was going to get healthy and well. Then, on the other hand, did I want to leave a group of great guys, a great program and great friends? I kept going back and forth with myself and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. |
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| GCR: | In your short time running for Florida State you did have some big indoor 60 meter wins in 2013 at the Arkansas Razorback Invitational, Tyson Invitational and ACC Indoor Championships. How exciting and fun was it to represent the Seminoles so well and what do you miss most about running for FSU? |
| MB | At least I got to put the FSU jersey on my body and compete. In football I dressed up every Saturday for the home football games, but I never played. The great thing about it was that our team was good even after I left and it means a lot to me to know where I could have been. |
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| GCR: | Let’s step back in time to when you first became interested in running. How old were you when you started running competitively and were you one of the fastest kids right away? |
| MB | I started running track in tenth grade. In my very first 100 meters in my life I ran 10.82. I raced my cousin, Levonte Whitfield, who was a freshman. He ran 10.83 and we just kept battling back-and-forth all year. He went to 10.5 and the next meet I dropped to 10.5. Then we both ran 10.4. Then at the State meet I ran 10.19, but it was with a 2.8 meter per second wind. Back then I didn’t understand about the effect of wind, but it opened a lot of eyes with college coaches. The next year I dropped a 10.05 as a junior, so it worked out for me. |
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| GCR: | I have had the privilege of announcing many track and field competitions over the years at Showalter Field in Winter Park, Florida and watched you compete many times in the Brian Jaeger Classic, Metro Conference, District, Region and State meets. Did you like competing on what sort of turned into your ‘home track?’ |
| MB | Winter Park is a nice track, it wasn’t a long ride from home and I could get there and get warmed up and get going. I liked it a lot and give thanks to the Winter Park community and school. |
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| GCR: | You mentioned a bit that at Orlando’s Boone High School you won your first Florida State titles your sophomore year at both 100 and 200 meters. What was the feeling when at age 16 you were already so successful against the best in Florida and how did you keep your composure and stay humble? |
| MB | The night I actually won State I didn’t know what it meant to be honest. I had a couple friends on the team and they knew ahead of time the times I had run. But I didn’t know what times were good in this event or that event. I knew pros had run nine seconds point something. That very night when I won the State meet I got home real late. The next morning I thought, ‘I won the State Championship,’ and it just hit me. I had won a lot of races and I was thinking that I had done it as a sophomore and had two more years to compete. Back then I didn’t really feel pressure. I always want to win, but I knew I had chances to come back. It’s like at my next World Championships I will only be 22 years old. A lot of people will be a lot older so, even though I want to win, I have more chances to get a Gold Medal. |
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| GCR: | You defended both titles as a junior, but your senior year had to scratch the 200 meters with a hamstring injury that flared up during your 100 meter victory. How disappointing was it to not be able to go in the 200 meters? |
| MB | Oh man, I hated the 200 meters and still do with a passion. I don’t like it as it is not my favorite event. But that day I wanted to race as there was a lot of hype about Arman Hall and me. He had run 20 point something and I wanted to race him. I hadn’t been under 21 seconds, but knew that if I was in a race with him I could get under. But I thank God I was able to do what I could. |
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| GCR: | There were many tough opponents in Florida including Apopka’s Synjohn Lilly and Miami Northwestern’s Hugh Graham at 100 meters and Arman Hall at 200 meters who was so strong as he was also a great 400 meter runner. What do you recall of racing these young men and others and did the competition push you to be even better? |
| MB | No disrespect to Synjohn Lilly, as he was running 11.3s his junior year and made a tremendous improvement to 10.6 and 10.7. But I felt like 10.6 was everything he had. He was second to me all year, but I knew that if I got out in front of him I was going to win. As far as the 200 meters I knew that Arman was going to bring it and I was going to do the same, but it didn’t work out that way. |
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| GCR: | One time you won the 100 meters handily, I think during your junior year at State, but when you were on the podium and I announced you had missed a record by one hundredth of a second you were visibly disappointed, taking your arm and giving that ‘aww man’ gesture – is this drive to excel something that developed over the years or have you had it since you were a small child? |
| MB | I have had that drive to be better than those around me and to better myself all of my life. It wasn’t always about the win, but deep down I knew that even through disappointments I was that much closer to my goal. |
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| GCR: | You had a narrow victory in the adidas Grand Prix ‘Dream 100 Meters’ in New York City your junior year in high school. Take us though that experience in terms of the race and also interaction with the professional runners outside of the race. |
| MB | A lot of people are star struck, but that is not me. I respect the stars and look up to them, but am not star struck. That was a big race. It wasn’t a state championship race, but was the state championship race times eight as there were the top eight runners in the country. It could go any way. I was with Coach Ricky and he was telling me, ‘You have a gift and you can run with these guys.’ That’s what we did and I was able to go out there and get a ‘W.’ |
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| GCR: | There is a strange balance needed between explosiveness and acceleration when sprinting and relaxation to maintain form and not tighten up. How do you work to achieve this balance? |
| MB | It is mental. I have to tell myself to stay calm and relaxed. The second I let my body take over is when it tightens up. I know that people are around me and when I tighten up I don’t extend fully. Everybody moves past and I am going nowhere. I basically might as well walk backwards. I have to stay calm and practice that. I have to stay comfortable at 60 meters and keep working at it. |
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| GCR: | What are some of the most beneficial aspects of your training with your group in Clermont compared to when you were in high school or during your brief time at FSU that have helped you to move up to a higher level of competitiveness? |
| MB | I am a professional so I treat it as such. I’m talked to as one, train as one and am coached as one. What really benefits is having a great group of people. When we do block work anybody can get the upper hand. We’ve got great guys in our group and when I first got here they were way better than me in the blocks. Over time I kept working and now I’m one of the best in the group. To know where I came from, where I’m at and where I want to go, the improvement is thanks to them. |
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| GCR: | How important are your strength training, flexibility exercises, core work and other time spent in the gym for your overall fitness and readiness to run your best? |
| MB | It is very important. For the past month-and-a-half I haven’t been lifting on a regular regimen. I lifted once or twice a week so I wasn’t sore during the season. But now we are back on our normal routine of lifting four times a week and getting our strength back for outdoors. |
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| GCR: | Speaking of outdoor track, this year is the once every four years without an outdoor World Championships or Olympics. What will you focus be this outdoor season and will it include both 100 meters and 200 meters? |
| MB | At the end of the day this is a job and I have to run some 200s. My coach says that next up for me and what I’ll be doing is a couple of 200s for my speed endurance. I’ll be working on that. I’m not going to be disappointed if I don’t go out there and have the fastest 200 meter time in the world. As far as the 100 meters I just want to run as fast as I can and hit some bonuses, but most of all have fun and be healthy. |
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| GCR: | As we noted earlier, you are only twenty years old, will be just 22 at the next World Championships and should have a long running career in front of you. What will you do to achieve consistent success while minimizing injuries? |
| MB | The weight room is very important and key in being healthy. It also means being strong enough to endure all of the races that are scheduled for me. |
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| GCR: | As you grow in the sport, what are your career goals as far as championships and times? |
| MB | It’s definitely in my mind, but I don’t talk times as, the last time I did that, I ended up running 10.3 in three meets back-to-back-to-back. I was disappointed because I wanted to be the first high school sprinter to run nine point something seconds for 100 meters. I got pretty close, but after I kept saying, ‘Nine, nine, nine,’ I ran those 10.3s. Now, I just focus on running a perfect race and letting the times come. |
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| GCR: | As you have success, children start looking up to you and you become a role model for kids. How important is it to give back to your community and to inspire youngsters? |
| MB | Every now and then I do speak to kids, but with this busy schedule a lot of times I am really tired. When I can I speak to kids, but I am also going to start attending some local track meets on the weekends to watch and give advice. I haven’t been to many track meets as a spectator, only when I’ve been hurt. |
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| GCR: | What advice do you give to children who are interested in pursuing athletic dreams and goals or other goals which they may have? |
| MB | I tell them that no matter what you do listen to your coach. I had a coach, Josh Rouse, in high school and it was his first year coaching the team as a head coach. He didn’t have much experience in track even as a runner. He told us he didn’t know much about it, but under him I was able to run 10.19 and 21.21. We had a great relay and were very well coached. It was all thanks to him. So, whether you think your coach knows what he is doing, listen to him. |
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| GCR: | Now you are a pro athlete and it takes up a lot of your time, but how important is it to you to balance your life with academic pursuits, spiritual life and relaxation even while you have such a high level focus as a world class athlete? |
| MB | I was in school for the first semester of this school year, but I couldn’t do it this semester because of all the travelling. I may do some classes online now, but in the fall I’ll be back on campus. In the spring I can’t do it with my practices and travelling. |
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| GCR: | If you were to sum up in thirty seconds what you have learned from the dedication needed to succeed at a high level, the toughness of making choices that you hope are in your best interest and overcoming adversity, what do you say to groups and to my readers? |
| MB | To be honest, you may bend, you may fold, but don’t break. I’ve been to the bottom and I’m not at the top of the top, but I’m moving up at a young age. Be humble no matter what you do and don’t let a few races go to your head. Whatever you do, please stay healthy. Your coach has many other athletes to deal with and can’t worry solely worry about your health. It may be on his mind but he has to coach other people. Take care of the little things like eating right and getting an adequate amount of sleep and dedicate yourself to working as hard as you can to try to outwork the man next to you, whether he is a partner or not. And always give glory to God. |
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| | Inside Stuff |
| Hobbies/Interests | Although I don’t like watching the sport, I like to play basketball. I can dunk. People look at me because I’m short, but see that I can jump. I like to spend time with my girlfriend and family. I like to be around kids. I like to laugh. I’d like to be a comedian but I don’t think I’ve got what it takes |
| Nicknames | ‘Speedy’ or ‘Bracey’ |
| Favorite movies | I went through a phase where I thought I was Kevin Hart. I’m a huge Kevin Hart fan – anything he’s in. I’ve seen every movie of his in the past three or four years, whether it’s a stand-up comedy or a movie. I also like action movies like ‘Transformers’ |
| Favorite TV shows | Believe it or not I’m probably the biggest Toons guy you’ll ever talk to. I watch cartoons all day. As we’re talking I’m watching ‘Fairly Odd Parents’ |
| Favorite music | I went through a Kevin Hart phase and a Lil Wayne phase where I thought I was him with clothing, dreads and I even went as far as having a nip ring. I listen to Lil Wayne a lot and Drake, but mainly I’m a Lil Wayne man |
| TV reality show dream | I would like to go on a show called ‘Real Houses of Hollywood.’ I’d like to be on that some day |
| Favorite books | I can’t even tell you the last book I read cover-to-cover. I don’t read much. Over the summer last year I went to Europe and one of my training partners – she was reading the ‘Fifty Shades of Gray’ series. I kind of took a peak at it and thought it was kind of interesting. So I read two of the books and have started reading the third one |
| First car | My senior year of high school with my very own money I paid for a beat up 1990 red Mercury Mountaineer. I called it ‘Rusty Red’ or ‘Dirty Red.’ It was my favorite car to this day because I got it with my own money and it got me to school in Tallahassee and back |
| Current car | When I turned pro they told me to get a new car, so I have a white Dodge Charger |
| First Job | I never in my life had a real job, so this is my first job as a pro track athlete |
| Favorite Halloween costume | I had half Halloween spirit. I believed in getting candy and trick-or-treating, but I didn’t believe in dressing up all of the time |
| Family notes | I want to tell everybody about my little brother, Da’Kevias. He’s about six feet, one-and-a-half inches and he’s real thin. He just turned fifteen and is an up-and-coming athlete playing basketball and football. I’m trying to get him into baseball. He’s a great kid, I love him to death and I can’t wait to see him succeed |
| Pets | When I was younger I had a rabbit, dog, cat and pigeons, and my uncle had a snake. Now I have a cat and I want a snake and a dog. When I move I’m probably going to get a dog |
| Favorite breakfast | When I first turned pro I used to eat Chik Filet for breakfast every day, so essentially that’s my favorite. I have a Kiki’s Café and a Cracker Barrel near my home and I love both of their French toast |
| Favorite meal | I make the best fried pork chops ever. No professional chef has a thing on me. I like my fried pork chops, corn, rice and biscuits ( I noted that I had made fried pork chops with mushrooms and onions the night before and said that maybe they weren’t as good as his and Marvin’s response was a simple, ‘I don’t think so’) |
| Favorite beverages | I’m a Gatorade man. I drink a bottle every day and have two or three bottles of water |
| First running memory | I went to Kaley Elementary School. That’s the last year where I really spent a full year with my cousin, Levonte ‘Kermit’ Whitfield. Once or twice every semester we had a half mile trial. All of the third graders would have a runoff and I’d get second or third place behind Kermit. One time I finally beat him and that was the beginning of the whole Marvin-Kermit competitive era |
| Running heroes | To be perfectly honest I knew big names and what they did, but I never had one hero. I respect a lot of people in this sport. I respect people of my era like Tyson Gay, Justin Gatlin, Yohan Blake and Usain Bolt. They are great competitors and great guys |
| Greatest running moment | The best thing that has happened in my career is the Silver Medal at the World Championships. But I’ll never forget one day in high school running on the 4 by 100 meter relay. It wasn’t one of my favorite events because it was so close after the 100 meters. There was a time at Lake Brantley High School and I had been trash talking with Kermit all day. When the relay final came up, both of us were on the last leg along with Synjohn Lilly from Apopka. My team got out to a shaky start and at the end I got the baton about five to seven meters behind Kermit and Synjohn, who was winning. There is video of the race and I go back and watch it all of the time. I got the baton and could see in the video at 50 meters that I was moving up. But then you can see me close at the end. At the line I nipped both of them and we got first place. I never let Kermit live that down because he was a ten one sprinter and let that happen to him. No one had ever run Kermit down. To be one of the only people to ever do that was a great meet for me |
| Worst running moments | I told you how in my first 100 meter race I ran 10.82. Back then I was a sophomore and there was a guy from Winter Park High School named Zee Ware who was really good. I lost to him and Kermit made fun of me the whole day. We ran into like a 4.0 wind, he ran 11.04 and I ran 11.07. It was in the newspaper and I didn’t understand about effects of wind. All I knew was I ran over eleven seconds and went backwards. Later on that same year I had run 10.1 and went to junior nationals. Coach Ricky kind of tricked me as I was only 16 and he had me running in the 19 and down age division. So I was running with college freshmen without knowing it. I could have run the 17 and down division and potentially won. I got out there and, like I told you, I’m always nervous. I got in the starting blocks, my legs felt like cinder blocks and my stomach was twisted in a knot. All of a sudden I looked up and there was a guy, Mike Granger from Southern Miss, about six meters in front of me. I didn’t know that this man was known for the best start in the land. So, I abandoned my race plan and just started running to the finish line and got sixth place. I still made the relay team since I was in the top six, but that was one of my worst days |
| Childhood dreams | Not a professional track runner. I never ever had a dream of being a track runner. It was always football to me. I played football since I was six and I started track in tenth grade. I was going in the opposite direction as I wanted to be a football player my whole life |
| Funny memory | Here’s one from back at Florida State. I’m not a show-off, but for women I like to put on a little bit. Ronald Darby and I were doing block starts one day. No matter what the weather is I always strip down. It can be four degrees outside and you will see me in my tights and spikes and nothing else. After practice the entire team was in the stands and Ronald Darby was showing off. Well, when we were doing starts the tights I had on had split and I didn’t know it at first. But when I was walking back toward the line everyone was laughing and I kind of figured out why |
| Embarrassing moment one | I’m going to share a little story with you. When I was in Poland I had learned how to play Spades when I got there. Here I am, playing Spades, with some of the athletes and coaches for the USA team. Sitting next to me was a guy who wasn’t on my team, but I was trash-talking with him the whole game. Somebody said his name and said, ‘I’ve got Allen as my partner.’ So I was in another hotel one night and he came up to me and said, ‘Boy, you’re past curfew.’ Then he told me he was just kidding with me. My teammate told me afterward, ‘That’s Allen Johnson.’ I asked him, ‘Who is Allen Johnson.’ (Interviewer’s note – 110 meter hurdler who won 1996 Olympic Gold and 4 World Championships Golds) He looked at me and said, ‘Marv, do you really not know who Allen Johnson is?’ He finally told me the whole story. I’d been playing Spades for three days sitting next to this man and felt pretty bad about that. He had so much success. When I told my coach he said jokingly that I should apologize. I didn’t know about many past top people in this sport |
| Embarrassing moment two | When I was in high school I was doing the long jump. I was the best on my team, which wasn’t saying too much. We were practicing approaches and one of my friends who was a senior did a front flip into the pit. I thought, ‘Oh, you want to show off.’ I was running and had in my mind that I was going to do a no hand cartwheel. I was running as fast as I could and toward the end my spike got caught in the ground. I flew into the pit and slid about five yards. My whole entire body was covered with sand. I had on nothing but tights and I was sweaty so my entire body from head to toe was filled with sand. It was embarrassing because a girl I liked was watching and she just laughed at me |
| Worst date ever | I actually did this. I was talking to multiple girls at the time. I decided to go out and have a good time with one girl to make the day a little bit better. Two of the other girls that I was talking to came up when I was with the one girl. I was feeling bad, but we kind of got over that. Then later that day a random girl walked by in a dress and in my mind I said, ‘Damn, she’s fine.’ Then I realized I actually said it out of my mouth and that didn’t end too well |
| Favorite places to travel | Sopot was really fun. I probably had the most fun in Amsterdam and it was possibly my favorite so far. I was based in Amsterdam and went to Switzerland which was also quite an experience as their chocolate is ridiculously good |
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