I am dating this picture back to 1996, my Freshman year at FIU at the Greentree Invitational. It could also be 1997, my Sophomore year, but directly behind me is former Miami Coach Rodney Price, whom I believe his last year at UM was 1996. Anyway, I posted this picture because it was my collegiate Cross Country debut race.

Picture this: the year before I had been Florida's high school 3200m State Runner-Up (9:37.30) and the only senior harrier the Florida XC State Meet in the Top 10 (6th in 15:17) that did not attend the University of Florida. I accepted a full scholarship to FIU, and was expected to make an impact immediately on a very talented and veteran squad. We also had a couple of other top freshmen recruits from the area on the team, Eric Castaing of Sunset and Juan Yanes of Columbus.

All summer I suffered from Osgood Slaughters Disease, that absolutely thrashed my training. I was in pain constantly, but would not show it. But it showed in the race, as I ran 23:53 for 4 miles of Cross Country, and if memory serves me correctly, I placed 11th ON MY OWN TEAM!!!

That's why I winked in the finish chute: I knew I would be back. I disappointed many people with that race, but I was at the lowest point of my running career, and I had only one way to go: up. I am not sure if my coach, Coach Becker, spoke to me after the race or not.

I would go on to run even worse a week later with a 30:43, 8000m performace at UCF, getting passed by a runner with an amputated leg. I started gaining momentum and ran 27:45 at Florida State after that, finally eeking into the top seven runners (Coach wanted a return on his investment so he took me to races amongst the grumbling of the Seniors). Finally, I broke free with a seasonal best 26:17 at Jacksonville and earned Freshman of the Year Honors of the TAAC, placing 11th at the Cross Country Conference Championship (one spot out of All-Conference in a race dominated by Andrew Letherby of Australia and Georgia State). I capped off the season with a solid 10K performance at the South Super Regional at Furman University in 32:53, out-kicking none other than David Krummenacker of Georgia Tech for something like 169th place overall.

I would go on to win the Greentree Invitational in 1998 , winning by 34-seconds in 20:39, and would repeat in a course-record 19:55 in 1999 in an epic battle with FootLocker All-American and Miami legend, Nick Gramsky.

Morale of the story: Press on...