Letter from the Editor

Welcome to the April 2014 edition of The Hurdle Magazine. This is our eighth issue, and we’re excited about it. Had a chance to catch up with a dear old friend, 400 meter hurdler Johnny Dutch, for this month’s feature-length profile. I coached Dutch during the last three years of his high school career, and have enjoyed watching him develop into one of the top intermediate hurdlers in the world. A down-to-earth, humble guy who gives his all to the hurdles, Dutch is the kind of guy who makes me love being a part of this sport. A real, genuine human being.

Meanwhile, another former athlete of mine, Keare Smith, has written the second installment of his “Way of the Warrior” series to be included in this issue of the mag. In Part Two, Smith further explores the similarities between hurdling and the Japanese swordsmanship philosophies expressed by Miyamoto Musashi in The Book of Five Rings.

For the first time ever, there are two articles in the mag not written by me. The second one in this issue is Hector Cotto’s treatise on weight lifting for the high school hurdler. Cotto, a member of the hurdlesfirst.com staff who runs the 110 hurdles for Puerto Rico and has competed in several major international competitions, provides his insights based on many years of working out in the weight room in preparation for hurdle races.

Other articles include “Discounting the Hurdles,” in which I discuss the virtues of moving the hurdles in from the regular racing marks during practice sessions; then there is “Falling,” in which I talk about every hurdler’s greatest fear and the importance of staying centered and aggressive when facing the barriers.

This month’s workout, “Stride Pattern Workout,” is designed to help the intermediate hurdler establish an early race stride pattern in order to take the guess work out of the beginning stages of the race.

In this month’s instructional video, I show how to do the familiar wall drill (also known as the fence drill when done outside), and I add some variations to the regular version. At the end of the video I discuss the relationship between the lead arm and the trail leg in terms of how they function together.

Big thanks to Johnny Dutch for reaching out to me after we hadn’t kept in touch for a couple years.

Endless gratitude to Keare Smith for his contributions to this issue, as well as the last one. Keare you are beginning to show your gifts as a writer. Keep it at, my man.

Thanks also to Hector Cotto for his article on weight training. Hopefully I’ll be able to get you to contribute more articles that build on that one. Your knowledge is vast and your willingness to share it is appreciated.

I’d also like to thank my web designer Chris Brajer for putting the articles together and making the magazine a reality on the tech side of things. Couldn’t do it without you Chris.

Thanks also to Sohale Vu for helping me to brainstorm ideas to keep the website and the magazine in a perpetual state of growth.

Big thanks to our subscribers for your continued support. Keep hitting me up with ideas for articles. It always helps to know that I’m giving you what you want.

To dear friends Shannon Dwyer and Averi Gaines, thanks for seeing the poet in me. Thanks for seeing that when I’m writing about hurdles, I’m writing about life, as there is no separation between the two.