Finally On “Doha Time”
Outside the Aspire Dome
So the meet I had in France this past Friday went alright…I suppose. I set an indoor personal best of 16.64m and came in 4th behind three jumpers who went 17 meters (one of whom was Christian Olsson, the indoor world record holder in the event). As you can imagine, I had higher aspirations for my first meet on the “pro circuit,” especially considering how things were looking before I left the States! But hey, I won’t complain with a personal best after having just hopped off the plane a couple days earlier. Not to mention the fact that the point of the meet was to get a solid jumping session in ahead of the World Indoor Champs, and to cut down the amount of traveling that I had to do to get to Doha. Oddly enough, leaving from Brussels to Doha on Saturday after the meet wasn’t the piece of cake I had anticipated and I only made it to my room in Doha after about 22 hours of traveling from start to finish! But that’s an entirely different story.
Since arriving after 1 am Sunday morning, my time in Doha has been amazing and my body is finally getting acclimated to the time zone and the travel. The hotel is top notch, as are the food (fortunately enough) and the service from both hotel and IAAF staff. Additionally, I was one of the first few athletes to arrive so for the first few days I had my own driver taking me wherever I needed to go. It’s quite easy to see that Qatar/Doha is pulling out all the stops for the event and that their top priority is the comfort and satisfaction of athletes; after all they do have their sights set on hosting the 2022 World Cup and I’m sure that this event is a small stepping stone towards that. The city itself is beautiful and the 85 degree weather doesn’t hurt either. Whatever stories you’ve heard of Doha and its rapid growth, if you’ve heard or read such stories, are all true. There is construction EVERYWHERE and many people have told me that they’re attempting to play catch up with Dubai which is for the moment the top tourist/business spot in the Middle East. As nice as it is here in Doha now, I’d love to see what things are like when their plans are even further along, although it means that the traffic that is already horrendous for a city of less than 400,000 will no doubt be several times worse.
As far as athletics facilities are concerned, everything is top notch to say the least. The grounds of the “Aspire Zone” are pristine and the stadiums, fields and even shopping areas included in it are all amazing. We’ve been using an outdoor track as our practice area for the past couple of days, but I managed to sneak my way into the Aspire Dome itself and it too is spectacular! I’m glad I got my “jaw dropping” moment out of the way nice and early though so that when I’m in there later in the week, it’s truly all about handling business.
While there is of course “track and field after World Indoor Championships,” I’ve had my eyes set on making this final since my first global level competition (which was admittedly just 7 months ago). I am certainly more excited than anxious to get this show on the road, mostly because I know what needs to be done and how to do it. These last couple days leading up to Friday are just about fine tuning things with some speed work and explosive lifts, while enjoying the fact that I’m here! Rest assured, I’ll definitely enjoy the competition experience as well.
P.S. Congrats to the George Mason track and field teams on their performances at ECACs and IC4As this past weekend; particularly the men’s 4 by 4 with their 3:07.43 and qualification for NCAAs.
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March 9th, 2010 at 7:37 am
C’mon man. You couldn’t have asked someone to take the picture for you. Lookng like T-Vice out there. On a serious note, unbelievably proud and overjoyed that you’re out there represneting Haiti, our country. I promise you that I will be with you for the next one. Good luck and keep grinding.
#1
March 9th, 2010 at 7:40 am
You’re a jerk and you’re lucky you changed the tone of your comment (don’t worry not all people who comment receive this treatment)! For your information I couldn’t get anybody else to take the picture because there was no one else there and I wasn’t even supposed to be in the area where I took the picture. In any case…’ppreciate the support. Mayguez, Puerto Rico in July is a done deal!
#2
March 9th, 2010 at 7:51 am
Are you going to post any pictures of Doha, other than you standing in front of the sign? I’m very curious to see this place! And yes, you do sound spoiled!
#3
March 9th, 2010 at 7:53 am
Haha! Don’t worry; I’ll put a full gallery up early next week and hopefully it won’t be all me taking pictures of myself! To be honest, I’ve actually gotten some nice pictures of the city so I’m looking forward to sharing them!
#4
March 9th, 2010 at 8:55 am
[...] by the way, is a close follower of Heps Track and is a prolific blogger himself. In fact, he has posted a Pre-Worlds update just today. Check out the entire website as he does a great job with [...]
#5
March 9th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Awesome. Have fun out there! And don’t get sunburned.
#6
March 9th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I would like to leave a negative remark for J. Sejour, but out of respect for your blog, I will refrain.
Congrats on the indoor pb, man. I know you wanted more, but at the end of the day, you are steadily improving. Eyes on the prize.
#7
March 10th, 2010 at 2:56 am
Haha; ‘ppreciate it T-Vice. Like you said, “eyes on the prize” so I suppose last week was just a stepping stone to this week. That said, practices feel dramatically better this week than my pre-meet and competition felt last week!
#8
March 10th, 2010 at 3:17 pm
YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO SAY…1ST REP HAITI..2ND COMPETE….3RD WAKA FLOCKA FLAME(I am the hype man of the club team)…4th Please get me a shirt. “KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK SAM..THE HARDEST WORKING MAN 42FT OUT 57FT DEEP AND ALMOST DONE WITH THE G-TOWN LAW DEGREE!”
#9
March 11th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I know you had a long journey there, but it was all worth it. I am soo proud of you and all that you have accomplished thus far. You are a hard worker(I know because I see it everyday at practice) and this is just the beginning of many many great things to come! We’re going straight to the top! Run fast, jump far but most importantly HAVE FUN!
~Miss you much!
#10
March 12th, 2010 at 12:13 am
Thanks so much beautiful. It has definitely been worth it and will be even more worth it soon enough. You’re 100% right about us heading straight to the top oh and you can believe that I’m going to just run fast and hop far. After that…the rest is taken care of (although we both know it’s all already taken care of right?). Miss you too.
- Ciao ciao
#11
March 12th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Haha; thanks Ant! Don’t worry I got you on the shirt…”Oh, Let’s Do It!!!!”
#12