Today I had a meet here in Gent where I ran the 400m. Mitch Potter, formerly of the University of Minnesota, was also scheduled to race. But unfortunately his knee had been bothering him so he pulled out about 15 min before the race started. I had a great warm up and felt great getting into the blocks. The gun went off and I had a mediocre start at best. I got out around the first turn and got my first feel for the competition. There were 3 of us that looked like we would run in the 46's. I stayed relaxed and focused down the back stretch, waited on the turn and gave it everything the last 120m. It was a battle down the homestretch with a guy from Panama to my inside. I out leaned him and beat him by .01 sec to take first place. And for winning, besides money, they gave me a nice bottle of beer in a box with a beer glass and a t-shirt.

This was my first win here in Europe this year (I won twice last year), and I'm hoping that the positive energy will carry over into my last two races of the year. I have a week and a half to train before heading to Kaunas, Lithuania for an 800m. There were several other Americans at the meet as well as several of my Oregon Track Club teammates. Several of them had some good performances. So now back to training and back to the 800m.