2007 - Indoor - Defense

You always here how much of a 'target' will be on your back after you win something big. I guess that's how 2007 started for me. Before the first race of the season I had someone I would end up racing that year telling me how much better they were than me, how they would win that year, break my record, and prove how bad I really was. I've always said that I never needed motivation, that I'm a self-motivated person.. but I've always accepted it when someone wants to pour some on.

My National Title defense didn't quite start the way I wanted it to. In September of 2006 I broke my collarbone at an outdoor race, it was the first time I ever had to take any amount of time off from skating. At first I tried to show up to every practice but I had to stop going, I couldn't sit and watch without being able to skate. Little did I know that wouldn't be the only time I missed that season.

I skated a little race over Halloween that year a week or two after being cleared to skate, everything was going good and the last lap of the last relay of the meet I fell on my shoulder of course. I thought I re-broke my collarbone but although I couldn't move it the Dr said that it looked great on the X-rays. The first invitational for me was always Greensboro, NC. I went in expecting not to do great since I only managed a few weeks of skating before the race but somehow I won both distances.. the 1500m by a lot which was new for me. That year was also my first with MPC so I went to a lot of races and tested 100's of different wheel combinations.

I went to west palm that year as well. It was the first time I would race the competitor that told me how much better he was then me. In the very first race of the meet I lapped him, it was only 10laps.. and a heat. I skated well enough at that meet that I fell down in both finals and still got 2nd.

West Palm was the first time I started learning what I really could do. Sure, I always had a good start and I could sprint with the best of them but I learned the rest of it. I learned quick that I developed an ability to go out harder in most races and make it hard for people. I started every 1500 and 1000m way faster than anyone wanted and usually I made it hard for everyone. I got to the point that I didn't care if I blew people away or if they finished right behind me, I wanted them to know I was stronger then them. I spent a lot of that season winning a lot of races.

I wanted to win Nationals for a lot of reasons that year, obviously I wanted to defend my title. I also realized at that point no one had won back to back sophomore men's titles on inlines.. ever so I wanted to do that. Next, everyone told me how impossible it would be to win on MPC wheels, and I wanted to prove they were wrong.

When I got to nationals that year I had a huge chip on my shoulder. I only lost one race that Nationals, it happened to be the first final, the 1000m. Someone fell early and for some reason it froze me.. I stopped doing what I had all year and it cost me a win in the first distance. From that point on, for the rest of division I led every lap of every race I skated. In the 1500m final I was still fighting for the overall title. I started the race out pretty fast, every time someone tried to pass me I passed them right back the very next straightaway. I got in the habit of picking the pace up even more with 7 laps to go because I knew no one wanted it to be sped up that soon. I never had to reach a full sprint because the race was fast throughout tiring everyone out enough. Coming out of the last turn I knew that the race, the title, and the defense were all mine, the three things I cared about. After the race I was told that I just broke the record which was cool because it sealed the title for me. That year we were in Omaha and after something like 60 records were broken in 2006 only 19 or something got broken in 2007, plus now I had the 500m (2006) and the 1500m.

That year the officials at Nationals tried to get my medal stripped from me after the award ceremony. I wore my MPC uniform on the podium, something I had seen athletes do before that did not skate pro. The was no rule that said you had to wear your club suit on the podium, just during races. Now, there is a rule that allows non-pro skaters to wear there sponsor uniforms on the podium.