Olympic Racewalking

Napa, 2011 Edition, a few thoughts

2011-07-14T12:03:00.001-07:00

Well, it looks like it's been an entire YEAR since I updated this blog. Ooops. My bad. I'm off to the Napa-Sonoma 1/2 Marathon with my Team Challenge crew again and I thought I'd record a few thoughts before heading out tomorrow morning. We have a smaller group of runners and walkers this year but they are just as dedicated and excited as last year's athletes. It took a few weeks, but the group really feels like a big family now. We're all working toward the same goals, facing many of the same challenges and supporting each other along the way. Everyone has put in the training and done the fundraising (a couple people need just a few more dollars, help 'em out!). And now it's event weekend.

The first season I coached with CCFA was Las Vegas 2009. I was new to the group and not 100% sure of my role. At the end of that season, I wasn't able to go to event weekend. I was off to a USATF Board meeting and missed the pleasure of seeing all my walkers and runners cross the finish line: their smiles, the joy and a wee bit of pain etched on their faces. So last year in Napa it was so rewarding to be there in person, sit down for a good meal the night before the race, share a few laughs, and wake up early with the walkers to see them step out past that start line and head down the road. And a few hours later, share those final few steps with them as they approached the finish line. What a thrill to be a tiny little part of someone else's dream, helping someone do something he/she thought wasn't possible just a few short months ago. I guess that's the biggest reward for a coach. Oh, and also that joy you get when someone gets hooked on running or walking and keeps coming back for more and more events. That's cool, too.

Best wishes to all those runners and walkers out there. If you're doing a race this weekend: tear it up! and have fun!

Cupcakes and handstands!

2010-05-08T20:32:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of my Team Challenge walkers today. They all got through the longest walk yet with flying colors. We cruised through six miles in Coronado which is further than some of them have ever walked before. What a rush. Coronado is such a pretty place to walk. Our six miler started with views of the San Diego skyline and the Big Bay. After dipping under the Coronado Bridge, bright blue (Kelly's favorite color, of course... I'll get to that later), we walked alongside the swank golf course, towards the famous Hotel Del Coronado and down the Silver Strand bike path to the turn around.

Three miles out: easy. Three miles back: easy as pie... er, cupcakes, that is.

Awesome TC mentor Mindy baked up some delicious homemade cupcakes that would have looked as awesome as they tasted if not for sitting in a hot car for an hour and a half. Ooops. Next time, we'll have hot fudge or something, right? Excellent.

Today was a special day, too, because we honored Kelly, one of my most excellent walkers. Not only did she celebrate her birthday earlier in the week, she is one of this season's honorees. So, when we're out training and racing in Napa, we're doing it for you, Kelly! And since Kelly's favorite color is blue and she likes bright neon colors, some of us got all spiffed up in our brightest outfits. Kelly was so sweet to give me the prize for craziest-dressed dude today. Thank you! After walking, running and eating cupcakes, we got to show off our other skills like hula-hooping, limbo dancing, and hand-standing. Kelly went easy on me and let me win the hand-standing, which I am VERY proud of. So, thanks again Kelly, and congrats on your birthday.

This was a big week for both the runners and the walkers. We started doing a little speed play on Wednesday night and today was a long one. Next week, we'll do even more. I can't wait!

Coaching New Athletes

2010-04-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

The San Diego Team Challenge spring season started two weeks ago and I'm excited to see such a wide range of athletes. I'm the walking coach, joined by two great running coaches, Sean and Dave. We're into our third week of training and people are really starting to see the benefits of regular walking. Some of the walkers who are tackling the Napa-Sonoma Half-Marathon walk regularly, some used to walk and still others have never done an exercise program of any sort. Beginners and experts, together on the same journey. It's going to be great. It reminds me of a book that I read back in a college religion course called "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind." No matter who you are or what your experiences, live in the moment and realize that we all have so much to learn. That's why I love seeing people who are just getting started as athletes because even though I have been doing this for years, I can learn so much from them.

I hope to revisit this blog more regularly. Now that I'm coaching a great group of walkers and runners, I should keep a record of the journey that we take together. I've taken a big step away from competitive racewalking in the past year. Some of it has been by choice, some by circumstance. I'd like to get back to it, but time will tell at what level of involvement and commitment.

Here's a photo of some of the coaches getting introduced at the Napa Kick-Off party:

And one at the end of a recent training session:

50km Post-race survey

2009-03-13T21:20:00.000-07:00

Hey Walking Fans!

If you were at the 50km race in Santee last month, please take the time to complete this short survey I created to help me in planning for the next event that we host here in the San Diego area.

Click Here to take survey

Thanks and happy walking!

2009 USA 50km Racewalk Championships – Report & Results

2009-02-18T11:57:00.000-08:00

Santee, CA

Santee, CA hosted the 2009 USA 50km Race Walk Championships on Sunday, February 15 at 7:00am. Under partly sunny skies and cool temperatures, racing conditions were ideal for the first outdoor championship races in the 2009 USATF Racewalk Grand Prix Series. Athletes from around the country enjoyed the generous, professional hospitality of the City of Santee and the newly designed 1.25km loop on Mast Blvd.

EVENT PHOTOS

Philip Dunn and Karen Karavanic won the men’s and women’s divisions in 4:28:53 and 6:24:22, respectively, while Mike Tarantino, Nicolette Sorensen, Tim Seaman and Rachel Lavallee, came away winners in the 10km and 20km events.

Dunn defended his 2008 US Olympic Trials 50km win against a small field of racers. Dunn was challenged early by experienced 50km veterans Ray Sharp and Theron Kissinger but pulled away for a convincing win to grab his fourth national title at the 50km distance. He also qualified to represent Team USA at the 2009 America's Race Walk Cup in San Salvador, El Salvador in April and the 2009 World Track & Field Championships in August in Berlin, Germany.

Sharp struggled after the 25km mark and bent knee calls ended his day early. Kissinger gamely held on for second place in 5:04:33 and Stephen McCullough took full advantage of the dearth of high-level 50km walkers to claim third place. McCullough only arrived into San Diego at 2AM on a late flight from the East Coast and arrived 5 minutes late to the start. Not to be deterred, he marched on and inspired many with his gutsy determination.

Karavanic claimed her first US National title in steady, resolute fashion. Her winning time was only slightly off her personal best of 6:21:01 in 2007 when she finished second to Heidi Hauch. Dorit Attias flew in the night before from New Jersey to begin her preparations for an upcoming 24-hour race in France. She led the race early but fell afoul of the judges before the halfway mark and Karavanic marched on to victory.

Much of the morning’s excitement came in the open 10km and Western Regional 20km races that also started at 7:00am with the 50km.

The men’s Western Regional 20km title came down to a last second surge by Tim Seaman (1:37:49), though the athlete he coaches and whom he paced throughout the race was the revelation of the day. Trevor Barron, 16, shattered the American Junior 20km record (1:42:15, Philip Dunn, 1990) with his second place time of 1:37:49. Jose Moncada rounded out the podium finishers with a respectable first 20km effort of 1:45:13.

On the women’s side, Rachel Lavallee from Canada won in 1:38:30, but the Western Region title belonged to American Solomiya Login from Philadelphia, PA in 1:48:43. Lavallee tagged along with Seaman and Barron for well over 12km before they pulled away leaving her to a new personal record and a great season opener. After Login, Darlene Backlund (2:23:06) and Kathleen Frable (2:25:36) notched top three finishes.

Mike Tarantino bolted out of the blocks in the open men’s 10km and cruised to a comfortable win in 44:43. Tarantino qualified for Indoor Nationals the evening before with a solo 12:11 effort on a local college track, so he had a busy weekend of walking. He was followed home by 14-year old phenomenon Tyler Sorensen in 47:06, a large personal best. Trevor Barron’s new American Junior record at 20km may not be safe for long with the younger Sorensen fast on his heels.

Nicolette Sorensen, the speedy 13-year old from Lafayette, crushed her personal best in an outstanding 55:10 to take the women’s 10km title over San Diegan Liz Salvato (57:20). These three young walkers, Barron and the Sorensen siblings, were very exciting to watch and should certainly make an impact for years to come.

The City of Santee is to be thanked for their incredible logistical support of this event. They delivered a first-class venue, top-notch support staff and ideal weather, just as promised. USATF judges, officials and volunteers from around the region made it a professional event from start to finish. An enthusiastic crew from Elite Racing managed the course set-up on race day and couldn’t have done a finer job. Race announcers Tracy Sundlun and John Nunn made it a memorable event for participants and spectators alike and are to be thanked for generously donating their time.

The next stop on the USA Racewalk Grand Prix is the 2009 USA Indoor Track & Field Championships in Boston, MA on February 28 (men’s 5000mt) and March 1 (women’s 3000mt). Watch to see whether Tim Seaman reclaims his 2007 national title and Teresa Vaill defends her 2008 title.

RESULTS:
2009 USA 50km Race Walk Championships
50 kilometers
February 15, 2009
Santee, CA
Certification # CA09009RS
Conditions: 44-58 degrees, dry, partly sunny
Meet Director: Philip Dunn, 619-574-0683

50km Men
1. Philip Dunn 4:28:53
2. Theron Kissinger 5:04:33
3. Steven McCullough 7:00:21
DQ Ray Sharp

50km Women
1. Karen Karavanic 6:24:22
DQ Dorit Attias

20km Men
1. Tim Seaman 1:37:49
2. Trevor Barron 1:37:49 * new American Junior record
3. Jose Moncada 1:45:13 * personal record
4. Pedro Santoni 1:55:53
5. Adrian Jaime 2:05:30
6. Norm Frable 2:07:26
7. Rick Campbell 2:08:28
8. John Magnussen 2:14:02
9. John Backlund 2:16:51
10. Wayne Wurzburger 2:25:33
DQ Paul Johnson

20km Women
1. Rachel Lavalee 1:38:30 * personal record
2. Solomiya Login 1:48:43 * 1st in Western Regional Championships
3. Darlene Backlund 2:23:06 * 2nd
4. Kathleen Frable 2:25:36 * 3rd

10km Men
1. Mike Tarantino 44:43
2. Tyler Sorensen 47:06 * 14 years old
3. James Paschall 1:07:06
4. Jack Cassidy 1:08:24
DQ Matthew Forgues

10km Women
1. Nicolette Sorensen 55:10 * 13 years old
2. Liz Salvato 57:20
3. Lillian Cordova 1:01:59
DQ Patricia Paschall

USATF 50km Nationals – Details

2009-01-07T20:22:00.001-08:00

USATF 50km National Racewalk Championships
and Open 10km & 20km races
February 15, 2009, 7:00AM
Santee, CA
Start/Finish at Mast Blvd & Magnolia Ave
1,250 meter out-and-back course, IAAF-certified

Top U.S. men and women compete for the national Open and Masters titles while the top five male walkers qualify to represent the U.S. at the Pan American Racewalk Cup in El Salvador. The winner will likely qualify for the World T&F Championship in Berlin, Germany if his time is faster than the IAAF 'A' or 'B' time standard. Besides the grueling 50km (31 mile) distance, there will be Open 10km and 20km races. Also competing at this elite event will be athletes from Sweden, Canada, Ecuador, El Salvador and Colombia.

Register on-line at USATF.org

Come race or cheer on some of the finest walkers in the world!

Volunteer to help on race day – please send me an email! Help register athletes, count laps, hand out drinks, or serve as USADA (US Anti-Doping Agency) chaperones for the top three finishers. Thanks!

– Philip Dunn, race director and defending champ

Back in the U.S.A.

2008-08-30T21:29:00.000-07:00

I'm home and it's so nice. China was great. Olympics were great, but it feels so good to sleep in your own bed for the first time in weeks. And I slept nearly 12 hours straight through the night. I can't remember the last time I slept so well. Love it!

The return trip was long long long and I extended it even further by volunteering to get bumped out of San Francisco which gave me more time to drool on my backpack on a quiet bench in the corner of concourse B before my flight. Sleep has got to be one of the most underrated activities ever. The night after my 50km race, my legs were so achy I could hardly sleep at all. On the plane ride home, there were people yakking in the seat behind me. But find me a quiet place and I'm out.

The day before we left Beijing, my family and I hit the Great Wall head-on. We didn't mess around with the over-crowded, touristy hot spot of Badaling. We went for the remote, challenging hike from one end of the wall to the other: 16,000 kilometers. Well, it seemed like we hiked up and over every hill in northern China, but there were a few more sections of wall and a few more towers on the horizon that we didn't get to. The Great Wall at Jingshanling to Simatai. Maybe we only covered 10km but it was really hilly and when you've got a 30 lb toddler on your back, it seems longer than it is. He got down a couple times, but Miles was pretty content to just lounge around in his backpack and offer the occasional word of encouragement "BAH!" It's his multi-purpose 'B' word for just about everything: bus, ball, bird, bike, um-brella, basket, backpack, bus! another bus!

The quickest way to get to Jingshanling from Beijing is by taxi. It's a 2+ hour drive but Liz was able to find someone who lives right near Simatai and knew the shortcuts. He did a great job of getting us there and then drove around to Simatai to meet us four hours later at the end of our hike. As an added bonus, we stopped twice on the way home to visit the taxi drivers uncle and his brother. We were invited in for tea and when Dad asked about the small field of corn out in front of the house, we were sent home with a week's supply of corn. There's only so much corn you can eat the night before a flight back to the States, so we shared with the grandmothers that meet every evening by the front entry of the apartment building with the grandkids.

There are some places that are spoken of in hyperbole: "unforgettable" or "awe-inspiring." Recent visitors to Paris will say, "Oh, you absolutely have to see Notre Dame Cathedral." The Great Wall of China is one of those places. Before my first trip to China in 1995 for the World Racewalk Cup, I remember thinking that my expectations for the Great Wall were too high. "There is no way it will live up to the hype," I thought, "it can't be that impressive." It blew me away. Its scale is just so amazingly huge. As far as you can see, there it is, snaking across mountains and dropping into ravines at impossible angles. Its presence is just overwhelming. I had no idea that it would feel that big in person. It felt bigger than I could have imagined, and then to think that it's been there for hundreds of years and took thousands upon thousands of people to build. It truly is one of the wonders of the world. Wow.

And now I'm back at home in the living room of my little house in San Diego. Makes me grateful that I've been able to see so much of the world. It's such a big place.

Checking out, Going Native

2008-08-26T23:05:00.000-07:00

I’ve been stuck in the Olympic system since I arrived in China nearly three weeks ago. Everywhere I turn, I flash my Olympic credential and sashay through all the security checks, jump on a free shuttle bus or have a Team USA representative hand me a bottle of cold water. I’ve gotten so accustomed to being treated like a VIP, it was a shock today when I left the Olympic Village for good. No one offered to carry my luggage for me. I got all sweaty and no one was there to wipe my brow and hand me a cold beverage. I went in to the store and had to buy the food. This could take some getting used to. Paris Hilton never had it this bad.

When I got up this morning, I finished packing and looked around my suite and saw tons of stuff strewn around the common area: clothes, shoes, bags and random packaged food containers, mostly unopened. I had to assume Tyson Gay hadn’t checked out yet; there was so much miscellaneous stuff and everyone else had left. I mentioned it to one of the USATF staff and was told that he had already left. Anything in the room was trash that he didn’t want. So, if anyone wants Tyson’s underwear, I’m starting the bidding at $10. Just kidding. I should be able to get at least $50, right? Do I hear $60?

I was amazed, though, to see in other suites how much stuff people left behind, and we’re talking nice stuff like Closing Ceremonies shirts and shoes, the Nike Team USA t-shirts and pants. I hope that the volunteers who have worked so hard to put on these Games get to take some of the stuff home. With all the security checks on the way in and out, though, they might be asked where all the loot came from. “Really, Tyson gave it to me, I swear!”

On my way out the doors of the Village, there were tons of volunteers swapping gear with athletes and each other. When they saw that I had a few USA t-shirts to trade, they went crazy. I had 15 different people crowded around, passing my shirts back and forth, making offers of this or that shirt, pants or hat. I ended up with a complete volunteer outfit as well as a few shirts from other countries.

Once I was out the exit, I marched up to the apartment where my family is staying. I said I was done with this whole walking thing, but I lied. I enjoy walking to get from place to place. It’s already been four days since my race, so my legs are feeling almost normal again. The only time I really feel the fatigue from the 50km is when I try to jog a few steps or really hurry up a flight of stairs. Give me another week, and I’ll be raring to go.

A couple days ago, I met the family down at the Temple of Heaven. Today our plan was to hit the Forbidden City and tour until we dropped. Well, getting going around here is a bit tricky sometimes. I dallied in my departure from the Village, and then Miles needed a nap, and when we finally had lunch and rode the bus to downtown Beijing, the Forbidden City was only open for another hour, hardly enough time to see it all. We wandered through the hutongs just north of the Forbidden City and into Jingshan Park. Wow!

View of Forbidden City from Jingshan Park

In the middle of Jingshan Park is a large hill, topped by a temple and crowded with tourists, that looks out over the entire city down onto the golden-tiled roofs of the Forbidden City and out over the glistening skyscrapers of modern Beijing. It’s quite a contrast to simply turn your head and watch 600 years of history spin past. There are places in Beijing where time has stopped; there are no cars, no high-rises, only one-story buildings and cobbled streets. But most of the city is teeming with traffic, neon signs, and fancy shops or apartment buildings that reach for the sky. To see it all laid out below from atop Jingshan Park is a marvel.

Descending the backside of the hill brought us through a wooded pathway and onto what would normally be a quiet, secluded path adjoining a small, open pavilion. But through the trees we could hear a riotous banging of bamboo sticks, crazy percussive sounds and odd singing. When we finally got down the trail to the pavilion, it was filled with a group of musicians practicing on their ‘bamboo clackers.’ Liz tried to get a better translation of what the instruments were called but that’s as good as we got – bamboo clackers that sound like horses galloping over cobblestones or large wooden knockers on thick, oak doors. And it was crazy, banging, music. I’ll try to post a sound bite from what I recorded.

Liz and Miles trying out the bamboo clackers

The rest of the afternoon and evening was much less dramatic, with the exception of the weird crazy food stands that we found east of Tianenmen. In the heart of a very modern shopping district, they were selling all sorta of mouth-watering treats on skewers like silk worm cocoons, river snakes, scorpions, sea horses and tripe. Hmm, can't get enough of those crunchy snake heads!

Snakes, squid, and cuttle fish ready for frying

What now?

2008-08-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

Standing on the infield of the Olympic Stadium I realized, I don't want this to end. Not just this evening, which has been amazing, but this lifestyle. I've been going to the Olympics as an athlete for the last three Olympics. I want to feel like an Olympian every day, forever. Watching the Olympic flame go out and realizing that it was all coming to an end, I felt like Cinderella at the end of the ball knowing that I had to go home. No more dancing. No more music. No more bright lights.

There are some things that you never want to end: a good book, a favorite TV sitcom (The Simpsons, of course) and the Closing Ceremonies. Okay, maybe for you folks at home after watching too many hours of Michael Phelps and gymnastics drama (is she really 16?!), you were ready to tune out the Olympics and get some fresh air. But being in the middle of it, breathing in the Olympics in the Village, the stadium and sharing memories with other Olympians, I wasn't so sure I wanted it to be over.

It's time to move on, of course, and I suppose that's the hardest part. What's next? Getting to the Olympics takes incredible discipline, perseverance and passion. I'm told that these are transferable career skills: anybody hiring? :) Seriously. I need a job.

My friend Kathy Colin competed in the Olympics in the sport of kayaking in 2000 & 2004. She and I marched into the Olympic Stadium together in Athens and I talked to her a few times before leaving for Beijing about what it's like to not be going to the Olympics. She wasn't sure how she was going to feel watching the Opening Ceremonies from her couch instead of being there. She said she might not want to watch and be so far removed from that lifestyle. She works more-than-full-time now and doesn't paddle nearly as often as in the past. She enjoys the freedom of not training every day but misses the competitions, the traveling, and the camaraderie and friendships that go along with being an athlete. It's just not the same at work.

I've told many friends that this was my last Olympics and they say, "Keep going! Train for London. Don't get a real job. You've got plenty of time to work 40 hours a week like the rest of us stiffs." My mom doesn't let me talk to those friends anymore. Hah! Seriously, though, I talked to Curt Clausen (three-time Olympic racewalker) and he said he doesn't miss the training but he misses the lifestyle. I can relate to that. I love the traveling, the racing, and the more flexible daily schedule. But my body is starting to wonder how much more 50km training it can take.

I'm sure I could ramble on more and more about what's next, but I'll focus a few more entries on what I'm doing here in Beijing before heading home. When I get home, then I'll start banging down some doors trying to find a job. References available upon request.

Race day reflections

2008-08-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a few days now since I raced, but let me take you back to the morning of the 22nd and recreate what I was thinking and doing as I prepared for the race and walked my Olympic 50km.

Normally I have a rough time sleeping through the night before a big event and the Olympics is as big as it gets. Surprisingly, I slept fairly well. I only woke up three times to check that my alarm was set and turned on, another couple times because I was well-hydrated, and the few odd times to toss and turn and realize "Tomorrow is race day. Wow, it's almost here!" That may sound bad, but I've had much worse pre-race insomnia.

At 5:15, I was up and trying to open up my PowerBar Harvest bar as [CRUNCH] quietly as I [CRACKLE] possibly could. Washed it down with some water and chased it with a banana while double checking that I had all my gear packed and my race shorts on. Coach Joe Vigil and I walked over to the stadium shuttle bus at 5:45am. He's great but he wanted to spend the whole ride over to the Bird's Nest talking about developing racewalking in America. "Yes, yes, we gotta get more walkers and put the racewalk in high schools and colleges but I'm trying to focus on today. Big day today." By the time we got to the warmup track, I thought we had moved on but Tracy Sundlun was there and we got started again on solving America's racewalk problems. Anyone who knows racewalking knows that this conversation could easily last longer than any 50km race, so I went off to start my warmup at 6:30am.

At most track meets, there is a clerk-of-course where each athlete checks in, shows his number and gets assigned a lane or timing chip. The Olympics are no different, but the system of controls, double-checking and micromanaging everything you do is incredible. 40 minutes before the start of your race, you have to check in with the clerk and then you are sequestered for 25 minutes with little opportunity to warm-up. There's a short 50 meter patch of track that 60 guys are pacing on back and forth like restless tigers at the zoo. There's a bathroom, and a line. And volunteers that come by every few minutes to triple-check that you tied the timing chip onto your shoe properly. The best thing to do is get in your warmup out on the track, relax for 25 minutes in the call room, do some light stretching, practice some deep breathing, and lube the armpits to avoid chafing. Suddenly, the volunteers are frantic again and round everyone up into a line to head out the door, through the tunnel and on to the track.

The OLYMPIC STADIUM track and it's race day! It's hard not to think about how hard it was to get here, how many hours of training and nursing injuries, and getting up early and the list goes on.... And it's here, and I am here in the Olympic stadium and I'm getting goose bumps and have to remind myself to just breath and relax and focus. We walk half a lap around the track in a long line with our gear and wave to the couple thousand people who have already gathered in the stands. My brother is on the rail by the starting line so I go over to talk to him, find comfort in a familiar face and pose for some pictures. It's so nice to have him here practically at my side as I start this incredible race.

We are called to the line in no particular order. Fast starters position themselves on the front line. I find a spot in the middle in lane three or four. People are already sweating with the heat. It smells like a locker room. People mutter "Good luck" to each other in several languages, some to their countrymen, others to athletes from the same region. We're all in this together.

Bang! And we're off. Three-and-a-half laps around the stadium. Each lap is a little faster than the previous one until I'm hanging on to the back of the pack with a couple Lithuanians behind me and I'm already walking faster than my planned race pace. But I don't want to be the last one out of the stadium. Not this time. The field has already separated into several bunches and we head into the tunnel, echoing cheers from other athletes and volunteers bounce around and follow us out into the bright sunshine of the Olympic Green. "24 laps to go," says the sign as we hit the 2,000mt loop course. There is a white, steel barrier surrounding the course that keeps the spectators back 15 feet. At 7:30am, there are already thousands lining the fence. By the time we leave and head back to the stadium, there are several places where fans line the fence four and five people deep.

"Jia yo! Jia yo!" is what the Chinese scream at their athletes. "Go, go!" Soon, the locals are screaming it at everyone. "Jia yo! Jia yo!" The night after the race, I could hardly sleep because "Jia yo!" was echoing around my brain ad nauseum. It was like that feeling you get after having been on a boat all day and you close your eyes at night and feel the whole world rocking back and forth. "Jia yo! Jia yo!"

By 8km, I had caught up to Roman Bilek from the Czech Republic. I've probably raced against him before, but I don't really know him. He doesn't speak much English and my Czech is a bit rusty. But we formed an informal alliance and walked together for the next 20km. We took turns handing each other sponges and water depending on who was closest to the aid station. We walked shoulder to shoulder and the only thing we really said to each other was, "Water?" or "Sponge?" He pronounced "sponge" with a hard 'e' at the end so it sounded like "spongy," but we were communicating. It's easier sometimes to walk with someone than to walk alone and it was nice to have the company. There were a few times when I thought, "This is just like a training walk with John Nunn... except this guy doesn't talk very much or tell good stories." It made me kinda sad for a moment because John and I had talked a lot about how we would both be walking at these Olympics.

Shortly before 30km, my new friend Roman started to falter and I maintained my steady sub 5:00/km pace pulling away from him. He ended up ten minutes back at the finish.

People sometimes ask "What do you think about for four hours?" When I'm racing, I try not to think about too much. I spend a lot of time focusing on my technique, reminding myself to stay relaxed, and I repeat a lot of positive affirmations to myself. In the weeks leading up to an event, I might find something that helps keep me motivated in training and so I invariably come back to that during the race. "Get your foot under you quickly" was one of the things that I was thinking in recent speed workouts, so I thought of that a few times if I felt myself slowing up or feeling a little less-than-smooth. I often will get very short snippets of songs stuck in my head and they will just get stuck on a replay loop. I have no idea where it came from, but at some point in the race the lyrics "... disappear into the groove..." popped into my head. I'm not even sure if it's a real song, but it was stuck in my head, in a good way, for several laps. I did a race in Spain a couple years ago where they had a sound system playing throughout the entire 50km. At first, I was worried that it would be a distraction, but I ended up enjoying it. Whoever the DJ was did a nice job, too. For the first hour, we were grooving to some really mellow songs like "Dust in the wind," which was perfect for the first section of a 50km when you really want to keep your emotions in check and stay relaxed. Later, the DJ started to crank it up a bit with some disco tunes. By the end, we were in a euro-discoteque rave party with some thumping beats that helped get me pumped up for the last 10km.

Here in Beijing, the conditions didn't play as big a factor as people had feared. The air was fairly clear after the heavy rains the day before. The temperature rose throughout the morning while the humidity (97% at the start) dropped. It was hot, yes, but not so bad that everyone in the race suffered. The winner, Alex Schwazer, managed to break the 20 year-old Olympic record, so it couldn't have been too bad. The granite surface was covered with 4mm of Mondo, as promised, so our legs got a slight break (though they still took a beating - it's a 50km race!) The heat would have been a much bigger factor if there hadn't been aid stations set up on either end of the course. There was no shade on the course at all, so a regular dousing with ice water or a sponge made a huge difference. On nearly each lap, Tracy handed me a hat filled with ice as I came through the personal aid station and I handed him the hat I had been wearing. By the last few laps, I was taking a sponge at one end of the course, a bottle of water at the other end and my Vitalyte electrolyte drink in the middle. I was so wet, my shoes were squishy with water when I took them off after the race.

Before every big race, I make a series of goals. Most of them relate to how I want to feel before, during and after the race. I also make specific performance-related goals. Obviously the number one goal is always to finish. Training had gone well but not perfectly, so I wanted to walk at 5:00/km pace and finish at 4:10:00. I also had hoped to finish better than my previous Olympics, but the problem with a goal that focuses on a place finish is that you don't have any control over what your competition does. Yes, I would like to win every race I enter, but that's not alway realistic - especially at the Olympics (unless your name is Phelps). I was able to meet nearly all of my goals: I finished (yay!), walked faster than I though I would (4:08:32) and felt strong and in control the entire way. I didn't improve on my best Olympic finish, but I would have had to walk eight minutes faster to do that.

Back to the race. At 25km, my legs started to feel very heavy and fatigued. My first reaction was "Uh-oh, this is not good." But I quickly turned it around and said, "Okay, it's a 50km, you're supposed to be tired, just work through it." It helped, I think, that my friend Roman was clearly hurting more than I was and I was able to feed off of him as he slowed. It reminded me briefly of the Prefontaine quote, "Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it." That's always a good pick-me-up in the middle of a race. I continued to plug away at a steady pace and by the last 15km, I was passing people who had lapped me and catching up to people who had been as much as five minutes ahead of me earlier in the race. My strategy of walking even splits was paying off. In the final 10km, only 16 guys walked faster than I did. With just 2km to go, I was gaining quickly on Tim Berrett from Canada and a Greek walker. I tried to accelerate but couldn't manage anything quicker than my 5:00/km pace. Tim told me later that I would have caught him if he hadn't been trying to catch the Greek walker in front of him. He ended up 14 seconds ahead of me.

Coming into the stadium for the finish was an unreal feeling. The place was packed and cheering wildly for each of the walkers as we came out of the tunnel. I would have liked to soak it in a bit longer but desperately wanted to finish as quickly as I could. After I crossed the line, I stopped and looked around for awhile realizing that in all likelihood it was the last time I would be standing at the finish line inside an Olympic stadium. How lucky am I to have had this incredible experience? I probably took longer than most, but I just didn't want to leave. It would have been silly to do a lap around the track, but if my legs had allowed it I might have tried.

One of the more agonizing inventions of the Olympic media moguls is the post-race mixed zone. After having walked for over four hours, stumbled across the finish line, in some cases collapsed in a heap, they expect every walker to go through the mixed zone. Stairs. They make you climb up a flight of stairs so they can get the best angle for a post-race interview. Oh, it's agonizing. At least they have the good sense to put hand rails all the way up and back down again. So I pulled myself up to the second level, talked to a nice reporter from NBC (don't know if any of that got aired or not), and then stumbled back down the stairs on the other side. Print media from all over the world were waiting down there. The Italian champion who had finished well ahead of me was still talking to some Italian newspapers as I went past and talked to someone from an Oregon newspaper and the USATF media representative.

Out of the mixed zone and into the post-race recovery room where there were lumps of athletes scattered around on the floor, draped over chairs, or moaning in the corner. Some were changing into dry clothes, some were just staring into space. I chatted with Tim Berrett for a bit and then walked, slowly, out to meet the USATF coaches and medical staff that were waiting for me. Coach Vigil had my phone, so I was able to call Liz and the rest of the family and arrange to meet them in the stands. Thankfully, there was an elevator up into the stadium seating. Stairs and I were not going to get along for awhile.

Okay, it's late here in the Village and I need to pack up my bags. I'm moving out tomorrow and then spending a few more days here in Beijing touring around with my family. I'll try to blog some more, but it may not be until I get back to San Diego at the end of the week. Check back if you like. Peace.

Please Don't Close the Games

2008-08-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hey blogging fans!

I'm literally frantic! I'm heading to the Bird's Nest for the Closing Ceremonies in just a few minutes. I've got my swank duds on and I'm trying to figure out how to make this belt keep my baggy pants up. I'll get it, don't worry.

Here are a few interesting post-race articles and one that makes me think I should move to Washington D.C. for my bid to make the 2012 London Olympics. Sorry for the dearth of blog entries of late but I'm trying to pack in all the sight-seeing, fun and late-night stuff that I missed before the race. Please forgive me. I'll try to get some more blogs rolling off the press post-Closing Ceremonies.

Wheeee!

Portland Tribune article

Carleton College article

D.C. tries to get into the Olympics

.... back from the Closing Ceremonies. Thank you Beijing. Off to bed. Hopefully I'll have more energy to write some in the morning (morning in Beijing). I've gotten clobbered by a head cold that snuck up on me slowly since the race so I may be sleeping in. Nearly all of my suitemates had it, too, so I shouldn't be surprised. Ciao.

Photo Page....

2008-08-23T03:31:00.000-07:00

At PowerBar hospitality house with Peter Vanderkay (swimming gold & bronze) and my PowerBar peeps

Action shot, midway through the 50km walk

In front of the Bird's Nest while walking with my Czech friend, Roman

Finishing in the stadium – what an awesome feeling!

Family visit to the Olympic Village

Miles, mobbed by the paparazzi

For more photos from my 50km race, please go to www.racewalk.com

For complete results and splits from the 50km race, go to the official Olympic page

Among the best

2008-08-22T04:20:00.000-07:00

I have to start by saying thank you. Thank you to all of you for sending messages of support and encouragement. Thank you for following along on this incredible journey of mine. In a way, I hope it has become your journey, too.

Thank you to my wife, Liz, without whom I could not do this whole racewalking thing. She is more patient, loving and supportive than I could ever ask her to be. Thank you.

Thank you to my family who came all the way to Beijing to stand in the blazing hot sun and cheer me on for four hours. Thank you to my son, Miles, who stayed awake for almost the entire race, saw me at one point and said, “Mama” (he calls both Liz and me ‘mama’) though he nodded off there at the end (I would have taken a nap, too, if I could have).

The race went as well as I could have hoped given the conditions and the fact that this was my third 50km of the year. I came in hoping to walk under 4:10 and I walked 4:08:32. My first 25km was 2:04:08 and the second was 2:04:24, pretty even splits on a day when lots of people struggled at the end. I finished 39th today against the best walkers in the world. I wasn’t the best, but I was among the best.

I’ll write more later, but I’m exhausted and need to meet up with the family again this evening.

Radio time...

2008-08-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

National Public Radio is going to run another story that has little old me talking about big old racewalking. The NPR piece talks about the 2km loop course outside the Bird's Nest stadium. It's great publicity for the sport and I'm psyched that we're getting some coverage. We'll work on getting the next storyline to read, "US racewalker wins Olympic gold."

This morning, I was up early for my last real training session before the race. My plan had been to go over to BNU and get a more precise track workout in, but there were some complications. Last night I was called and told to appear for a morning blood draw with the IAAF blood doping crew. So, training was shifted up and I stayed in the Village. There's a 900 meter course in back of the cafeteria where I did my 3km/3km/2km walk. While I was out there, Kenenisa Bekele and some of his Ethiopian compatriots were running an 'easy' morning warm-up. Bekele won the men's 10,000mt a couple nights ago. Yes, he was 'jogging' faster than I was racewalking. Surprise. This evening, Bekele ran just behind newly-minted American Bernard Lagat to qualify for the men's 5000mt final.

At 8:15am, one of the USOC team doctors walked Joanne Dow and me over to the polyclinic for our IAAF blood draw. The purpose, supposedly, is not to catch dopers but to establish a baseline for future doping controls. Joanne was joking that it was a big waste of time to test her the day before her last competitive race.

Sometimes I get a bit queasy around needles and today was no different. After the blood draw was over, I decided I should lie down. The Chinese nurses and doctors panicked, ran about in a frenzy and even rushed in a gurney for me. The USOC doc and I were laughing about their efficiency. I was fine, but it made for an exciting morning, that's for sure. It's funny how a little thing like a needle can get to me but I go out and walk a 50km the next day.

At 11am we had a team photo with all of the tracksters. When I get a chance to download the photos, I'll post some shots of me with some of my fast new friends.

I ate lunch in the Village and then took a short walk up to meet Liz and Miles who were out and about from the apartment. Miles has been very patient with all of the traveling, but it's really difficult for Liz without me around as much to help out. Traveling with a toddler is never easy and being in a foreign country makes it even tougher. As I've posted earlier, the Chinese are fascinated with Miles and love to touch him, grab at his cheeks or legs, and take his photo. He's put up with it pretty well, but I'm sure he'll enjoy being back home, too.

After spending a nice, mellow afternoon with the family and getting to hear Miles giggle and see him play in the apartment, I walked over to the field hockey pitch to watch the women's game between Germany vs. China. The local Chinese were so excited when China came from behind to win, but they were also supportive of the German team. The US women had played earlier in the morning against Spain and lost 3-2 to finish in 8th place. The Chinese go on to play in the gold medal game.

Kevin and I had a nice dinner in the cafeteria and then chilled out in the USATF lounge and watched Lagat and Matt Tegenkamp qualify in the 5000mt and Symmonds in the 800. All three of them won their heats and looked good doing it. All in all, it was a nice day but I definitely feel like I’m counting the hours now with my race just around the corner.

Rain, rain go away

2008-08-20T17:20:00.000-07:00

(It's Thursday morning here in Beijing)

I'm just leaving the Village now for the women's 20km racewalk competition and it is raining hard. The Village green out my window is usually swarming with athletes, but today there are colorful umbrellas scurrying around like bright beetles. People are rushing from their dorms directly to the buses or to the cafeteria. No delay, hurry hurry hurry.

Joanne Dow, the lone American in the women's race, is going to get soaked. She's overcome so many obstacles to get here that a little rain won't dampen her Olympic spirit, though. After 14 years of racing, she finally made her first Olympic team at the age of 44. Her oldest daughter, Hanna, is starting at Penn this fall. Some of Joanne's fellow Olympians still in high school!

Okay, go USA Racewalking! I'm off to the Bird's Nest.

Three days to go

2008-08-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday felt like a long day, so I slept in until 8:30am this morning. My timing was perfect, though, as I was able to join a couple others walkers who were out putting in some laps around the Village. I started my 10km workout with Tim Berrett, 5-time Olympian from Canada. We've known each other for years, raced against each other at World Cups, Pan Am Games, Olympics.... We were joined after 15 minutes by Jared Tallent from Australia. Jared was the 23-year old who finished third in the 20km race last Saturday. And now he's preparing for the 50km on Friday. It will only be his third 50km race, but he's optimistic he can bounce back quickly. He's having quite the month because shortly after his 50km race, he returns to Australia to marry his fiance, Claire Woods, who is racing Thursday in the women's 20km.

The US team has a nice set-up for our medical staff here in the Village. After my morning walk, I got some help stretching out and then got some chiropractic adjustments from Portland, OR based Ted Forcum. Thanks Ted!

When I got back to my suite, the door was locked. Usually we leave it open, but I had my key handy and let myself in. Tyson Gay, my suitemate, was standing right there and looked so happy to see me. "I've been locked in for an hour," he said. "Thank you!" Housecleaning must have locked up after themselves and the latch on the inside of the door broke when Tyson tried to let himself out.

I spent the afternoon relaxing, lunching with Joanne Dow in the cafeteria, and catching up on my blogging.

One of my sponsors, PowerBar, invited me to come to an event at their hospitality house tonight with other athletes. They were kind enough to pick me up and my whole family and take us over to their house. They had a nice dinner prepared and gave us all some PowerBar gifts. There were several photographers and journalists who took photos. Not surprisingly, they took lots of pictures of Miles. It was a nice place to get together with my family and meet a few other PowerBar-sponsored athletes. The women's marathon bronze medalist from China, Zhou Chunxiu showed up (slight language barrier but she was very happy to be there) and US swimmer Peter Vanderkay told some good stories about post-competition celebrations. He was on his way to another exclusive party in downtown Beijing.

Two other vendor/sponsors showcased their events at the PowerBar house including Suunto, who makes high-end heart rate monitors, and an innovative vibration training company called Galileo. The Suunto rep set me up with a free watch – oh, it's nice to know the right people! Thanks John!

Everyone was pretty tired by the time I got dropped off at the west gate of the Olympic Village. Miles had fallen asleep in Liz's arms and the rest of us were ready to nod off, too. I'm up for a bit watching the last of the track meet and listening to my Team USA teammates cheer and yell at the TV.

Out and About

2008-08-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

For the first time, I went over to Beijing Normal University (BNU) to use the practice track and see the facilities that are set up for Team USA. Reports have been going around that the Americans brought all their own food and aren’t eating in the Village because they’re afraid of being dosed with steroid-injected beef and chicken by the Chinese. Well, BNU is where all the “safe American food” is being served to Team USA athletes. It’s also where many of the US coaches who don’t have credentialed-access to the Olympic Village are staying and where their athletes are meeting them for training every day. I didn’t take the time to eat a meal at BNU, but I did get in a good track session with a few other US athletes.

Joanne Dow and I met Tracy Sundlun at the track and he gave us splits and encouragement. I’m so used to training on my own that when Tracy asked if I needed anything from him, I couldn’t think of anything at first. Then I said, “Just tell me that I look great.” His response: “Well, I’ve had to lie before, I can do it again.” Hah! Also on the track were the modern pentathletes and open-water swimmers. The swimmers were doing a short, cross-training workout while the pentathletes were running 200 meter intervals. The two women competing in the modern pentathlon have strikingly different stories. Shelia Taormina is competing in her fourth Olympics in her third different sport. Amazing. She first raced on the US swim team. Then she competed for Team USA in the triathlon. Now she is 39 years old and contesting the five events of the modern pentathlon: fencing, shooting, equestrian, running and swimming. Her teammate is Margaux Isaksen and only 16 years old! Wow.

The week of a big 50km race, I like to do a short speed workout of 5 x 1km. They are always faster than race pace but not super fast. Before the World Cup in Russia in May, I did this same workout on the track in Gothenburg, Sweden and today’s was very similar. It would be great if I could replicate my performance in Russia, though the conditions here are likely to be warmer and more humid. Today I started out at 4:28 for the first 1km. Joanne had done several 200s before she jumped in and walked the first 1km with me. With a two-minute break between each 1km, I walked 4:24, 4:22, 4:18 and 4:15 to close out the series. It wasn’t as easy and relaxed as I would have liked, but it also wasn’t that hard. It’s nice to finish any workout and know that, if you had to, you could do it again tomorrow.

I headed back to the Village for shower, lunch and a wee bit of lying down to recover. My family is staying with a family friend who works at one of the local Beijing universities. He had asked if I could come speak to one of the classes about my Olympic experiences and I jumped at the chance. Like this blog, speaking to groups is one way that I share my story and help people understand what it’s like to be an Olympian.

Han Bing had arranged for an athlete from the Chilean Olympic Team to come and speak to the class, too, so Pablo McCandless and I spent over an hour talking to the students about the Olympics, what it’s like to be an athlete, and then answered their questions. Pablo is a slalom kayaker who practically stumbled into the Olympics. He was born in the US to a Chilean mother and American father, so he has dual citizenship. After doing a few races in slalom kayaking and competing at some World Cup events, the Chilean Olympic Committee asked him to train for the Olympics. Maybe he was being humble, but he made it sound so easy. Perhaps we should all move to Chile!

The students at Han Bing’s university are all American college kids studying Chinese language and culture and they are nearly done with their summer semester. A couple of them asked some very specific questions about politics in the Games and pollution in Beijing and how it has affected athletes. They told me later that they are writing final term papers or doing projects on those topics and wanted some good, first-hand information. All of the students were really enthusiastic and had some great questions. Some of them were impressed by the fact that all the athletes treat each other as equals. For example, Pablo is the only Chilean slalom kayaker and he talked about receiving help from other countries who have more resources given to their athletes. If he needs a ride from one competition to another, there’s almost always an extra seat in another country’s van. As I tell people, we are all Olympians. Five rings are five rings, no matter who wears them. At the same time, the more famous athletes are not immune from the standard hero-worship just because they are surrounded by other Olympic athletes. Walking to the cafeteria today, I saw Ronaldinho, the Brazilian soccer superstar. He was flanked by his Brazilian teammates on all sides, but athletes were still crowding up to him asking for pictures and autographs. At Opening Ceremonies, many US athletes were ebullient after getting a photo with Kobe Bryant. I guess meeting someone famous is universally exciting.

After speaking to Han Bing’s students, I meant to go directly to the Hometown Hopefuls house to meet up with my family. Normally that means climbing into a taxi, pointing at my laminated information card that has the address written out in Chinese, and resting my head back on the seat until we arrive. Today, I thought it would be fun to go native. I jumped on a bus. Ooops. The first mistake I made was to ask for help from eager teenagers at the Beijing Information kiosk in front of the university. They debated for awhile about which route would be best, finally settled on one, wrote it down on a piece of paper, and walked me over the pedestrian bridge to the other side of the street and had me get on bus # 392 going north. When I showed my piece of paper to the driver he shook his head violently, shooed me off his bus and pointed the other direction, south. On my second attempt, I rode 30 minutes south until the driver told me to get off with a friendly passenger who would direct me to the next bus I needed. He was very helpful and I was on my way again, east, towards the Worker’s Stadium. All of this ‘communicating’ was done in sign language and really bad Chinese (me) or English (them). On bus #118, I met a nice local who spoke passable English. He was happy to help me get off at the stop I needed and I arrived with a greater appreciation for bilingualism, good public transportation maps, and well-cushioned shoes.

As always, it was wonderful to see the family and hear all of the stories of their day’s adventures. Miles has been a super-trooper. His little blond curls have won over all the Chinese. My dad insists that Miles has had his picture taken as many times as Michael Phelps. And I believe it. The waitresses at the Hometown Hopefuls have ooohed and aaahed over Miles every time we visit. It’s like having baby sitters follow you around: Miles gets picked up, carried around, walked all over place while we sit back and enjoy the delicious food and drink.

I returned to the Olympic Village in record time. The cab driver knew the quickest, most direct way that avoided police barricades and traffic slow spots. I was back in time to watch the USA sweep the men’s 400 mt hurdles.

Relaxing in the Village

2008-08-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

View out my window in the athlete's Village towards the cafeteria and "international zone"

Walking this morning with Joanne Dow the day after the men’s 20km race was nice. We followed a flat, paved loop around and through the athlete’s village. There is some bus traffic and lots of pedestrians along one of the long straightaway, but it’s a good 2.6+km around. It’s fun to walk past athletes who are headed to the cafeteria or back to their dorm rooms and feel encouraged and welcome.

Entrance to the Olympic Village, security tent

Since my race is less than a week away, I’m not doing that much mileage. I only walked 10km this morning and will do a short speed workout tomorrow. I’m really starting to feel much better about my race and my fitness, but I wonder how much of it is the extra rest, good food, and light training load I am getting now.

Kevin Eastler and I spent the midmorning and lunch talking about his future plans. He’s getting out of the Air Force and into General Electric’s former officer’s career program in upstate New York. He’ll be mentoring for a career in renewable energy projects like wind and solar for GE. He is fortunate to be able to step seamlessly from his athletic career into a full-time occupation. Kevin is also very interested in sustainable technologies and lifestyles. He and his wife plan to build a ‘green’ house that uses solar and wind to generate their energy needs, something I would be love to do some day (if I knew enough about it).

Laundry pick-up and drop-off in Olympic Village

After lunch, the US Racewalk team went to watch water polo. The USOC gives out tickets to athletes every day to a variety of events. There were extra water polo tickets, so we watched the Australian women battle it out with the Chinese in the pool. The hometown crowd was rewarded with an extremely aggressive and competitive game, but the highly rated Australian team was too much for the Chinese.

Pathway in Village with solar powered lighting

The rest of the day was pretty low-key for me. I read a little, talked to friends, had dinner in the village cafeteria, and watched some of the athletics events. None of the dorm rooms have TVs in them, so some of the USATF coaches went out and bought a TV and set up a common room for us to watch the track events without having to trek over to another building. It’s pretty fun to watch Olympic track events with a bunch of Olympic tracksters. Everyone knows everyone on TV and is yelling at them as if they can hear us from the Village. And the NBC commentators would learn a lot about the different events if they could listen in to what people were saying tonight. Some of the athletes in the TV lounge train with or compete against the athletes who were in the stadium tonight, so there were a lot of insights, positive and negative, about why someone raced well or poorly.

After having watched for half an hour, one of the throwers returned from the Village cafeteria with a huge McDonalds bag full of French fries, chicken McNuggets and burgers. Yes, the athletes eat McDonalds, though I’m not sure why. Kevin felt bad all morning after eating two Egg McMuffins for breakfast. I suppose if you eat junk food regularly, your body gets used to it. But it makes me wonder how much better these guys could be if they ate more healthily.

Winner or Champion?

2008-08-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I heard Janet Evans speak about her Olympic swimming experiences. She talked about her first Olympics where she was a young, outrageously talented teenager who came in, won a bunch of medals, but didn’t really understand the significance of her performance. She said, “I was a winner. I crossed the line first, that’s it.” It wasn’t until she came back years later to compete in her second Olympics that she appreciated the dedication, perseverance and courage that it takes to make it to the Games. What she realized was that she could give her very best effort, be completely committed to her goal, and still not win. By living in the moment, appreciating her gift and giving it her best, she was a champion. It didn’t matter whether she was a winner or not. When she did win the gold in the relay, it was that much more special.

Which brings us to today’s 20km racewalk for men. Pre-race favorite Jefferson Perez is a winner by any definition: winner of the Olympics, World Championships, Pan American Games, World Racewalk Cup, etc, etc. However, he is also a champion. He wins with grace, humility and integrity. Today he finished second and won the silver medal. The ‘winner’ was Russian Valeriy Borchin who pulled away from Jefferson in the final five kilometers. Borchin served a one-year doping ban in 2005-06. He trains with the three Russian racewalkers who were banned weeks ago from these Olympics for EPO doping violations. His name was initially listed as one of those caught for doping but then his federation removed his name. Borchin is a drug cheat. He is not a champion. In my book, he’s not even a winner. It disgusts and infuriates me that he is allowed to race at all or that his coach is allowed to work with any athletes, especially kids and juniors who are just starting in the sport. Aaaagh, I get so mad.

America’s only 20km walker Kevin Eastler raced today for the last time (so he says). He announced days ago that he was very excited to be retiring from the sport immediately after his race. And since I am his roommate here in the Olympic Village, he has reminded me a thousand times since the race that he is retired. Tonight as I was heading to bed and he was heading out, he said, “Man, I’m so glad I don’t have to get up and racewalk tomorrow.” Thanks, roomie. Thanks a lot.

It was nice to get up early this morning to accompany Kevin to the National Stadium, take a short course walk-through (out the tunnel, around the 2km loop, and back) with US assistant manager, Tracy Sundlun, and see the procedure for the pre-race check-in. I walked with Kevin while he did a short warm-up and then headed into the stadium to catch the start. From the gun, Jefferson and some of the other pre-race favorites set a brisk pace. Kevin started conservatively and found himself in the back of the pack as they headed out of the stadium. Slowly, he began to catch the stragglers and moved up into 43rd place. His time was only a minute slower than his winning Olympic Trials race and the conditions were much tougher here. Given all the injuries Kevin has dealt with over the past year, he raced well.

I was rooting for Jefferson to repeat his gold medal performance from the 1996 Olympics, but he wasn’t able to match the surge that the convicted drug user from Russia set at the end of the race. To explain a little of the doping controversy, check out this article. I’m trying not to be too cynical about the drug use that seems to be pervasive in sports, but it's difficult. I’m optimistic that some day the testers will be one step ahead of the dopers and sports will be clean. I just don’t know how an athlete that cheats can feel any sense of pride or accomplishment at winning the gold. Or how someone can sleep at night knowing that he/she is a fraud. Sigh. Enough of that.

For some great photos and a summary of the race, check out Jeff Salvage’s excellent photo story.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the Village, listening to Kevin talk about the joys of retirement (shut up already!), and visiting with my family. Kevin and I took a taxi to the US Hometown Hopefuls hospitality. It was my first time there. The sponsor this year, Bank of America, found a really nice location with three stories, outdoor seating and a spot near the Worker’s Stadium – soccer and boxing events. The Hometown Hopefuls house is great because each US athlete can invite up to four friends and family to hang out, eat free food, watch video feeds of all the Olympic events, and check email.

My folks, Liz, Miles and Malcolm were all there and we stocked up on some good food, watched a few other sports on the live video feeds, and mostly tried to keep up with Miles as he was running around. Miles loved walking up and down the stairs with me. He doesn’t realize that I’m not supposed to be doing too much extra stuff like stair climbing or touristy stuff. But he got tired eventually, took a short nap, and we headed home.

The taxi ride home was an adventure of sorts. When Beijing was first awarded the Olympic bid in 2001, Chinese authorities assured the world that all the taxi drivers would be able to speak English by the time the world came to Beijing. Not so much. Liz helped me get on my way back to the Village by explaining, in Chinese, where I needed to go. The cabbie said, “Yeah, sure, I got it,” or the equivalent and we were off. We had driven 15 minutes and he started asking me, in sign language, whether we should turn or go straight. “I don’t know where we are!” We did make it, obviously, but if it wasn’t for the laminated card that says “Olympic Village” in Chinese that I showed to a few cops that stopped us at controlled intersections, I’m not sure we would have made it. Wheh.

Return to the Village

2008-08-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

It's been a couple days since I was able to post. Now that I'm back at the Olympic Village, there is so much going on. I was able to see my family (YAY!) for the first time here in China on Friday and now that I'm in Beijing I'm feeling very Olympic!

Let's go back to Friday, my last day in Dalian. I got in a short morning training session around the resort, just enough to stretch the legs before the flight over to Beijing. Our trip to the Dalian airport was eventful only because there was no police escort. It felt bizarre to be in normal Chinese traffic with buses and motorcycles and taxis zooming in and out. There were pedestrians and bicycles and mule-drawn carts. After all the heavy security, it was unnerving.

We were met at the airport by China Northern representatives and I assumed it would all go smoothly. Nope. Ian Dobson, Jen Rhines and I were the only three athletes returning to the Village, but for some reason Ian and I weren't in the system. Eventually they sorted it out, got everyone tickets, and took us to the VIP lounge. Ian was stressing out at first because he had never been into a First Class VIP lounge and with all the delays he was worried we weren't going to have time to enjoy it. Well, we ended up getting spoiled in the VIP lounge. We were the VIPs of the VIP. No kidding, they sat us down, got us drinks and then a few minutes later open of the attendants came over and said, "You are very lucky customers, lucky customers." Ian and I were thinking, "Yeah, we're in VIP, we feel lucky all right."

Jen, Ian and I were brought to the front of the VIP lounge, introduced to the vice president of China Northern Airlines, and told to pose for photos. Then they rolled out a huge cake with a big "2" on it and champagne glasses. The VP cut the cake, then they insisted that Jen cut a slice while posing for more photos. Ian was next, then I had to smile, cut a slice of cake, and raise a glass of champagne to the second anniversary of the China Northern Airlines VIP lounge. It was all very surreal.

On arrival into Beijing, we were sitting in the Olympic Village shuttle bus when a couple Irish officials came and sat down across the aisle. The guy looked very familiar but I couldn't quite place him at first. Then I realized it was Patrick Ryan! Patrick and I met in 1992 when I was on an Irish Literature study abroad program with Carleton College. I found out that there was a track meet with a 10,000mt racewalk and I jumped in. Patrick and I walked the whole thing together and finished in a tie: Irish Under-23 National Champions. We hung out together a few more times, I had a great time visiting with his family at his hometown, and we made a promise that we would see each other at the Olympics some day. Well, he's here as the Irish National racewalk coach and I'm competing. Today we kept saying, "16 years ago...."

After getting back to the Village and settling in, I was able to track down Liz, Miles, Mom, Dad and Malcolm. We all got together and hung out at the apartment. It was so wonderful to see everyone for the first time since back home. Then we all went over to the Bird's Nest to watch the track and field competition. The highlight was the women's 10,000 meters. USA's Shalane Flanagan, who had been sick and throwing up just three days earlier, came from behind for a stunning bronze medal. It was an incredibly courageous race (and she just came by the TV room where I am typing up this blog... brush with fame!).

Blue collar marathoner

2008-08-14T01:13:00.000-07:00

My new favorite US marathoner showed up in Dalian yesterday. Brian Sell. I had seen him run in 2005 at the World Track & Field Championships in Helsinki and he seemed like a good, hardworking runner. He finished ninth against a bunch of really talented runners. He doesn't really finesse his way through the distance, he plows. He's a work horse. At the 2008 Olympic Trials in NYC, he moved his way through the field with a steady, relentless pace and finished third behind wunderkinder Ryan Hall (25) and Dathan Ritzenhein (24). I like his style. His Harley-Davidson mustache gives him a good tough guy look, too.

2008 US Olympic Marathon Team – Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein, Brian Sell

Talking to Sell at lunch today after watching him run an 18 miler, I realized that he is a blue collar marathoner. He just flat out runs. He logs between 140-160 miles a week. Most elite marathoners are over 100 miles a week, but 160? That's more than 22 miles a day! No wonder he just keeps going and going. He's not as quick as some of the other marathoners out there, but he's still run a 10km in 28:36. Not too shabby. He also works 20 hours a week as part of the Home Depot Olympic Job Opportunity Program. He had some great stories about working in the lawn and garden area: stolen merchandise, tools stuffed into bags of mulch, etc.

Brian Sell at 2005 World T&F Champs Marathon, 9th place

This morning was my last longish walk before the race. I would have waited until Saturday, but that's the morning of the men's 20km walk and I don't want to miss it. (Go Jefferson! Go Kevin!) Also, I travel tomorrow morning back to Beijing and I don't know how the training venues are set up there for a 20km training walk. I'm glad I didn't wait because today was quite the adventure.

Knowing that I would be walking long, I asked our USATF staff if I could do the first part of the 20km on the roads getting to the horse track. Rather than walk a bunch of 1300mt laps, I figured I could get in 5km before I even got over there. Well, anything different from the ordinary schedule tends to throw the Chinese security into a tizzy. Of course they are concerned about our safety, but I think they just want to avoid an incident on their watch. I've traveled all over the world and done workouts in pretty sketchy places. The people here seem extremely friendly (how often do you get people clapping for you when you go out for a workout in your hometown?) and though there is a lot of traffic, it hasn't been insane. I'm much more nervous walking through a rough neighborhood back in the States, or on a quiet rural road with who knows what kind of loose dogs or drunks driving rusty pickup trucks (nothing against drunks, really, just don't throw your beer cans at me).

So it was a bit of a surprise when the Chinese security agreed to let Brian Sell and me head out from the resort over to the horse track at 8am. It's downhill to get out of here, so I ran with Sell for the first few minutes until it flattened out and was safer for racewalking. When he pulled away from me, so did a police escort car. It trailed right along side him the rest of the way, three miles of blanket security. While Brian was quickly becoming a dot in the distance, I realized I had a black, tinted-window cruiser pacing me, too. For two miles, he followed right along side me as I walked down the right-hand side of the road, under a tunnel and up to the busy intersection where I turned left. I'm used to walking on the left shoulder facing traffic back in the States and I knew that I would be taking another left into the horse track, so I went left on the busy road and settled into the bike lane facing traffic. And so did my escort car! He drove head-on into traffic for five minutes of my walk forcing cars and bikes off to my right so that I had an unimpeded route. I could get used to that!

Once I got to the horse track, I finished up the last 15km without incident. Brian cruised through his 18 miles and we caught a ride back with the others who had come over on the shuttle bus – not nearly as exciting as getting a solo police escort into opposing traffic.

Dallying in Dalian

2008-08-13T01:33:00.000-07:00

"China Best Tourist City"

"The Capital of Romance"

Since I haven't been able to get out of the compound except for training at the local horse track, I've been reading the tourist literature provided in each room at the Golden Pebble Beach Resort. I'm becoming drunk on the many splendors of Dalian.

View of Golden Pebble Beach Resort with worker's garden in foreground - squash, peppers, strawberries, eggplant

It is most famous for its "sinuous coast line" and "numerous squares that can be compared to inlaid pearls." The squares or plazas are what captivate this particularly effusive writer (and translator): "The manliness of Xinghai Square, the elegance of Zhongshan Square and the meaningfulness of Renmin Square, all present a galaxy of pleasure to one's eyes, intoxicate one's heart and crystallize into dulcet memories." Perhaps I can sneak out tomorrow and crystallize some dulcet memories on the streets of Dalian.

Dalian is widely regarded as one of the most pleasant cities in China to visit. If you tell someone in Beijing that you are headed to Dalian their eyes will get misty and they will sigh and say, "Ah, the most beautiful city in China." I suppose if you are up to your ears in Beijing traffic, smog and summer humidity, you might feel that way. The tourist book again chimes in noting that a common saying here is "Come to Dalian, open mouth widely, and breath deeply."

We've literally taken over the entire Golden Pebble Beach Resort. The only guests are members of the US Track & Field team, coaches or staff. There are, however, at least two or three times as many Chinese employees, security or volunteers sharing the compound with us. Wherever you turn, there is a guard, a resort uniform, or a maintenance worker. There is an office for the USATF staff to coordinate all the transportation to training venues and to/from the airport. The sports medicine staff have their own dedicated area near the sauna, pool, and small fitness center. I mentioned in a previous post that I had been using the ice tub. Ice is a commodity in China and not easily found. In order to get enough ice to keep the ice baths cold, the resort planned ahead. During the winter, they chipped out huge chunks of ice from a nearby lake and stored it in a refrigeration unit. At first we wondered why the ice bath had a slightly funky aroma to it. Now we know.

But it is beautiful and green and right near the coast. The geological formations along the coast are remarkable, earning the Golden Pebble Beach several names: “The Solidified Animal World," “The Natural Geological Museum” and “The Magic Sculpture Park." Looking out my window, I can see fishing boats bobbing in the water surrounded by nets and buoys. This morning I went looking for Ping the duck, but I think he lives in a different part of China on the Yangtze River.

I did find a work crew grooming the golf course. There were 10 guys mowing the fairways. They had one lawn mower and a truck. One guy was mowing the lawn and the other nine were raking the cut grass into little piles, stuffing the grass into bags and loading it on to the truck. Then they were driving the truck somewhere, unloading the grass, and returning to do the next fairway. For the hillier sections that the mower couldn't reach, they had two options: one guy with a weed-whacker or a pair of goats. Seriously, I only took the picture of the guys working with the mower, but the goats were very cute. Combine the goats with the vegetable gardens that ringed the area around the worker's quarters and you've got some good sustainable living going on. Throw in a few fish and sea cucumbers from the ocean, and you've got a meal.

Ten guys mowing the golf course (one is at the truck out of view)

Check older postings for some photos that I added recently.

Maya Angelou Waxes Olympic

2008-08-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

One of the many gifts we received at Team Processing was a DVD of Maya Angelou reading her poem "Amazement Awaits." The DVD shows scenes from previous Olympic Games, athletes from all over the world competing in numerous sports.

Depending on whom you believe, the poem was an inspired, unsolicited contribution from Angelou to the Olympic movement or a commissioned piece in the tradition of many past literary masters, Shakespeare included. Either way, I think the poem captures the spirit of the Games in both metaphor and reality.

Enjoy!

AMAZEMENT AWAITS
by Maya Angelou

Sheer amazement awaits
Amazement luxuriant in promise
Abundant in wonder

Our beautiful children arrive at this Universal stadium
They have bathed in the waters of the world
And carry the soft silt of the Amazon, the Nile,
The Danube, the Rhine, the Yangtze and the Mississippi
In the palms of their right hands.
A wild tiger nestles in each armpit
And a meadowlark perches on each shoulder.

We, the world audience, stand, arms akimbo,
Longing for the passion of the animal
And the melody of the lark
The tigers passion attend the opening bells,
The birds sing of the amazement which awaits.

The miracle of joy that comes out of the gathering of our best, bringing their best,
Displaying the splendor of their bodies and the radiance of their agile minds to the cosmos.
Encouragement to those other youth caught in the maws of poverty,
Crippled by the terror of ignorance.

They say Brothers and Sisters, Yes, try. Then try harder.
Lunge forward, press eagerly for release.
The amazement which awaits is for you.
We are here at the portal of the world we had wished for
At the lintel of the world we most need.
We are here roaring and singing.
We prove that we can not only make peace, we can bring it with us.

With respect for the world and its people,
We can compete passionately without hatred.
With respect for the world and its people,
We can take pride in the achievement of strangers.
With respect for the world and its people,
We can share openly in the success of friends.
Here then is the Amazement
Against the odds of impending war

In the mouth of bloody greed
Human grace and human spirit can still conquer.
Ah … We discover, we ourselves
Are the Amazement which awaits
We are ourselves Amazement.

Artwork by Cristóbal Gabarrón titled "Amazement Awaits"

Track and Field Fantasy Camp, part II

2008-08-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

It isn't enough that all the best distance runners in America are here in Dalian, so are their coaches. It's a who's who of elite coaches milling about with their athletes: Joe Vigil, Frank Gagliano, Alberto Salazar, Terrence Mahon, Steve Jones, and several others whose names I don't remember.

I was eating dinner tonight with Deena and Andrew Kastor. Deena won the bronze medal in the marathon four years ago in Athens. She didn't realize that she was in third place until they announced "And winning the bronze medal from the United States, Deena Kastor" as she came down the final straight away to the finish. One of her competitors had dropped out in front of her at mile 21 and she passed two or three other runners in the last couple miles. It was awesome! She is racing the marathon on the 17th.

At dinner tonight, Deena told the story of Steve Jones' world record in the marathon in 1985. He had dropped out of the Chicago Marathon at mile 16 the year before after a blazing fast start. The next year, again in Chicago, he passed the designated pace setters at mile two and ran the first half under 1:02 which remains the fastest first half of a marathon. Jones slowed in the second half but still ran a stunning 2:08:05 in his first complete marathon.

It reminded me of when Malcolm (my twin brother) and I were kids and getting serious about running. We had a poster in our room of three of the best runners of the day – Steve Jones, Arturo Barrios and Ed Eyestone – gliding down the road in the pouring rain. It said something motivational like "When the going gets tough, the tough keep going." It's pretty cool that years later, I have met each of them at some point: Steve Jones here in Dalian, China and at the Rock 'N Roll Marathon in San Diego a couple years ago; Arturo Barrios at the Arturo Barrios 5km/10km that used to be held in Chula Vista; and Ed Eyestone at another Rock N' Roll event. Eyestone will also be one of the announcers of the Olympic 50km in Beijing next week. If only I had that poster and got them each to sign it for me....

One more track fantasy camp story.

I went to the Dalian horse track this morning where many of the distance runners and all of the racewalkers (all three of us) have been doing our morning workouts. On the inside of a one mile dirt horse track, there is a paved road. It measures 1350 meters and Terrence Mahon has marked every 200 meters around up to 3km. After the rains yesterday, the place had a horsey smell to it. I always feel very equestrian when I'm training there, or is the word I'm looking for "pedestrian"?

After a long warmup, I was doing some fartlek or speed play repeats on the paved loop. I don't normally go faster than 4:20/km in practice, but these were pretty short intervals so I was cruising at 4:10/km pace. The pace was quick but I was finally feeling better. My legs have felt good since I arrived, but my perceived rate of exertion has been high. My breathing and heart rate are stressed. Today, I felt fast and quick.

Then Deena went blazing past me. She was running mile repeats and cruising. Then Ryan Hall went by me like I was standing still. His stride is so long and smooth, effortless. When you see someone who has mastered his or her sport, it is such a beautiful thing. It's definitely humbling to think that I'm on the same team as these guys and competing in the same Olympics. Amazing awaits!

Heat Adaptation, or water water everywhere

2008-08-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

One reason for coming over to China two weeks before my race is to adapt to the heat and humidity that I will face in Beijing during four hours of intense racewalking. San Diego gets warm but the humidity here makes it much more difficult for me to regulate my body temperature just by sweating. I have to train myself to take in enough fluids during the race to replace the fluids that I lose to sweat, evaporation and respiration. If I don't replenish the fluids, it can be disastrous. Even a fluid loss of 2% of my body weight can have a huge negative effect on my race.

The first step, then, is to determine how much fluid I lose during a typical hour of intense training. Thankfully, the resort has scales in the bathrooms. Right before leaving for yesterday's two hour workout, I weighed myself: 55.1 kg When I got back, I weighed only 54 kg. That's a difference of 1.1 kg or 2.4 lbs. But I also drank 4 1/2 20 ounces bottles of Vitalyte and water during the workout, which is another 5.6 lbs that I lost and replaced. 2.4 + 5.6 and I lost a total of 8.0 pounds during a two hour workout. At a rate of 4 lbs per hour, I need to drink 256 ounces of fluid over the course of a four hour 50km race. That's two gallons or 12.8 of my 20 ounce bottles. A lot of liquid.

Celebrity Camp in Dalian

2008-08-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

Going to the Olympics is a dream that so many athletes share. Competing with the best in the world, walking into the Opening Ceremonies, wearing the red, white and blue of Team USA.... Well, there are other perks.

Let's go to training camp, Olympic-style.

Day one: You are met at the airport in Dalian by USA Track & Field officials, receive a short briefing while your luggage is loaded into a truck for you and you walk to an air-conditioned shuttle bus. You're thirsty, so there is water handed to you as you get on the bus. Sit down, notice that no one else is in this section of the airport parking lot except for Chinese security and police personnel. Two police cars escort your bus as it pulls out of the airport on to a road that is completely empty of cars, buses or trucks. All traffic in both directions has been stopped. You are driving down the main street of a city of five million people and there is no traffic. You don't stop at stoplights. You don't slow at intersections. You simply drive. You feel like the president.

Check in to your resort. You have your own room, queen-size bed, cable TV (though the BBC station is a bit fuzzy), and a view out over the Yellow Sea. Life is good. You wander down to the dining room of the hotel and are greeted by the chef. He is an American chef who teaches at a culinary institute in Colorado, caters for professional athletes, and knows that what you want right now more than anything is a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup. And it's hot. And melty.

Day two: Eat a light breakfast in your room, stretch out a bit, and then take a short ride from the resort down the hill to the public beach access road. You are planning to walk two loops of the 11km road course that has been closed for you today. You've never been here before, but that's okay because you will be given a police escort for the entire workout. If you come to an intersection and don't know which way to go, a police office standing at the corner will direct you right or left. Every 100 or 200 meters, there will be a plainclothes security guard keeping watch over you. There is also a police escort that consists of three cars. One follows Ryan Hall as he begins his 17 mile tempo workout in preparation for the Olympic Marathon. The other moves between a group of Dathan Ritzhenheim, Deena Kastor and Jen Rhines. The third positions itself behind the racewalkers as you head down the road. There's a view of the beach and the Yellow Sea to the right, hotels and restaurants to the left. No cars. No bikes. When pedestrians step out into the road, security guards holler at them to get back on the sidewalk until after you have passed. At a few intersections, there are cars backed up waiting to cross. People out for a stroll crowd around the corner and cheer for you as you walk by. In English they yell, "Go go go!" Your USATF coach jumps out of the van every 20 minutes to hand you water or give you a fresh bottle of Vitalyte or a PowerGel.

You finish your workout, stretch out, get a ride back up the hill to the resort, shower, and then go to the training room. Your athletic trainer stretches you out, hands you a towel, and then you go sit in the ice bath for 15 minutes with Ryan and Dathan. You chat about Ryan's race at the London Marathon where he ran the second fastest time ever by an American. Dathan tells a funny story about a trip to Europe.

At lunch, you get more delicious food piled on to your plate and sit down with Ryan, Bernard Lagat, Jorge Torres and Ian Dobson. Someone asks Lagat what his workout is for the day and he says he's headed to the track in the afternoon to do a 1,000 meter time trial. His plan is to run 2:20. You do the math and realize, that's awfully fast. No wonder he won the World Championships last year in the 1500mt and 5000mt.

In the afternoon, you can take a nap, go for a swim in the pool, stroll over to the temple looking out over the ocean, or sign up for a massage. It's training camp, so you can also go out and do a workout. Enjoy.

More Opening Ceremonies Insights

2008-08-10T00:45:00.000-07:00

The Opening Ceremonies were HOT. And I'm not talking about the fireworks. I'm talking about sweaty, steamy, dress-shirt-stuck-to-my-back, wearing-a-plastic-bag-in-the-sauna HOT. But we looked so good, I didn't care. The outfits Polo Ralph Lauren gave us – blue blazer, white dress shirt, khaki pants, dock shoes, and what they call an "estate driving hat"– were really classy. The were so sharp, I almost cut myself!

Unfortunately, it was a hot, sticky night in the stadium. Some countries were dressed in tan blazers and they were actually soaked through with big sweat marks all over the armpits, shoulders, and back. The ride back to the Village in the bus was nice, kinda like a rolling locker room.

We left the Olympic Village as a team, all of the US athletes together in several buses, almost three hours before the Ceremonies started. Many of the athletes competing in the first couple days of the Games didn't walk: swimmers, cyclists, volleyballers. There were still a few hundred of us that rode to the fencing venue for a photo op with Presidents Bush Jr & Sr. Rather than individual photos, they tried to separate us into groups. While we milled about waiting for things to happen, most of the athletes chatted or got photos with some of the NBA stars that were there: LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Tayshuan Prince. I was put in the group with the hurdlers, but check out the sign they had for us. Ooops. Looks like they gave me a 10km discount.

I don't watch enough basketball to care, so I talked with Anthony Famiglietti and some of the other distance runners. Fam is funny. He's got a good perspective on things. We talked politics for awhile, especially about the selection of the US flagbearer, Lopez Lomong. Fam was the one that suggested Lopez run in the 'election' for flagbearer. Each sport nominates one athlete and Lopez was the clear winner of the track & field delegation. In the second round of general voting, he won the honor of carrying the red, white and blue into the stadium.

Lopez is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He escaped to Kenya at the age of six with several other boys, lived in refugee camps for 10 years, and immigrated to the US to live in a foster home. Bio on Lopez's home page (with quote from yours truly!) Good article in the LA Times. On the athletic side, one of the most remarkable things about Lopez is that his Olympic 1500mt race will be his first international race. He's never raced in anything but collegiate or domestic U.S. races... and now he's in the Olympics!

After I passed on the Bush photo op (like the NBA stars, I didn't care for a photo with him), we all walked over to the National Indoor Stadium where the gymnastics competitions are being held. All 204 countries were seated by country in the stands. It was quite the patchwork quilt of colors. Each delegation wore a different outfit: bright reds and yellows of China, silver blues of Australia, white robes and turbans of Saudi Arabia, blues and reds of Russia, green jackets of Pakistan....

When the Games officially began at 8:08pm local time, the US team was seated in the upper deck, sweating already, drinking water and eating from snack bags that had been passed out. While the drama of the Opening Ceremonies was unfolding next door in the Bird's Nest, the athletes were being gathered to begin the parade of athletes. Greece is always the first country to enter the stadium, an honor given to the country that hosted the first modern Olympics in 1896. We were number 140 out of 204. The countries were lined up in alphabetical order in the Chinese alphabet. As it was explained to me, the number of strokes in the Chinese character for the country's name determined the placement. So, in Chinese, "United States of America" isn't at the end of the alphabet, it's in the last third or so.

To organize things, the large video monitors were used to list the next country. Occasionally they would cut to the actual Opening Ceremonies for a few minutes and we would "Oooh and aaah" with the rest of the world watching at home on TV. Then they would cut to "Number 117, British Virgin Islands" and everyone in the stands would "Boooo!" Nothing personal, we just wanted to watch the ceremonies. Once we were called down, there was a huge backlog of countries and we shuffled and waited, shuffled and waited for a long time before we dropped down the ramp into the tunnel (it's the same tunnel that I will walk out of and back into for the finish of the 50km). I tried to line up near the right side where the cameras would be and I stayed near the women's softball team hoping that NBC focused on Jenny Finch and her teammates. So far, no one claims to have seen me, but Joanne Dow's husband saw her and we were close. We'll have to review the tape.

At my first Olympics in Sydney, I walked into the Opening Ceremonies expecting a huge emotional rush but it didn't happen. I was too nervous about my race or not in the moment. This time, I really let it sink in and thought of all the work it took to get here. I choked up a little bit waving at people in the stands. Shouting, smiling, screaming their lungs out, all the people in the stadium reminded me of all of you back home who have cheered for me or encouraged me along my journey. At one point, I took a real short break and just soaked it in. And then I kept walking, because that's what I do.

The rest of the Opening Ceremonies, standing and sweating (did I mention the sweating?), the lighting of the flame, the walk back out the tunnel to the buses and the ride to the Village is a bit of a blur. What sticks in my mind right now is that lap around the track. I'm looking forward to getting back onto that track for my race. Just twelve more days! Whoa!

I'm okay, I'm in Dalian

2008-08-09T05:29:00.000-07:00

There's been some bad news here in China. Two American tourists were attacked at a popular Beijing tourist site early this afternoon. One of them died on the scene and the other is in critical condition. The attacker jumped to his death immediately after the attack.

I don't know if the local Chinese news stations are covering the story or not, but I'm sure it will be on in the US in the morning. Full story at Yahoo.

The USOC has asked us to tell everyone we are okay. "It was an isolated incident, a crazy person, not politically motivated, etc, etc." So, please, no worrying. This morning, I flew from Beijing to Dalian and am staying at a maximum security compound. No, wait, it's actually a fancy beach resort for the US Track & Field training camp, however the security here, even before today's incident in Beijing, has been very very tight. Even within the hotel, I was stopped and forced to go back to my room because I forgot my credentials when I went to lunch. And we are the only people staying in the hotel. The only other people here are hotel staff and Chinese security personnel. The hotel is 40 minutes from the Dalian airport and we had a police escort the entire way. Traffic ahead of us was forced off the road and at intersections, all cross traffic was stopped and backed up for blocks. Our manager said that we were being given the same kind of security details as a visiting head of state would receive.

In order to get in a long workout, I have to leave the compound (it really is a 'compound' with fencing and a security perimeter). There is a practice track 10 minutes from here by bus. Tomorrow, they are closing 7.5 miles of roadway along the waterfront for all of the distance athletes to use as a training site. I have to sign up for the shuttle to any training venues two days in advance which is going to be hard for me because I often decide what my workout will be the day before.

I'm going to write more about the Opening Ceremonies in a future post (and sneak in some photos), but for now I need to get some rest. It's been another busy day. I'm looking forward to a nice easy 22km workout tomorrow, a dip in the hotel pool, and a nap. Training camp: gotta love it!

Opening Ceremonies

2008-08-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Wow!

I'm just getting back to the Olympic Village after an amazing Opening Ceremonies. It was a rush to walk into the National Stadium or Bird's Nest in front of over 90,000 spectators who roared when Team USA came out of the tunnel and onto the track. It was only louder when the Chinese delegation came out much later.

I thought it was appropriate that I walked in with the other two US racewalkers: Kevin Eastler and Joanne Dow. We didn't racewalk because we would have been going too fast for the NBC cameras to get good shots of us waving to all of our fans at home. In fact, it was the only time I've been in a stadium and had volunteers telling me to "Speed up already, you're slowing everything down."

If you want to see me on the telecast (which was broadcast live all over the world, except in the US thanks to NBC), look for Lindsey Davenport (I was right after the tennis players) and Jenny Finch (I was right before the women's softball team.) And I was on the side closest to the stands.

I won't spoil the secret of the lighting of the Olympic flame, but it was pretty awesome. Cathy Freeman lighting the flame in Sydney was more dramatic, but this was pretty creative, too.

It's almost 2am here in Beijing and I leave tomorrow morning at 8:15am from the village to the airport for Dalian. Off to bed. (I would post photos from the Opening Ceremonies but the IOC and USOC are being super-duper strict about what can be posted. If I follow the rules to the letter, I won't be able to post any photos from the Olympic Village, any Olympic venues, or of any athletes... so look for some rules to be broken shortly.)

Team Processing

2008-08-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm just going to automatically insert "Another busy day..." at the beginning of each of my posts. Yesterday I was able to get through the US Olympic Team processing here at San Jose State University. They had advised us that we would be getting a LOT of gear, clothes, etc. They were not kidding. Oh... my... goodness....!

Grab a Home Depot shopping cart and join the fun.

Team USA article

Here is Joanna Dow checking out the t-shirts, polo shirts, tank tops, shorts......

Like every one else, Joanne and I were overwhelmed. We lost track of how many different items we were given. It's like Christmas!

And if the clothes didn't quite fit, there were professional tailors on-site to do alterations. They were especially concerned that the Polo Ralph Lauren outfits to be worn during Opening and Closing Ceremonies were fitting just right.

Four years ago, Roots was the sponsor and they gave us what looked like baggy pajamas to wear. It was embarassing. This time, we look sharp, dignified. We may be warm with our jackets and ties on, but we're gonna look good! And now when I go yachting in San Diego, I'll be dressed for it.

Me and my Olympic mannequin friends

Today, I was joined in my morning workout by Tyler and Nicolette Sorensen. They are awesome. I've been reading these great times from both of them this year and was really excited to see them walk and see what kind of potential they've got. They looked good. I was doing 2000mt repeats on a local track and they jumped in for a lap or two at a time and were cruising. In fact, I think they were going easy on me because I'm headed off to the Olympics and they didn't want to make me feel bad if they beat me. Until the last lap, when Nicolette went sprinting past me. I tell ya, kids these days don't respect their elders like they used to. :)

Tomorrow I'm off to Beijing. Time to drop off my luggage and ship some stuff home that I won't be taking with me to China. Dinner and then relax. Tomorrow is going to be another busy day. I'm going to the Olympics!

"I'm going to San Francisco!

2008-08-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

with flowers in my hair...."

The actual, physical I'm-getting-on-a-plane part of my journey begins today. Bags are packed, passport is in my pocket and it's happening.

My wife and I were joking last night that I'm so relaxed and not running around like a chicken with my head cut off at the last minute trying to get things done that absolutely have to be done before I leave. You know, stuff like getting a haircut, smogging my car, printing out pictures of my son to take with me, washing my socks. The important stuff. She marveled how smoothly things were going.

Then I woke up this morning. Jinx! Hah!

My flight to San Francisco has been canceled. I tried to check in to my flight to San Francisco and it wasn't showing up on my itinerary. Canceled. Gone. Not going to Beijing after all. Say what?! I called the United Olympic hotline and was put on hold for 30 minutes and had to leave for the airport.

When I got there, they told me that I have no flight to San Fran and I am scheduled to leave a day earlier to Beijing than planned. My brilliant plan to fly to San Fran, see friends and family for a day, get in one last good workout, then fly out on Wednesday was canceled, too. Hmph.

But I'm rolling with it. The USOC got me on a flight in a few minutes to SFO. They may be able to straighten things out. And if not, then I get to Beijing a day early. Relax, send letters to my friends in San Fran that I didn't get to see, and begin the adaptation to time zone, heat, humidity, and smog a day early. It's all good.

(reporting from the San Diego airport)

Update! I'm safely in San Jose and have gone through the first, lengthy part of US Olympic Team Processing. Lots of fun, saw the entire US Olympic tennis team, and have some more meetings later. All's well.

A is for August

2008-08-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

A is for Ack!

A is for Already?! Anxiety! Angst! AAAaaaaaaaah!

A is also for About time! Awesome! Alright!

Yep, it's starting to seem pretty real all of a sudden. I woke up this morning and somehow it was August. When did that happen? August means the Olympics are here. "Ack!" That was my first thought, quickly followed by "Yikes, I need to pack."

I leave in three days and I don't have my act together at all. I need to train some more and get some more rest and stretch and lift some weights and pack and and and... breath. Wheh. I flipped from panic mode to focused mode: "It's August! About time. Alright, let's go to the Olympics!"

Tomorrow morning is my last long, hard workout – 30km at race pace – and then I'll slowly start to back down the volume. The first half of next week will be a lot of traveling, waiting around and traveling some more, so that's almost like training. At least it puts a certain stress on the body and mind. Rest and hydration and relaxation become even more important.

Aug. 4. It's funny because Monday is BIG DEPARTURE DAY (oooooh, scary Jaws music), but I'm only going to San Francisco. After I get there, I'll get in an afternoon workout and visit with friends. Tuesday is a speed workout in the morning and then USOC Team processing at San Jose State. More waiting around. Processing will take all afternoon and part of the evening. Relax. Then I leave fairly early Wednesday for SFO, wait around at the airport for hours, and take a direct flight from SFO to Beijing. Arrive into Beijing, more waiting in the airport, customs, transfer to Olympic Village, etc. Right now it all seems very orderly and straightforward. Come back in a few days for complete details. Hah.

NBC has just posted their Olympics broadcast schedule. They claim that the 50k racewalk will be covered LIVE from 11pm (Aug. 21) to 9am (Aug. 22) on the USA Network. That's 10 hours of coverage and I thought my race was only going to last four hours. What does NBC know that I don't? Uh-oh.

But I can't figure out how it will be live if my race starts at 7:30AM Beijing time; that's 4:30PM on Aug. 21 in San Diego. Anyone? If you're on the west coast, add 15 hours to get the local time in Beijing. East coast, just add 12 hours. Local time, temperature and more in Beijing.

Eating smog for breakfast

2008-07-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

I was on the radio this morning. It's always weird to hear your own voice but especially odd when you're driving to practice and hear yourself on the radio. Friends from all over the place have called or emailed to say, "I heard you on the radio!" Cool!

When I did the interview, I spent a good 30 minutes talking to Howard Berkes and the clip they used makes me sound like some kind of tough guy. It wasn't exactly how I meant it to come out. But as my friend Patrick Stroupe heard it, "You were talking to NPR about how you eat smog for breakfast – they literally said you were having a cigarette with your pancakes to prepare for Beijing. That's why you're the US champ, always thinking ahead and preparing." Thanks, Patrick. Thanks.

Disclaimer: Smoking is bad. Second-hand smoke is bad. Breathing smog is bad. Eating it sounds really gross. Once I get to Beijing, I'll let you know what it tastes like. (Pancakes, though, are yummy.)

Interesting fact from National Geographic: 33 percent of the world's smokers are in China.

27 days to #27

2008-07-26T21:25:00.000-07:00

I was just thinking back to some of the 50kms I have done and realized that my Olympic 50km race will be #27. And I'm down to 27 days to go until race day. So, it's 27 days to #27. In memory of my first 26 50km races, I thought it would be fun to list the year, location and event of each one. So, here it goes:

1993 San Antonio, TX – US Olympic Festival
1998 Miami, FL – Pan American Racewalk Cup
1999 Sacramento, CA – US Nationals
1999 Mezidon, France – World Racewalk Cup
1999 Winnipeg, Canada – Pan American Games
2000 Sacramento, CA – US Olympic Trials
2000 Sydney, Australia – Olympic Games
2001 Manassas, VA – US Nationals
2001 Edmonton, Canada – World T&F Championships
2002 Chula Vista, CA – US Nationals
2002 Torino, Italy – World Racewalk Cup
2003 Tijuana, Mexico – Pan American Racewalk Cup
2003 Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic – Pan American Games
2004 Chula Vista, CA – US Olympic Trials
2004 Tijuana, Mexico – IAAF Grand Prix Challenge
2004 Athens, Greece – Olympic Games
2005 Clermont, FL – US Nationals
2005 Lima, Peru – Pan American Racewalk Cup
2005 Helsinki, Finland – World T&F Championships
2006 Clermont, FL – US Nationals
2006 La Coruña, Spain – World Racewalk Cup
2007 Chula Vista, CA – US Nationals
2007 Camboriu, Brazil – Pan American Racewalk Cup
2007 Rio de Janiero, Brazil – Pan American Games
2008 Miami, FL – US Olympic Trials
2008 Cheboksary, Russia – World Racewalk Cup

Media Madness Begins

2008-07-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

The phone is ringing off the hook. Journalists from all over the country are knocking down the door to hear my inspiring story of Olympic racewalk studliness. My agent has had to hire extra help answering all the emails. Or not.

I actually did have two interviews last week about big pre-Olympic news stories: politics and pollution. I would rather talk about walking and winning, but this is a good place to start. I feel a bit self-conscious talking about myself, so it's good to talk about 'real-world' issues.

The first interview with The Nation was about my involvement with Team Darfur. I think the reporter wanted me to say something inflammatory about how I was going to wear my 'Team Darfur' or 'Free Tibet' t-shirt into the Opening Ceremonies and shout anti-authoritarian slogans at the Chinese dignitaries. Not gonna happen. I'm not going to shy away from answering questions about politics if asked, but I'm not going to be confrontational, either.

Joey Cheeks, co-founder of Team Darfur and 2006 Winter Olympics gold medalist in speed skating, had some good advice: "Put your athletic achievement – and that of your teammates – above taking any risks while in Beijing." He cautioned Team Darfur members in Beijing to "avoid unnecessary trouble." Once I get to China, my main focus will be on best preparing for my race. Training, resting, and maximizing my time. Of course, there's a part of me that wants to see what would happen. (Don't worry, Mom. I'll be good!) With the eyes of the world on the Olympic athletes, are Chinese authorities really going to arrest someone for expressing his/her political views? And if they did, wouldn't that bring even more attention to the very message they are trying to suppress? As the Aussie sports fans would say, that's a sticky wicket for the Chinese. The reporter also asked about the IOC rule prohibiting athletes from talking about politics in the Olympic venues. The question reminded me of the Tank McNamara cartoon published a few months ago.

The other interview was with Howard Berkes from NPR. He's doing a story on pollution in Beijing and the effect that it could have on the performance of endurance athletes. USATF's media moguls were kind enough to share my name with him: the 50km racewalk is the longest event in track & field, after all. We had a nice chat, but again, I don't know that I was controversial enough to get much airtime. Had I said I was going to wear a respirator during my race, he might have been more intrigued. Do fears of pollution concern me? Yes, of course, but as far as I know, there isn't much that can be done to 'acclimatize' for pollution. I could move to LA for the next couple weeks, but that's only going to make me cough a lot and have some sluggish workouts. Adjusting to the time zone, heat, humidity, different food those I can prepare for. But smog? Every athlete is going to have to deal with it. It's not like one of us races in a bubble and doesn't notice it. If I had a pre-existing respiratory condition (asthma or allergies), I might be worried that I would be overly affected.

Howard and I ended up chatting about politics, too, and the other conditions that athletes face in a long competition: heat, humidity, road surface, etc. He seems like a nice guy. Berkes got his start in broadcasting in Eugene, OR and got his big national break covering the Mount St. Helens explosion in 1980. I remember seeing it from the hillside at Lewis & Clark College when I was just a kid. Awesome. And then it blew again, much smaller, on June 12, 1980 to celebrate my birthday.

Walking is Amazing

2008-07-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

When did we start taking walking for granted? My son, Miles, is just learning to walk and it is simply amazing. It seems like moments ago that my wife and I were astounded when he rolled over. Now he's walking?! It's unbelievable.

Imagine for a moment that you don't know how to walk. Start over. Where do you begin? Learn to stand. Balance. Coordinate one foot's step with the shifting of your entire body weight to the other foot. Plop. Your butt hits the floor (ouch, it's way off the floor and isn't padded with a big diaper). So, you pull yourself up again and stand, balance, step with your arms flailing around, stumbling from one drunken foot to the other. One step, two steps, and plop. Repeat.

I suppose it isn't much different from what we do every day, whether we are racewalkers, fitness walkers, or just stumble-from-the- couch-to-the-fridge- to-the-couch walkers. Some days we walk effortlessly, smoothly and gracefully. Other days we stumble, struggle and stub our toes. He's got a long ways to go, but right now, Miles is the most amazing walker I have ever seen. Arms raised over his head, big smile on his face, a grace that belies his age even as he sways from side to side – a big bundle of energy charging at me, flopping on my belly with giggles and charm. Miles reminds me that walking is amazing.

Fun graphics

2008-07-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since the 2008 US Olympic Team Trials in Track & Field were held up in Eugene, OR. It was great to visit, I really miss the green of Oregon and forget just how beautiful it is until I get there. My friend Chris Rael, born and raised in Southern California, asked me right after he got off the plane, "How did you ever leave this place?" It's that wonderful.

I was impressed with some of the marketing materials that Eugene '08 put together (they were too cheap to pay the licensing fees to use the word "Olympic" in the header), so I patched together my own version of one of the posters.

Well, it's back to the usual grind, sorta, if you call getting ready for the Olympic Games anything close to 'usual.'

"I did not make the Olympics ... and honestly, I think that's awesome."

2008-07-06T16:28:00.000-07:00

That's what my friend Kathryn Bertine said after years of trying to make it to the Olympics. She's a cyclist and a triathlete who writes for ESPN. I mention her at the beginning of this post because for every athlete who qualifies to represent his/her country in the Games, there are so many who don't make it. And that's okay. Mom always said, "Life isn't fair," didn't she?

But let's start by celebrating the one who made it today:

Joanne Dow is going to the Olympics! Cars are burning in the streets of Manchester, New Hampshire tonight. Call the National Guard! Stop the riots! Catch all the action on the 5 o'clock news and don't miss the ticker-tape parade at the airport when the 44-year old mother of two returns victorious.

Results:

 1 Joanne Dow                    adidas                    1:35:11
  2 Teresa Vaill                    Walk USA             1:36:35
  3 Susan Armenta              unattached           1:42:12
  4 Sam Cohen                     Parkside A C         1:42:33
  5 Jolene Moore                 New York A C       1:42:37
  6 Stephanie Casey            unattached            1:43:51
  7 Solomiya Login             S E Pa. A C            1:44:09
  8 Maria Michta                Walk USA              1:47:45
  9 Carolyn Kealty               unattached            1:48:40
 10 Loretta Schuellein       Walk USA             1:49:04
 11 Susan Randall              Miami Valley TC 1:49:15
 12 Margaret Ditchburn   unattached            1:51:31
 13 Heidi Hauch                 unattached            2:12:01
 -- Lauren Forgues             Maine Racewalkers DNF
 -- Sara Standley-Gonzalez   unattached            DQ
-- Kristen Furseth-Mullaney  Pegasus AC         DQ

Whoa-whoo! Okay, I've been watching the Olympic Trials all week and loving every minute of it from the exciting to the mundane: Abdi jumping in the steeplechase water pit after winning the 10000mt, classic! Lagat winning both the 1500mt and 5000mt.... yeah, and the sun came up again, too. He made it look so easy. I know a lot of these athletes personally from past teams or championship races but because it was the racewalk, I really got emotional watching Joanne win this morning's race. I know what it takes to train for years as a racewalker with hopes of making an Olympic team. But Joanne had trained for 14 years and come up short three times. Heartbreak, heartbreak, heartbreak... jubilation. This was her Trials.

I was working the aid station for Susan Armenta and Margaret Ditchburn, so I was there to see Joanne pull away from Teresa. Joanne's husband, Tim, was giving her drinks and it was hard not to choke up a bit watching Tim watch Joanne race. She was giving it everything she had and winning. She was dominating the field and Tim was so quiet. With 3km to go in the race, Joanne had it locked up and I had to go tell Tim, "Breath, just breath. She's gonna make it." He barely smiled. I don't think he believed it was actually happening. And I'm sure that Joanne felt the same way with a couple laps to go. It's the way I felt in Russia when I hit the Olympic time standard: "Is this real? Am I really going to make it to Beijing?" And then you have to hold yourself together and keep racing. And raise your arms in victory as you come across the line. "I'M GOING TO THE OLYMPICS!" Congratulations, Joanne.

Here are some articles about Joanne and her journey to the Olympics.

Pre-Trials NY Times article

Pre-Trials Foster's Daily Democrat article

Manchester's Union Leader article

Which makes me think of all the women who didn't make it today: Teresa Vaill, Susan Armenta, Sam Cohen, Jolene Moore, everyone else. Next time? Maybe, but don't forget how much you have accomplished to get this far. Cherish the memories of your own personal journey.

My friend Kathryn Bertine sums it up best in her lengthy ESPN series So you wanna be an Olympian? [part 1 ... part 13]

"I did not make the Olympics ... and honestly, I think that's awesome."

She tells of her journey of self-discovery in an effort to make the 2008 Olympic Team – the good, the bad and the really sweaty. You can start at the end, if you like, but it's an entertaining read from the beginning. I've spoiled the punchline, I'm afraid, but that's awesome, too.

Eastler Advances Easily

2008-07-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it was 20km – which is a flat-out sprint for us 50km guys – but Kevin Eastler made it look pretty easy. And it has been anything but easy for him this year with an early season hernia surgery and several setbacks including more injuries. As long as he keeps the wheels on, Kevin has proven once again that he is the best 20km walker we've got in the US right now.

Results:

1 Kevin Eastler         U.S. Air Force     1:27:08
2 Matthew Boyles        Miami Valley TC    1:28:20
3 Patrick Stroupe       unattached         1:29:17
4 John Nunn             U.S. Army          1:30:35
5 Tim Seaman            New York A C       1:31:35
6 Allen James           Bond Lake A.C.     1:32:13
7 Benjamin Shorey       Wisconsin-Parkside 1:33:16
8 Philip Dunn           New Balance        1:33:52
9 Charles Collier       Athletics East     1:35:00
10 Steven Quirke         Parkside A C       1:35:45
11 Michael Tarantino     World Class Walk   1:38:02
12 Jared Swehosky        unattached         1:39:14
13 Theron Kissinger      C R W/N Balance    1:40:35
-- Christopher Tegtmeier Concordia/Neb.     DQ

John Nunn took the early lead and pressed the pace for a few laps. He was soon caught by Kevin and then Matt. Kevin then pulled away for a comfortable win ahead of Matt's PR effort. Patrick Stroupe walked a steady race for his 20km PR and John held on for fourth place ahead of 2004 Olympic Trials 20km champion, Tim Seaman, who has had his share of injuries this year.

I train with John Nunn in San Diego and was really hoping to see him have a good day, but he had the double pressure of needing to win and hit the Olympic B standard (1:24:30) in order to make the Olympic Team. Kevin has the Olympic A standard (1:23:00) from last year's IAAF La Coruña race. The best time this year is still John's 1:26:22 from La Coruña in June, so unless Kevin has a speedier race in Beijing, John may end the year with the unfortunate distinction of being the fastest 20km walker in 2008.

"How did you do?" people asked me after the race. Well, this 20km was part of the bigger training picture as I prepare for the 50km in Beijing and it went exactly as I had thought it would. Beforehand, I told my brother that my plan was to walk 1:34:00 and see how comfortable I could get at that pace. I was 9 seconds fast in 1:33:51. If only I had said, "I'm going to walk 1:24:00...." Wouldn't it be nice to just pick your finishing time? Wow! "In Beijing, I think I will walk 3:38:00 for 50km." Now that would be awesome!

There was some interesting post-race media that is worth sharing.

1 The first is from YouTube and my friend Pete Banda: Philip Dunn - Local Eugene Hero. Actually, I have never met Pete and don't know if he is stalking me or what. Pete, what gives?

2 ESPN article Lack of respect? Race walking relegated to the parking lot.

3 Seattle Times photo blog – Disclaimer: the first photo is not my feet. I do wear the New Balance RC1001 but had different socks on. But racewalk is judged by the human eye not camera or slow motion video.

Now I'm looking forward to enjoying the rest of the this track meet. Especially the women's 20km tomorrow morning. Go team!

Chasing Glory '08

2008-07-01T11:24:00.000-07:00

My friend Chris Rael has put together a great tribute website to the women who will be racing in the 20km racewalk Olympic Trials next week. He asked me to write up a little something about what it means to race at the Olympic Trials from the insider's perspective. I think I took the project a little too seriously. But here is what I wrote for him and his many readers:

We talk about the Olympic Games as though it were the greatest show on earth. The Olympics are referred to as the “Big Dance” and athletes who compete at the Games are considered the best in their field – the living, breathing gods of sport.

Don’t believe the hype. The drama, agony and ecstasy are all happening this weekend in Eugene at the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials. On Sunday, the 16 fastest women walkers in America will toe the line knowing that no one gets to Beijing without passing through Eugene. As a coach of mine liked to say, “In order to get to heaven, you have to walk through hell.”

The U.S. Olympic Trials are more stressful than the Olympics themselves. Curt Clausen and I used to talk about it all the time. If you don’t do well at the Trials, the Olympics don’t matter at all; you stay home. Before the race, athletes often sound like cancer patients waiting for their latest biopsy results, “I just want to get it over with. I just want to know one way or the other. It’s the waiting I can’t deal with.” In the press tent afterward the winner gushes: “Man, I’m so relieved. Now I can just relax and have a good race at the Olympics. I don’t have to worry about making the Team anymore.”

The Olympic Games don’t mean anything if you don’t make the Team. That’s what the Olympic Trials are all about, right, making the Team? Right?

Well, yes and no. It depends on who you talk to, how honest they are with you, and what their expectations are going into the race.

Yes, in the U.S., the Olympic Trials decide everything. Either you finish in the top three with the ‘A’ standard or you don’t. There is no fuzzy gray area about making the U.S. Olympic Team, and that’s the drama of the Trials. (Years ago, they called them the “Olympic Trials and Tribulations” but it didn’t fit on the t-shirts.) Win it and you punch your ticket to Beijing but lose it, and there’s no second shot. There are no mulligans in the U.S. Trials. Already in Eugene two Olympic gold medalists from 2004 failed to qualify for the 2008 team. We’ve seen Christian Smith, ranked 29th out of 30 starters, have the race of his life and finish third in the men’s 800mt to make the team. And Katie McGregor finished fourth in the women’s 10,000mt after finishing fourth in April’s marathon Olympic Trials – heartbreaking.

Which brings us to this Sunday’s race, the women’s 20km racewalk. Two women, Teresa Vaill and Joanne Dow, have the Olympic ‘B’ time standard making them the pre-race favorites. Vaill won the 2004 Trials, the only woman in the field with Olympic experience, and got the better of Dow earlier in the year on this same course. Dow has been close twice, achingly close: in 2000 and 2004 she was the first alternate. Fast on Dow and Vaill’s heels will be Sam Cohen, Susan Armenta and Jolene Moore with recent bests within a minute and a half of the ‘B’ standard. If any of them has a breakout race, they will be right in the thick of things.

It is likely that only the winner will make the Olympic Team. In order for more than one woman to qualify for Beijing, two must walk the ‘A’ standard on Sunday and no U.S. woman has walked the ‘A’ standard since Vaill in 2005 and that was by a slim two seconds. Once that gun goes off, it’s just a footrace to the finishing line. Whoever crosses the line in front continues her journey to Beijing. If I were a betting man, I would keep my mouth shut and not make a fool of myself. This could be anyone’s race.

I’ve spent most of this article talking about making the Olympic Team. It’s a big deal, of course, but most of the competitors don’t make the Team and maybe never expect to. For them, the Olympic Trials is the “Big Dance.” The Trials truly is the greatest show on earth. It is huge. Everyone who is anyone in U.S. Track & Field is in Eugene this week: athletes, coaches, fans and officials are all there. It’s as close as you get to the mysticism of sport, the elevated state of being, nirvana. Forget about all the hype, the logos and the slick sponsored Lycra. Just soak up the raw power, the grace and the beauty of these athletes. It only happens every four years.

The media and so many professional athletes today talk about legacy and reputation and respect. Athletes race for records and for championships and for glory. And these things are important. They are used to determine who is the fastest athlete, who will be remembered years from now in the record books. But what so many athletes forget to do is be an athlete. They neglect to live in the moment and embrace this incredible talent they are given. They preen and strut and imagine that they are bigger than life. Olympic athletes are ordinary people that do extraordinary things, nothing more and nothing less. An athlete is only complete when she finds that quiet place of perfection, when years of practice and discipline manifest themselves in one shining moment of grace. If she wins that’s good. If she is her best, her most graceful and powerful in Eugene on July 6, 2008: even better.

Long day of training

2008-06-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

This morning was a typical day of 50km training. I got up early, thanks to my one-year old son, Miles, and had a nice breakfast of cold cereal, banana and a glucosamine supplement to keep my left knee from aching too much, washed down with a glass of my favorite fruit punch flavored Vitalyte. Then Miles and I played around a bit on the floor, put some toys in a box. Took some toys out of a box. Practiced our standing and walking around holding one of my hands. Rolled on the foam roller to loosen up my IT bands and hamstrings. Took the foam roller away from Miles who wanted to eat it. Stretched out a bit while fighting off Miles' flying body slams. He likes to crawl really fast towards me, stop and stand over me while I'm lying on the floor, then flop down onto my belly and giggle. It's a nice way to start the day.

By 8:00am, I filled five 20 oz. bottles with Vitalyte and water, packed two plain energy PowerGels into my bag, and had a dry t-shirt for after the workout. I was meeting John Nunn down at the Chula Vista marina. He's focusing on the 20km Olympic Trials a week from today up in Eugene so his workout was a little shorter than mine. I planned to do 30km at a moderate pace, just getting in the distance today. By the time we got started, the sun was out and it was warming up a bit. Coach Peña accompanied us and gave us liquids every 10-15 minutes along our route. We did a large 16km loop that has a few little hills. Usually we do smaller loops that have every 500 meters marked, but since we weren't setting a record pace it wasn't as important to have a real controlled course. I took my first PowerGel at 12km, just as I like to do in my 50km races. I like to practice for my long races as much as possible, and this is one small way to do that. Drink and eat the same stuff during workouts as you would during the race.

Our second loop was flatter and shorter, only 7km, then John finished his workout with a 2km out-and-back (we have several different loops measured out at the CV Marina). I continued on by myself with a final 5km loop. We were walking somewhere between 5:10-5:15/km the whole morning. It wasn't real fast for either of us, but not so slow that we got totally bored. Actually, it's hard to get bored working out with John: he's a great storyteller. There's always something to discuss or share. And even if the story is only worth four minutes of walking time, John finds a way to keep it interesting and stretch it into half an hour. If you're making a list of good attributes in a training partner, put storytelling near the top. Along with punctuality. And low body odor levels. Just some suggestions.

When I got home, I really wanted to eat a huge meal and take a nap. But my sister-in-law is in town, so we got out our bikes, loaded Miles onto the front of Liz's bike and rode over to a great brunch place called The Big Kitchen. I had the spinach, bacon & cheese scramble with home fries and toast on the side. I got my huge meal after all! And when Miles takes a nap later, I'll be sure to join him.

Athletes for Peace in Darfur

2008-06-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

Every day, I walk around in circles trying to get a little faster and stronger. I've had incredible success, but some days it feels pointless. Who cares if I get a few seconds faster? There are real problems in this world. Illiteracy. Poverty. I'm walking around in circles trying to get a little bit faster. Human rights violations. Rape. Murder. I'm walking around in circles. Genocide. War. Walking around in circles.

So when I heard about Team Darfur, I realized I had to do something more than just walk. Please help get out the word that human rights violations in Sudan and other regions of sub-Saharan Africa must stop now. Check out Team Darfur, founded by Olympic Gold Medalist Joey Cheeks to help children in the Sudanese region of Darfur who have been driven from their homes, orphaned and persecuted by the Sudanese government or their militia. Call your senator. Write a letter. Get on the phone. Blog. Whatever it takes.

Links to check out:
Team Darfur
Gold Medalist Joey Cheeks in Washington Post

Guerrilla Gardening

2008-06-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

So, what does a racewalker do when he's not walking? One of my hobbies/interests is gardening but it's different here in SoCal than where I grew up in Oregon. It doesn't rain so much, so I have to use a lot more water than I'd like to. Because of that, I've taken to gardening with lots of succulents, cactus and other drought-tolerant plants. There are tons of beautiful native plants, too, that thrive in the desert-like conditions here in San Diego.

Here is a shot of my drought-tolerant front yard at the peak of its spring flower display.

And here's another of my backyard cactus garden.

Both have been neglected horribly in the last few months as I have been focused more on my training and preparations for the Olympics Trials and World Racewalk Cup. Now that I'm thinking about Beijing all the time, I'm glad my plants can take pretty good care of themselves without me.

In the gardening vein, here's a great article about guerrilla gardening, the practice of cultivating an abandoned patch of public, or private, land for aesthetics or food. There's a little patch near our place here in San Diego that someone else started with some drought-tolerant natives that I go up and weed every now and then. It's so much nicer than an unsightly patch of bare dirt.

LA Times article on Guerrilla Gardening

Cheboksary... Thank You!

2008-05-11T18:07:00.000-07:00

Four hours, five minutes and ten seconds. That's how long it took me today to walk from Cheboksary, Russia to Beijing, China. I MADE IT! I'm going to Beijing! Whoa-whooo!

Results

Yes, 40th place and I was whooping it up at the finish as if I'd won the thing. No shame in making a fool of yourself when you make the U.S. Olympic Team.

I spent the first half of the race just talking to myself, convincing myself that I was feeling good and moving well. I spent the second half trying not to pinch myself: "Is this really happening? Am I really on pace and feeling great at 35km?" Of course, I had imagined this race a hundred times in my head and it was going exactly as I had imagined it... well, with a few exceptions at the personal aid station, but more on that later. It's just such a cool feeling to feel so good at the end of a 50km. The best races are like that. It's as though the faster you walk, the easier it feels, and not just because you are done a few minutes sooner! The other thing that happens is you have very selective memories from great races, almost as though you cross the finish line and come out of a coma – major amnesia.

But I do remember going through the aid station fairly early in the race and there being a mix-up with Dave McGovern and Steve Vaitones who were working the station for Team USA. I thought they had it corrected on the next lap, but no, we miscommunicated again. And then when it happened a third time... I lapsed into an extremely rare episode of Tourettes and told McGovern exactly what I thought of his anatomy, its relative size, and where he could place it. Or I imagine that's what I said. More amnesia. McGovern was kind enough to tell me after the race that he was the second happiest person in Russia that I had made the Olympic Team because if his screw-up had cost me the Team he would never forgive himself. I made the Team, so it's all water under the bridge. In fact, he can curse at me anytime he wants – free pass.

Two days ago, I got to Cheboksary and felt kinda yucky. Sore throat (probably had something to do with all the smokers in the Moscow hotel and airport) and some extra movement "downstairs," if you know what I mean (something I ate was not agreeing with me). And if you had asked how things were going to go in the race... well, I would have lied and said "Great, just great!" I think I owe my wife and brother an apology for unloading all my emotional baggage on them yesterday. Sorry! It's all better now. We can go to Beijing, it's all good.

Anyway, back to Cheboksary. The people here are awesome. They cheered for everyone in the race and if you happened to smile while they cheered for you, the volume doubled. Sometimes it was just a simple "U... S... A..." chant and other times it was more elaborate, depending on the level of English: "Let's go, you can do it!" or "Good good good!" And there were 60,000 people yesterday and today screaming "Russia! Russia!" at their incredibly speedy athletes. And on the way back to the hotel shuttle buses, we were all mobbed by locals asking for photos and autographs and a chance to practice their English. It's times like this when I don't understand why we all don't get along better in this world. All the people I meet are so nice. We haven't even left for the vodka-drinking banquet yet and we're all friends. Nice place. More later. Gotta go to the banquet. Celebrate, if I can find the energy.

Moscow, Russia

2008-05-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

The most expensive city in the world. That's what they are telling us, and based on the prices at the Moscow airport's TGIF restaurant, I believe it. $6 for bottled water? Wow, and it's not even vodka – actually, that's probably cheaper than the water.

Late tomorrow night the US team leaves for Cheboksary on a LOC (local organizing committee) charter flight. Until then, I need to get in another short workout, relax and see what I can see of Moscow. Not much luck on the training earlier this afternoon. We're staying in the Novotel attached to the airport and all the roads are swarming with Ladas and Volkswagens. I ended up doing laps in the hotel parking lot, around the back by the service entrance and through the parking lot, again and again. The loop was probably 500 meters and had two small rises. But it was better than getting turned into borscht on the side of the road.

Now it's time to get some rest. I'm so glad I've been over here in Europe for a week already because my body finally feels adjusted to the time zone.

Gotta love Gothenburg

2008-05-04T22:05:00.000-07:00

One of the perks of racewalking is getting to travel all over the world, and I mean, everywhere. I think I'm up to 35+ different countries and I'm hoping to add a few more some day. This trip won't add any new ones to my list since I was in Sweden and Russia back in 1994 for the Swedish Walk Week (winner!) and Goodwill Games (last place gets lots of sympathy cheers), but I'm very happy to be back in Sweden.

Wow, this place is amazing. Beautiful countryside, well-planned cities, free health care, free education, yummy food, stunning parks, beautiful and friendly people. What more could you ask for? How about a free place to stay with good friends who are racewalkers. I love it!

Andreas Gustaffson and his lovely wife Molly agreed to let me stay with them for a week before the World Racewalk Cup in Russia. I wanted to come over early to adjust to the time zone change but didn't want to go to Russia where I wasn't sure of the food or accomodations. So here I am in Gothenburg, Sweden, and I'm so happy I came.

The Gustaffson's place is right downtown and the first night there was a parade for me... okay, it was a celebration of May Day or something, but I waved from the balcony to keep up appearances. The next night, they had another parade for the local engineering school. This time both Andreas and I waved. Gotta look good.

Andreas is Sweden's top 50km walker who used to live and train with us in Chula Vista in 2003-2004. Now he's doing the same thing I am: preparing to hit a qualifying time for the Olympics at the World Cup. We're on a mission. His is much harder than mine, though. I have to walk under 4:07:00. He has to impress the Swedish Athletics Federation with a top 12 finish or a sub 3:54:00. His PR from last year is 4:00:48. He's got work to do, but he's very fit right now and is kicking my butt in the few workouts we've done so far.

Susan Armenta, one of the top U.S. walkers arrives soon as does Jolene Moore, another top American. We're all headed to Russia together in a few days. Russia. So soon. Yikes.

Winning is Fun!

2008-02-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

What a race! I just got back from the race course and a long, post-race celebration of sorts. Winning is so much fun! And exhausting. Matt Boyles challenged me until I surged at 38km and put in a good gap that I held until the finish. 4:12:55. Olympic Trials champion. That has a nice ring to it.

It's always tough to come down off of a 50km because it's such an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. And then when it's over, there's the fan club to mingle with (hah!) and the drug testers to pee in a cup for and all that. It's good to be back at the hotel, though. Relax for a few minutes. Put the feet up. Think about the race and what's next.

The two goals were to win and hit the Olympic 'B' time standard. My plan worked until about 8km or 10km. I started out at just over 5:00/km with Matt, Ray Sharp and Yariv Pomeranz right on my heels and then gradually brought the pace down to Olympic 'B' standard pace, 4:54/km. By then, Matt and I had a gap on the field but I could tell that 4:54/km was going to be real hard to maintain. And it was way too early in the race to be forcing the pace. The humidity or the heat was already palpable. Ray was yelling at the aid station volunteers (okay, he was shouting enthusiastically, not yelling) for ice. I don't think they knew what he wanted, or why he wanted ice, so he switched to Spanish: "Hielo, por favor," Ray called out over his shoulder once he was past the station. Funny stuff early in a 50km race.

By the time Matt and I got to 10km, we were walking next to each other with Ray and Yariv adrift. I suddenly knew Olympic B standard pace was too fast, I changed my race plan. In my head, I went from racing the clock to racing Matt for the win. I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. All the stress of trying to hit a time standard was gone and I knew I just had to beat Matt in a foot race to the line. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was such a relief.

The rest of the race was a bit of a blur. I was in control, walking at a pace I knew my body could handle, and yet I was very conscious of what I needed to do next. I started to think about how I was going to win the race, what strategy would be the best for beating Matt. My biggest advantage, I knew, was having walked tons of 50kms before and knowing what it feels like late in the race. I know that at 35km, it often feels like the wheels are coming off the bus and the only thing to do is slow down and hope for the best. That's what your brain is telling you, at least: "Slow down, please, slow down. This hurts." What the brain forgets is that the race is over, and the pain is over, sooner if you maintain or accelerate. I also knew that Matt's strength is his leg speed. I couldn't wait until the last few kilometers. The best time to make my move was going to be around 35km, but I had let Matt get a few seconds ahead of me by then. I slowly closed the gap and pulled even with him by 36km. We walked together for one lap and then I eased away from him at 38km. We went through the water stop just after 38km and I surged for real, accelerating from 5:10/km to 4:50/km pace. Within a couple laps, I had a comfortable gap and cruised it on home.

Whew.

It's a bittersweet win, though, because I don't have the Olympic time standard. Now I have to regroup and focus on my next race. I have to decide when and where to chase after the time standard again. My best shot will probably be at the IAAF World Racewalk Cup in Russia (by winning today, I made the US 50km Team for the World Cup). But it's Russia and who knows what the conditions will be like, especially the food. The only other real chance is a race in Leamington, England in the middle of June. The trouble with that race, besides having to pay for everything myself, is it's so late. If I make the time there, I would have only two months to prepare for another 50km in Beijing. Decisions. Best thing to do now, though, is enjoy the moment. It's not every day you win the Olympic Trials. Wheeeee!

The Journey Begins Today

2008-02-08T12:00:00.000-08:00

It's actually months after the Olympic Trials for the 50km racewalk, but I need to get caught up to speed if I am going to do this blogging thing for real through the Olympic Games. So, let's all just close our eyes and imagine that it is February 8 (the day before the race) and we are in Miami, FL for the US Olympic Team Trials. (Fade to black with the squiggly lines and spooky music....)

Aaah, palm trees and sunny skies. Warm water lapping the sandy beaches of Key Biscayne and coconuts tumbling from the sky onto bright green Bermuda grass. Aaaah. Paradise. Or is it? Race time at 7AM and it's already 70 degrees and humid. Will there by a cool ocean breeze or just a sticky, sweaty south Florida haze to envelop the walkers who have traveled from all over the country to chase after their Olympic dreams? It's an endurance athlete's worst nightmare: Walk thousands of kilometers to prepare for one race, control all the little things that you can control, and then the weather is crummy. Drat.

I've been training for months now with the dual goals of winning the Olympic Trials and hitting the Olympic Games time standard. When the season started, I was gung-ho to chase after the 'A' time of 4:00:00 which I last hit in 2004. Then I tweaked my hamstring early in September and missed weeks and weeks of the kind of training I needed. By January, I was convinced that I was back on track but would have to settle for the 'B' standard. Will that be enough to send me to Beijing?

The vagaries of the U.S. Olympic Trials system wedded to the International Olympic Committee's minimum qualifications create a headache of qualifying possibilities. The basics are that if the U.S. hopes to send more than one athlete, we have to walk the 'A' standard. In 2000, four athletes had the 'A' going into the Trials, so the top three finishers automatically made the team: Curt Clausen, Andrew Hermann, and me. In 2004, Curt walked the 'A' at the Trials and I walked it five weeks later in Tijuana. This year, only Kevin Eastler has a 'B' standard coming into the Trials but he had hernia surgery a couple months ago and is a big question mark before the race. So, to make the Team I need to hit the 'B' time standard and win the race. Simple enough, except it's a 50km and anything can happen.

I'm in the unusual position of being the race favorite – at least that's what people are telling me. I have several challengers, but Kevin isn't the only walker hobbled by injury. John Nunn, who finished third (right behind me) at last year's National 50km, has opted out of the Trials race because of a recent hamstring injury. Tim Seaman, who was second in 2004 at the 50km Trials, had hip surgery months earlier and hasn't returned to full training. Curt Clausen, winner of the last two 50km Olympic Trials, isn't injured but he's a full-time lawyer and there's no way he's training at the same level as he did in the past.

Matt Boyles and Ray Sharp have emerged as my most likely challengers – an interesting mix of youth and experience. Matt, 25, will be racing in only his second 50km while Ray, 48, was on the US National Team in the early 1980s. Throw in Ben Shorey, Steve Quirke, Yariv Pomeranz and a few others and it's going to be an interesting race.

My friend and the first 50km racewalker I ever met, Chris Rael, is hanging out with me today, the day before the race. We got another look at the course yesterday and Chris took some video of Ray Sharp and me working out and being silly. It's good to stay loose before these races. The tension and stress of an Olympic Trials is incredible. It's a clichè, but it'll consume you if you let it. Joking around and having fun is a nice way to relieve the tension. I mean, really, it's just the Olympic Trials. What's the big deal, right?

Look for more after the race...

Post-Olympic reflections

2004-11-23T21:50:00.000-08:00

November 23--Post-Olympic reflections

Life has returned to normal, as much as life is ever normal around here. I'm back to my usual routine of training and working yet still struggling with the ever-present post-Olympic quandary of "What next?" I remember returning from Sydney four years ago and asking many of the same questions: should I continue training full-time? Should I get a real job? Should I become a male fashion model? Or not. :) But really, it is a difficult time of transition after the Olympics are over. Like everyone else who competed in Athens (and even those who didn't make the team), I have spent the past several years thinking about and preparing for the Olympics and now that they are over, there is a bit of a let-down. It would be easy to wallow in a bunch of meaningless psycho babble about postpartum depression or some such in an effort to make sense of it all, but basically it comes down to 'the Olympics are over. Now what?'

I had an interesting talk with one of my Olympic teammates. My teammate said, "It's really weird but now that I'm back to my regular life, my house, my family, nothing feels that different. I'm an Olympian, yes, but I don't feel any different." I nodded and said, "Yeah, it changes you in many small ways, mostly internal, but it's not as if going to the Olympics suddenly transforms you into a better person, or someone with super-human abilities." We decided that as amazing as the entire Olympic experience has been, we were both happy with who we were before it all started. I think that if you are hoping for the Olympics to improve you, make you more attractive, or popular, you're in for a big let down. I'm sure that many athletes, especially the gold medal winners, come away with many extrinsic rewards. But as a racewalker, I find that I'm deeply invested in the sport because of what I get out of it intrinsically and while I wouldn't trade my Olympic experiences for anything, many of those intrinsic rewards can be achieved without going to Athens. Feelings of empowerment, self-worth, and health can be achieved by racewalking in New York's Central Park or Portland's Waterfront Park. There just aren't thousands of people watching and cheering for you.

I had a good conversation with the Training Center's sports psychologist recently, too. He reflected that the accomplishments of Olympians are amazing but you can't immediately infer that the people who achieve them are equally amazing. In his profession, he has seen more than his share of Olympians who struggle with all sorts of issues. It reminds me of something my friend Jefferson Perez said of himself during a talk to other athletes at the Olympic Training Center. Jefferson, from Ecuador, is the world record holder and reigning world champion in the 20km walk. He said, "I am an ordinary person, but I do extraordinary things." His point was that while his actions may make him appear to be super-human, he is a normal guy who works very hard at what he does and has acheived astonishing results. To look at him and talk to him, you would agree that he seems ordinary: modest, quiet, and physically imposing. He is like Meb Keflezghi in the marathon, unassuming but very very good at what he does.

So, that brings me back to how ordinary my life is now that the Games are over. I'm continuing to train with Coach Pena with plans to race the 50km Nationals in February. I'm working my same old part-time job at Southwestern College until I can find something that is a bit more challenging. It would give me great satisfaction to be able to combine my writing, traveling, and communicating skills into some kind of employment. Until then, I will continue to enjoy the little things in life here in San Diego. My wife and I seem to have nurtured a few plants back to life in our garden. Perhaps we'll be harvesting spinach, tomatoes and peas soon to go with the sweet basil and mint that didn't die in the withering summer weather. Recently, we spent a fun afternoon at the 'World Famous San Diego Zoo' watching the hippo swat a big green ball around with its gaping mouth and the spotted-necked river otters chase the gibbon monkeys. A couple weeks earlier my training partners and I went for a really nice hiking adventure up in the mountains east and north of the Olympic Training Center. Check out the photos at snapfish.com. The next event on my schedule is the Seattle Half Marathon and then a 'Walk with an Olympian' day down in Portland before the USATF Annual Meeting.

Closing Ceremonies, here I come!

2004-08-29T21:49:00.000-07:00

August 29--Closing Ceremonies, here I come!

My kingdom for a nap! It's been a long two days since the race on Friday. I'm very pleased with how it went (I'm not sure I mentioned that in my last posting) and I'm also very glad that the race is over. Going into the race, I wasn't sure that my body would hold up under the rigors of 50km of racing. Even on the best day 50km is a grueling event and with the conditions in Athens we knew it would be tough. My knee held up better than I could have hoped and my conservative race plan worked out perfectly. I was able to walk each 10km as fast or faster than the previous one, accelerating bit by bit over the course of the race. It would have been nice to be fitter than I was for race day, but considering all the troubles I've had in the past four months, I'm elated.

Tonight is the Closing Ceremonies when we all walk in together, one big happy world family and we sing and dance and trade pins and hugs and smile and nod at each other a lot if we don't speak the same language. If it's anything like Sydney, it will be a lot of fun. After that, I'm going to take a little vacation and tour around Greece some. I got to see the Acropolis and Parthenon last night at sunset, spectacular! Today I slept in as long as I could and ate and read my book and ate some more. Tonight will be long but I'm looking forward to it.

I don't know if I'll be able to make another posting after tonight, so like the Olympic flame, this journal may be coming to an end shortly. Thank you to everyone who has shared in my adventures and enjoyed my insights. It's been good for me, too! Peace.

For a good article from the race, check out the Pioneer Press.

The race is over, let the party begin!

2004-08-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

August 27--The race is over, let the party begin!

Another amazing Olympic experience to cherish, if only I could remember anything from the race. There are just a few flashes, glimpses, fleeting memories that linger in my mind: the rush of emotion as I stepped out onto the Olympic track under the glare of lights; the dim light of dawn in the stadium as we waited for the starter's pistol; the steady drum of my heartbeat as I settled into a rhythm on the road away from the track to the 2km circuit; the deafening whistles, bells and shouts of the exuberant Polish fans who cheered for every walker but especially their pride and joy, winner Robert Korzienowski; the shadows of trees, buildings, and clouds passing over the sun forming an unpredictable mosaic of light and dark on the road, across my line of sight; thinking of the shadows on the river Styx and wondering if I had my Greek mythology right and thinking, 'Why am I thinking this? Focus;' the steady dull ache of tired hamstrings and sharper, more acute pangs of blisters as they formed then popped late in the race to moisten shoes and socks; the brief emotional crisis late in the race as a well-meaning supporter yelled "Do it for Al!"; biting back the tears and focusing on my breathing, relaxing again; the surge of adrenaline as I passed one, two and more walkers who faded in the final kilometers; the long, climb back towards the Olympic stadium, breathless, fighting for control of my limbs; finally entering the stadium for the last time, eager to finish yet eager to extend this Olympic dream for as long as possible; and finally stumbling through the press zone to the showers to the bus to the Village to lunch and bed.

Now that I have recovered somewhat, I'm going into Athens to visit with my wonderful family who cheered me on for the entire race. I'll get some food, maybe go to the stadium for an exciting evening of track and field, and then collapse somewhere and sleep, if only my sore legs will allow it.

Thank you to all who have written emails of encouragement and congratulations. Thank you for following me along the incredible journey. It's not over yet, so expect a few more journal entries in the next day or two. Continue to enjoy the Olympics, the good parts of the Games where everyone plays fair and all the countries come together in peace and harmony. It's not a naive dream if we all share it together. "Can't we all just get along?" I see it here in the Village and out on the race course today: Americans congratulating Greeks, Chinese walkers shaking hands with French walkers, Poles hugging Aussies. It's all so wonderful.

You may be able to find some photos from the race soon at www.racewalk.com thanks to Jeff Salvage.

Night before the race

2004-08-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

August 26--Night before the race

It's 9pm and I'm just back from my 'last supper' at the dining hall before the race. It's kind of funny how similar this pre-race time feels to an execution or a funeral or some similarly solemn event. Friends and family are nervous but not sure what to say, tentative, walking on egg-shells. They offer support and compassion and positive pep talks, but they feel a bit helpless. I am fairly sedate as I await the inevitable. I know that they won't physically go through the same torment that my body will experience, though emotionally, I suppose, it can be just as draining and exhausting for them as for me. Sometimes before a major race, I think I am more relaxed and calm than my wife.

Liz told me the funniest thing recently. She has seen me race 50km a few times, but usually it is under decent conditions. She said she has never really seen me in a super hard 50km when I needed to be hospitalized or put on IVs. The worst that she has seen may have been in Italy two years ago at the World Cup. I had a great race. I was very well prepared and finished in a personal best time, 13th overall. But afterward I was a wreck. I needed her help just to make it back to the hotel and I was useless for a couple days as we toured the sights in Northern Italy. The worst post-race experience I had was in 1998 after a 50km in Miami on a 1km loop course in blazing hot conditions. I puked during the race, again afterward, and was going in to some kind of dehydration shock when they decided to load me in the ambulance and rush me off to the local hospital for three IV bags of saline fluid. I nearly missed the awards ceremony. I've had a couple other hot weather races where I needed post-race IVs to rehydrate quickly. Not fun.

With that in mind, I am prepared for tomorrow's race. :) I know it will be hot; there's nothing I can do about that. I am as well prepared for the heat as I can be having trained in Crete for three weeks and practiced drinking the extra fluids I will need. I am a bit nervous about the race, of course, but I am also confident that I am as well prepared as I can be for this moment. Sure, I would love to have been healthy the past four months but I can't control that now. I can control my attitude, though. So, I enter this race with a positive attitude, a lot of heart, faith in myself and the knowledge that once I'm done, it won't hurt so much. That last part is a bit of a joke because once I cross the finish line, my legs will still ache, my feet will still be ready to explode, and I will be too tired to make it back to the Village without some help. But that's okay, I signed up for the 50km, not the 100 meter dash. I get to spend more time racing as an Olympian than any other track and field athlete. Not even the marathoners go as far for as long as we do in the 50km. How cool is that?

Off to bed soon. Cheer loudly, yell at the TV because it will make me go faster, and enjoy the Games!

Back in Athens for the big dance!

2004-08-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

August 24--Back in Athens for the big dance!

The past week has just flown by and I'm now back in Athens after a short morning flight on Olympic Airlines. The Olympic Village is as lively and active as ever with less than half the athletes still waiting to compete and the majority staying up late, partying, sleeping in, and making a serious dent in the Big Mac inventory at the cafeteria's McDonalds. On my way through the security check point I did some celebrity watching and spotted Ian Thorpe from Australia (swimmer) and Haile Gabreselassie from Ethopia (distance runner). Like everyone else, they were walking around, talking to friends, getting some food or heading back to their apartments here in the Village.

I still have three more days until I race, but it was important to get back from Crete to settle in at the Village and get a few nights of good rest. Hopefully it won't be too loud. All the rowdy swimmers are staying in another set of apartment buildings, so it should be okay.

My parents and my wife get in to Athens this afternoon and check in to the house they are renting this evening. I'm not going to be able to meet them at the airport, but with any luck I will track them down later. Perhaps we'll all do lunch or dinner downtown tomorrow before I come back to the Village to get my pre-race rest. Usually during the week before a big 50km I spend a whole lot of time lying around doing nothing. Mostly I read, watch TV if there is one, or spend time with friends. If I don't have to walk somewhere, I won't. If I can sit instead of stand, I will. If I can take the elevator rather than a flight of stairs, I will. It makes me seem horribly lazy, but I figure I make up for it by walking 50 kilometers. The trouble is that after I have raced 50km, I still don't want to take the stairs, walk anywhere or even stand up if I don't have to. I'm just too tired. It takes a few days to start feeling normal again. I remember the day after the Pan Am Games 50km in Santo Domingo last fall wanting to go to the beach after breakfast. Well, right after breakfast, I decided I should probably get in a quick nap for some energy. I woke up 2 hours later and it was close to lunch time, and that seemed like a good idea, too. After lunch, I was full and felt like lying down... you get the idea. I never made it to the beach. Then we flew back to the U.S. at 1:30am that night. At least after this 50km I should have a couple days to relax before doing anything too strenuous.

That's all I have to report today. I'll probably just spend the rest of the day reading, surfing the internet, or chatting with new friends here in the Village. Enjoy the Games!

IOC bans Olympic Journals, read on!

2004-08-22T21:41:00.000-07:00

August 22--IOC bans Olympic Journals, read on!

In their infinite wisdom, the IOC has publicly denounced the practice of keeping Olympic Journals. I say, poo-poo on you, IOC, but thanks for throwing us this big party every four years. The IOC's argument has something to do with controlling broadcast rights that sponsors have paid millions to attain. Check out the article. One of the best parts of the Olympics is the camaraderie, the coming together of nations in a peaceful gathering. What's wrong about sharing that with friends, family, and even strangers back home? Wouldn't the fostering of the Olympic spirit through a personal website bring more attention and adulation to the movement as a whole? I say, pass this link on to as many people as you can so they call all share in the 'illegal' American practice of free press and democracy. I shall not be silenced! :)

I've always been troubled by the 'business' aspect of the Games, the commercialization of sport. When I was a kid, perhaps I was naive (and I still am, I fear), but I loved to run and kick a ball because it was fun. I didn't need someone to tell me that winning was important, I just wanted to run as fast as I could or score as many goals as I could or stop the other team from scoring them. Slowly, as I grew up and started competing at regional and then national competitions, I began to sense an underlying politic in sport. Some athletes were favored over others, some sports were considered better than others, it wasn't all about having fun. Winning became increasingly important. And now at the Olympic level, I think it's even worse. Don't get me wrong, winning is great. Like every athlete here, I love to win. But I love to have fun doing it, too.

In meetings with officials from the USOC (U.S. Olympic Committee) and USATF (USA Track and Field) athletes are reminded that we are a commodity and that our audience is a potential market. We are told that the only thing sponsors want is 'medals, medals, medals.' If we are in a sport that can't provide medals for the U.S. bank account, we won't receive any funding. It is as if we are employees of some corporation punching a time clock and not athletes pursuing our athletic dreams. I like being an athlete for the purity of the sport, first. If someone wants to pay me a bunch of money for doing something I love, great. But I'll do it for free, too.

When I began to serve on the USATF men's development committee a couple years ago, we were given a lecture about how every dollar spent had to directly contribute to an immediate medal success (ie. more sponsor dollars would follow). Only those events that consistently produced medals would get funding and those that couldn't win a medal would have to look elsewhere, events like the hammer throw, racewalk and javelin. One of the longest serving members stood up and spoke at length about the integrity of sports and the need for funding of developmental projects like youth athletics, high schools, juniors, and emerging elite athletes. He asked if that funding was being revoked. When told that it was, he resigned on the spot. I should have applauded his integrity, but it was my first meeting and I had no idea what had just happened until later. Shame on me.

So what's the lesson? Find something that you are good at, enjoy doing, and forget the rest. Run, walk, dance, dream, sing, whatever. Enjoy it.

And now I have to get back to watching the women's marathon. It started 50 minutes ago and they are approaching the 15km mark. The American record holder, and nicest person in the world, Deena Kastor is currently in 17th place trailing world record holder Paula Radcliffe from England. Gotta go. Enjoy the Games.

Track & Field beings with men's 20km walk

2004-08-20T21:39:00.000-07:00

August 20--Track and field begins with 20km walk

By 9am, the temperature in the Olympic Stadium was already reaching into the low 80s and the 20km walk race had just started. An hour and a half later, the roads outside the stadium were baking and the full track and field schedule had heated up the track as well.

My three U.S. teammates, John Nunn, Kevin Eastler and Tim Seaman all toed the line with the other top 20km walkers in the world. All three of them ended up finishing very well, especially considering the conditions. John started out much more aggressively and gave himself a great shot at a top 15 finish, but he struggled in the last 5km. Tim and Kevin's conservative paid dividends as they passed many walkers in the final 5km. The only thing that didn't make sense to me was why Kevin didn't use his superior strength to distance himself from the speedier Tim in the middle of the race and avoid getting out-kicked by three seconds at the end.

In the lead pack it was last year's World Championships gold and silver medalists, Jefferson Perez from Ecuador and Francisco Fernandez from Spain, establishing a solid breakaway with Italian Ivano Brugnetti and Australian Nathan Deakes. The four walkers were constantly at the front of the lead pack with Brugnetti and Fernandez doing most of the pace setting. By 10km the field had been splintered into a line of walkers straggling after the Italian, Spanish and Australian trio. World record holder and 1996 Olympic gold medalist Perez was not having his day. In a remarkable recovery, though, Perez closed a twelve-second gap and rejoined the lead group by 15km. The recovery was short-lived when Brugnetti stepped up the tempo again only Deakes and Fernandez were able to respond. Deakes made a bid for the lead through the water station with just under 3km to go but was quickly swallowed up by the fast closing Brugnetti and Fernandez. The Italian star was only able to shed Fernandez in the last kilometer as the two walkers sprinted up the stadium access road. Deakes hung on for the bronze medal and Perez rounded out the top four spots. For full results, go to the IAAF website, though I doubt they'll have the best video shot of the day: Fernandez throwing up, repeatedly, after the finish. Racewalking is so tough! I love it!

It was a bit odd watching the race on TV. First, how often do you get to see a complete racewalking event televised on international TV? It was awesome. No commercial breaks and since the race came down to the last kilometer, I didn't have to get upset when they cut away to a meaningless sprint preliminary like they often do in the U.S. Second, the only broadcast station I could remotely understand was TVE direct from Spain (it was that, Greek, Italian or German). The race announcers were understandably excited by the performance of their Spanish star Francisco Fernandez, so the enthusiasm of the broadcast was infectious. Finally, I'm used to being in the race or at least at the race as a course-side spectator. When my friend Jefferson started to struggle, there was no way he could hear me yelling 'Si se puede! Vamos! Vamos!' at the TV. All of my neighbors here at the resort probably thought I was crazy, but like any sports nut I felt that if I yelled loud enough at the TV, I just might be able to influence the outcome of the race.

Now that I have seen one of the races on the walks course, I have a better idea of how to approach my own event. I've known all along that the heat and humidity were going to be a factor, but it was impressive that most people avoided a DQ or DNF. There were 48 walkers who started the 20km and seven of them didn't make it to the finish line. Fatigue and a loss of concentration can dramatically effect the legality of a walker's technique, and dehydration due to extreme heat and humidity can wreak havoc on a person's body, especially in the longer 50km race. It will definitely be an interesting race. I think there will be two drastically different strategies employed during the 50km. Some walkers will opt to start as quickly as possible to take advantage of the relatively cool temperatures at the 7am start time. They will hope to build a significant enough time cushion in order to fight off those walkers who start more conservatively. The less aggressive walker will rely on a steadier pace and a late rally to carry him past the majority of the field that wilts in the midmorning heat. Because my less-than-ideal fitness won't allow a fast start, I will be one those walkers who hopes to make up ground in the second half of the race.

After watching the 20km in the morning, I got out for an easy morning walk. Then I was able to take advantage of a full day of Olympics coverage by learning about team handball (great game, very wild and full of contact), badminton (insanely fast and incredibly talented athletes), and rowing (almost as tough as walking, but it doesn't last nearly as long as it should). In the evening, Curt and I knocked out our last tough speed workout: 5 x 2km repeats. They went well and I was able to walk as fast as I have in weeks, so that was good. Tonight the knee is a bit unhappy with me, though, so I'll have to be more careful. Before bedtime I was able to catch the men's 10,000mt race. Unbelievable. If you didn't get a chance to see it, find a copy somewhere. It was so awesome. The three Ethiopians, led by Haile Gebresselasie, were almost untouchable. With 3km to go, though, multiple-time world record holder Gebresselasie started to falter (he's been suffering an achilles tendon injury this season). His two Ethiopian teammates slowed the pace until he was able to rejoin the lead pack. When it became evident that he wasn't going to be able to manage a top three finish, the fitter Ethiopians, led by Bikele, jetted to the front again and destroyed the remaining challengers. With 400 meters to go, Bikele began his sprint finish blazing the last lap in 53 seconds! Most elite distance runners are happy to run a 53 second 400mt fresh, and he did it after running 24 laps. Unbelievable. More track and field coverage tomorrow. I can't wait!

Oh, I also got an email from one of my friends at Walk About Magazine and she sent me the link to the latest free on-line issue. It has the first installment of my Olympic journal, and it's a great magazine, too, so check it out at: www.walkaboutmag.com

Irish walker crashes out of Olympics

2004-08-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

August 18--Irish walker crashes out of Olympics

I'm a bit glum today having heard the tragic news of Ireland's top 50km walker getting into a car wreck a couple days ago. My friend and one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, Jamie Costin, was returning from a workout with Poland's Robert Korzienowski outside Athens. He had just dropped Robert off and was driving along in his rental car when he was hit by a large petrol truck. The latest news is that he has suffered serious injuries to his back and legs but is alive and well otherwise. His Olympics are over and he is planning on heading back to Ireland in the next day or two.

It's really very sobering. It makes me realize how lucky I am to be here at all. Something outside my control, like a car accident or a freak injury, could suddenly and irreversibly change everything. I'm not a huge believer in destiny and all that, but it makes me stop and think. Why am I here in Greece? I had knee surgery last November only 12 weeks before the Olympic 50km racewalk Trials. I wasn't quite ready to walk the 'A' standard, but through a combination of factors, I was fortunate enough to finish in the top three. Five weeks later, despite laryngitis, a terribly sore throat, and plans to stop at 35km of the Tijuana 50km, I dipped under the four hour Olympic 'A' time standard and qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team. Even now I'm struggling to regain the fitness that I lost after the World Racewalk Cup 20km when my knee started giving me more troubles.

I feel so lucky to be back here at the Olympics and yet I know there are others who are just as deserving. My good friend Sean Albert walked thousands of kilometers with me over the past six years. He switched to the 50km a couple years ago and was beginning to make good progress. He finished fourth at the 50km Trials and put in two valiant efforts in search of the time standard, one in Germany at the World Cup and the other in Ireland at the Dublin Grand Prix. He didn't get it. And of course there is Al Heppner. He killed himself just three days after the 50km Olympic Trials. He was in such good shape and wanted to make the Olympic Team so badly. Who knows if it was just the disappointment of missing out on the time standard or something far more complex that none of us understands. It's just so sad, because Al would be having such a good time here. There isn't a day that goes by when one of us doesn't say, "If Al were here, he would be .... talking to the NBA basketball players at Opening Ceremonies; trying to meet all the single women on the Team; playing beach volleyball when he should probably be resting; walking up and down the beach looking at the topless sunbathers; hounding Maurice Greene for a photo or an autograph..."

Somehow Jamie's car accident really hit me and put things in perspective. I'm continually reminded of the Olympic creed that Pierre de Coubertin coined years ago. The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part With my less-than-perfect fitness and my recent knee troubles, it has been on my mind a lot. I don't expect to win. I would be fooling myself if I thought a miraculous race would somehow deliver a gold medal performance. If you have ever done a 50km, you know that it can't be faked. I'm not being pessimistic, just realistic. There are times when you prepare yourself for a struggle. You search your very core for that which is most vital and pure, and you tap into that energy, somehow. just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. I know that during the race I will be thinking about the people who helped get me here, the people who have helped sustain me along the way, the people who I wish were walking along side me. They are my family, my friends, my coaches, my fellow walkers from all over the world. They will keep me company in ways they cannot know. Sean and Al will be walking with me as they have for thousands of kilometers. The fellahs from my Carleton cross-country days will run along side. My twin brother will give me his strength if I falter, he will pick me up if I fall. My parents, my wife, my mother-in-law, thankfully, will be at the race in person cheering me every step of the way. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.

Yes, I'm being overly sentimental. It's just how I feel today. I feel like crying. I feel like screaming. I feel like laughing. I feel happy and sad and all mixed up. But deep deep down, I know that I am in the right place. I belong here and I will race with the conviction that years of training have developed in me. I will race knowing that I will finish. I will race knowing that I will keep moving no matter what obstacles are placed in front of me. It is so satisfying to know that the only thing I fear is humiliation, and how could I possible be embarrassed by being an Olympian? I'm very excited to get back to Athens now, start this race, endure, and finish.

Then I can go relax on a sandy beach on a Greek island I've never heard of and not think about racewalking at all.

Life at the Olympics

2004-08-16T21:36:00.000-07:00

August 16--Life at the Olympics

The Games have begun and it doesn't even feel like it out here on Crete. Sun, sand, and five-star service make it hard to believe that just a short flight from here in Athens, the world's best athletes are struggling to acheive their dreams. I'm so glad that I went to the Opening Ceremonies and soaked up some of that Olympic spirit before coming back here to concentrate on two more weeks of training.

Sequestered out here on the island, I'm getting as much Olympics as anyone else in the world with a television. Admittedly, I'm also surrounded by some of the best track and field athletes in the world. Amy Acuff (high jump), Ian Waltz (discus), Jarred Rome (discus), John Nunn (20km racewalk) and I had a lively lunch-time conversation. Over dinner, Meb Keflezighi (marathon), Dan Browne (10,000mt and marathon), Breaux Greer (javelin), Deena Kastor (marathon), Jonathan Johnson (800mt), Daniel Lincoln (steeplechase), and I enjoyed authentic Greek dancers who, after dessert, led the athletes around the open-air patio in a spirited rendition of the Zorba the Greek song and dance. It has been great being able to meet and mingle with the big names of track and field in the US. I'm getting as many of the US team to sign my US Olympic flag as possible.

When I got up today, I was welcomed by the first stormy day we've had here in nearly two weeks of quiet surf and gentle breezes. Until now I had thought the Mediterranean was a big lazy puppy dog. I see how the weather might have convinced Homer to described it as a wine-dark sea and a tempest. The waves crashed relentlessly, pounding the sand, while the wind tore at the inadequate blue resort umbrellas. Rain fell off and on all day. A bright red flag warned that the beach was closed to swimming. Those of us who live on the West Coast wanted to go out into the first real surf we have seen and do some body-surfing. We were sent packing by the over-zealous lifeguards. Today's surf would have been described as one to two feet with poor form and most surfers wouldn't have bothered to load up their boards and head to the beach. Here it's a crisis.

Other than the unexpected treat of Greek dancing and the rain, it was just another day of training, therapy for my knee troubles before lunch, lunch, reading and resting in the afternoon, dinner, and an impromptu water-polo match in the evening before bedtime. John Nunn thought it would be fun to have what he called a 'pool party.' He even dressed for the occasion with a towels wrapped around his waist and shoulders as a toga and branches tucked behind his ears as a wreath of laurels. Hardly anyone showed, so we drew inspiration from the water polo we had seen earlier on TV and played in the resort's largest swimming pool. I won, 3-2, though I'm not giving up on racewalking yet.

Opening Ceremonies!

2004-08-14T21:34:00.000-07:00

August 14-- Opening Ceremonies

I'm back from an exhilarating and exhausting Opening Ceremonies celebration. It was everything I had hoped and more with lots of fireworks, big entrances, and best of all, tons of friends with whom to share the experience.

I was able to walk in with my kayak and Olympic Training Center friends. Kathy Colin, who also competed in Sydney, was right next to me as we marched in to thunderous applause from the packed stadium. Nate Johnson, a canoer who missed out on the Sydney Games, was there, along with the rest of the OTC paddlers. I lost track of John Nunn, but when I found him on the infield, he was still glowing. Because the Greek alphabet is different than ours, the USA didn't come in right at the end with the 'U's as usual. We came in near the middle of the pack and were able to watch as tons of other countries came in after us.

The highlights were marching into the Athens Olympic Stadium for the first time with flashbulbs blinking and thousands of people cheering; waving like a little kid at a parade; feeling so very small amid the crush of humanity and yet feeling so proud of the work it took to get me here; meeting famous people like Tim Duncan and Martina Navratilova and meeting not-so-famous people who are just as nice and fun and friendly as your neighbors; seeing racewalking friends from Ecuador and Columbia; marching back out of the stadium with athletes from Sudan, Iraq, Mongolia, Russia, Italy, and laughing and talking as we waited for the busses; getting back to the Olympic Village and finding that at 1:30 in the morning the cafeteria was packed with people who were ready to dance and sing and stay up even later. I am so glad that I am here. I feel so blessed to be a part of these beautiful Games, this beautiful sport, this beautiful world. It must be getting late because I'm starting to get horribly sentimental. :) Look for me on the TV tonight. I'll be the guy dressed, as my Ecuadorian friend said, "like a baby rap musician in pajamas and a floppy hat."

Peace

Travel to Athens for tomorrow's Opening Ceremonies

2004-08-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

August 12--Travel to Athens for tomorrow's Opening Ceremonies

Another lazy day of training and rest this morning with a short flight to Athens scheduled this afternoon. Last night's festivities were memorable, though. The local track club that has been helping facilitate the US track team's transportation, security and facility use on Crete hosted a traditional Greek feast at a small local village restaurant.

Tucked into a grotto, surrounded by cascading waterfalls and set with starched white linens and gleaming silverware, the restaurant was a dream. As we rambled off the bus, all 80 athletes and officials 'oohed' and 'aahed.' Cameras that had been tucked away for anticipated post-dinner indiscretions courtesy of too much ouzo or wine were quickly pulled from pockets and bags. Flashbulbs blinked and bounced off myriad waterfalls and pools, strobe-lighting the athletes procession down the winding stone steps into the restaurant's grotto and caves. The food and drink only added to the atmosphere: tomato-rich Greek salad smothered in olive oil and vinegar, wild lamb, creamy rice, smooth red wine and water in large crystal vases gathered directly from one of the alcoves roiling with mountain spring water. To say we left full and happy would be an understatement. We were satiated by the Greek hospitality, cuisine and sense of atmosphere. On the winding bus ride home, we could see similarly happy diners sitting comfortably at street-side cafes sipping wine and commenting on the large police-escorted buses that drifted past in the night.

This morning I got in one more road workout on the 3km loop that skirts the beach on one side and the highway from Chania to Rethimno on the other. A session with one of the USATF chiropractors was followed by a short rest and a few pages from Seabiscuit. After another delicious lunch on the pool-side patio that looks out over the sea, I went back down to the sports medicine clinic for a 30 minutes sports massage. I know, it's a rough life here on the island. :) Seriously, though, I don't always look forward to the sports massages. I know that they help my muscles relax and recover from the week's training, but the massages can be quite painful when the trainer finds a particularly tight spot in my calf or ilio-tibial band.

During the hottest part of the afternoon, I finished up Seabiscuit and packed for tonight's trip. If i get a chance before my flight, I'll upload some photos from last night's dinner. Until then, have a wonderful day.

Smile, it's Media Day!

2004-08-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

August 10--Smile, it's Media Day!

What would have been a fairly normal training day turned into something of a media frenzy this morning. In the middle of this morning's speed workout, a white rental van chased us down. John, Curt and I were all doing a slightly different session so we were spread out at intervals along the 3km loop we measured out when the van that a couple guys from CBS had rented began trailing us. It was like having paparazzi chasing after us with their big video cameras and microphones in your face.

Manuel Gallegus and his cameraman Bob are from the LA area and two of only three credentialed CBS reporters in Athens for the Games. NBC holds the broadcast rights, so there must be a limit on the number of other reporters who have access to the venues and athletes.

After their guerrilla filming tactics, Manuel and Bob turned out to be very nice guys who were interested in doing a story about the three of us racewalkers who have been training on Crete for almost a week now. The thing that startled them was how fast we were going. Manuel confessed that he had planned on kind of making fun of racewalking as a silly sport that anyone can do, but when he saw us walking he realized that angle wasn't going to work. Eventually he talked John into doing another short interval so that he could run along side him and give the viewer an idea of just how quickly John was moving. John is a 20km specialist and holds the American record in the outdoor mile at 5:48. His personal best for 20km, 1:22:31, averages close to 6:30/mile for 12.4 miles. It's no wonder that Manuel got out of breath running with him for 100 meters.

After walking an easy 2km cool down, jumping in the ice bath and showering, we had an appointment with NBC track and field correspondent Marty Liqouri. Some of you may know him from his days as one of America's great distance runners. When he's not commentating on track, he runs a Jazz Festival in Gainesville, Florida and plays the jazz guitar professionally.

As a group, we talked to Marty for half an hour or more about racewalking. He pretty much sat us down and said, "Guys, I'm going to be doing the NBC broadcast of the 20km for men and women and the 50km. That's a lot of air time and I need something to talk about. Tell me about racewalking. What should I say?" It was a great opportunity to have direct access to the guy who is going to be America's voice for racewalking. A few years ago, Bob Costas mangled his coverage of the walks and it would be nice if Liqouri redeems us somewhat. We told Liqouri about a typical training day, how we got into the sport, the challenges of being a racewalker, and all the technical stuff that goes into racewalking. My only concern is that he asked a lot of questions about judging and the problems that racewalking had in 2000 in Sydney. We explained it all pretty clearly, so hopefully he gets it right. If he totally bungles it, he gave me his business card so I'll put his phone number on my website and everyone can harass him. :) Just a joke, Marty, if you are reading this.

The CBS guys tracked us down again right before lunch and interviewed us. It sounds like they are going to do a nice little piece about our group and air it on the 19th or 20th before John's 20km race. We're not sure exactly when or on what stations, but Manuel said to keep an eye on the local CBS affiliate stations. He said there's also a chance that once it airs, someone else will pick it up, repackage it, and put it on another network. If only we are so lucky.

It seems like racewalking gets a lot of coverage every four years during the Olympics and then interest fades away. It's a shame, though, because racewalking really is a sport for everyone. No, not everyone is going to make it to the Olympic level, but everyone can learn the technique and benefit from the aerobic exercise. There I go, sounding like a TV infomercial. Maybe I was in front of the cameras for too long today.

This afternoon I got in a nice recovery workout in the ocean. Since my knee troubles, I have had to limit my afternoon workouts to some kind of cross training like biking or swimming. Today I took the aqua-jogging belt out into the ocean and 'ran' through the Mediterranean for half an hour. It was so much more interesting and invigorating than laps in the pool. You really can't beat treading water in the middle of the ocean with the sun setting on one side and a long sandy beach dotted with blue umbrellas and lawn chairs on the other. How will I ever go back to San Diego? Oh wait, there's a beach there too. :)

Tonight we have another team meeting after dinner. Nearly 50 more track athletes are coming in from either the US or places in Europe. Our contingent of over 100 athletes is the largest of all the US delegations. Last night I rubbed elbows with a few of the bigger names: Marion Jones (sprints and long jump), Stacy Dragila (pole vault), Kenta Bell (triple jump), Torri Edwards (sprints but under investigation for 'glucose' pills that contained some illegal substance) and a bunch of other people. They are all very nice and have been friendly to everyone which is refreshing to see. Well, off to dinner. More souvlaki and gyros and feta and cucumbers and pasta and fresh bread and olive oil from trees right here on the resort.

Just another day of training

2004-08-08T21:09:00.000-07:00

August 8--Just another day of training

It feels like I am finally getting into a routine here in Crete. My training has gotten back to a more regular time schedule and I'm able to start pushing myself a bit more without suffering too much in the heat. Coach Pena arrived last night so he was here to help with today's long workout, 26 kilometers. We've measured out a nice horseshoe loop right in front of the resort. The resort is split by a highway with frontage roads on either side. To get from one side to the other you have to either dodge cars like the game Frogger, or you can take the tunnel under the highway. Conveniently, there is a tunnel 1.5km further down on the frontage road, so we can make a good 3km loop from one resort entrance to the other using the tunnels. This morning Curt and I started at 8am before it got super hot and I managed to get in my longest workout yet. I'm still adjusting to the heat, so my heart rate was particularly high: 170-180 average for over two hours and 26 kilometers. I was also amazed by how much I was able to drink without getting uncomfortable. I was drinking nearly an entire 16 ounce bottle of Hydralyte every 3km. Add to that a PowerGel halfway through the workout, and I was able to maintain my energy and hydration levels pretty well.

As soon as I finished, I walked down to the poolside showers and just stood under the cold water for a minute or two. After some stretching, I took a nice long ice bath in the sports medicine area. The resort staff has been great about helping the US team here by setting up a couple large garbage cans that we can fill with cold water and bags of ice. It's one of the best ways to both recover from a hard workout and cool off from the intense heat.

The afternoon was spent napping, playing on the computer, and posting a few more photos from both Crete and Athens. I added a few shots from the hike on Friday (click here) and put together a virtual tour of the Olympic Racewalk course from the photos that I took when we were in Athens early in the week (click here). For those of you coming to Athens, it will be an early preview of the race course. For those who won't be able to make it, you can have an idea of where I'll be for four hours on the morning of the 27th.

Many of the other track and field athletes have started arriving here in Crete for the final weeks of training. The last few pre-Olympic track meets in Europe are over and people are focusing on the Games now. John Godina, Adam Nelson, Nicole Teeter, and others are now here. Tonight we'll have a big team meeting and I'll get to meet everyone else.

Samarian Gorge

2004-08-06T21:08:00.000-07:00

August 6--Crete and Samarias Gorge with photos!

Having gotten comfortable with the five star resort near the town of Georgioupoli, I decided it was time to do some exploring today. But first, the highlights from yesterday.

The first day of real training after three days of traveling and transition can often be a bit tricky. Add a bit of heat and humidity, and it can be downright hard. In the morning I got in an easy 40 minutes at the track in nearby Rethimno. The most exciting thing about the workout was getting to and from the track. Security has been fairly tight since we arrived with a police escort from the airport. But the trip to the track was a bit much. We had the usual police escort of two motorcycles, two squad cars, and a jeep stopping traffic, running red lights and generally making a spectacle of ourselves (I always wonder whether discretion wouldn't be a wiser course of action), but then out of nowhere, we had a police helicopter following us along the winding coastal roads to Rethimno. It got totally out of hand when we didn't get on the bus at 11am to return to the resort (we were waiting for Sheila Burrell to finish her workout) and the helicopter landed on the infield of the track to make sure everything was okay. I'm just glad I wasn't doing laps out there!

In the afternoon, I was able to get in my first hot-weather speedwork with a pair of 3kms on the highway frontage road. It's flat and we had measured out a good 3km loop after the morning workout. The rest of the day was spent wading into the crystal clear waters of the Kritiko Sea on the north side of Crete. From the room that I share with John Nunn, I can see and hear the small waves washing over the sand. It's too bad I'm not here on my honeymoon; it would be perfect.

So that was yesterday. Today I got up early and met Curt Clausen for a long day of adventuring around the island. We started at 7am with a bus ride to Chania, a transfer to the small town of Omalos at the head of the Samarias Gorge, and then a steep descent into the longest ravine in Europe. At their highest, the sheer walls of Samarias reach over 2,000 feet up and at their narrowest, only 10 feet separate them. This time of year there is a small but steady stream of water at the base of the gorge. In the wet winter and spring months, the popular hiking trail is closed because of the dangers of high water and flash floods. The gorge has been inhabited for centuries with the remains of numerous chapels and homes dotting the trail. In 1962 the area was designated a National Park in order to protect the native kri-kri or Cretan wild goat.

Once we had hiked for a few hours and broken some park rules, like wading in the river, we found ourselves in the village of Agia Roumeli on the southern coast of Crete. Still hot and sticky, despite our river-wading, we jumped into the sea for a good saltwater rinse. Lunch was gyros and french fries, a delicious and greasy blend of Greek and American foods. The town of Agia Roumeli is so remote, the only way to reach it is by taking a ferry or hiking through the treacherous Samarias Gorge. We opted for the ferry on the way back. In Sfakia, a friendly English couple offered us a ride part way home, but we gambled with the twisty, turny, narrow, make-me-wanna-hurl-don't-look-now-but-the-front-wheels-aren't-on-the-road bus ride back to Vrisses and then to Georgioupoli and the resort.

It was nice being out and about all day, especially without the security detail following us around. Curt and I joked a few times, though, that if we had gotten into trouble on the hike, we could have called in the police helicopter for a daring mountain rescue.

Race Course and Travel to Crete

2004-08-04T21:06:00.000-07:00

August 4--Race course and travel to Crete with virtual tour of race course

It's been another very busy day here in Greece. After a short walk in the morning and a simple breakfast at the Olympic Village's cafeteria, I went on a long adventure to visit the Olympic Stadium and the racewalking circuit nearby. Curt, John and the Olympic distance coach, Bob Larsen who used to coach at UCLA and now works with USA Running joined me on the lengthy bus ride, metro ride, and walk to the stadium. The taxi ride on the way back took less than 20 minutes, but we were sweating with the locals on the subway for nearly an hour and half getting there. The bus driver from the village to the metro station got lost twice and once backed up from a freeway off-ramp to continue driving down the freeway to the right exit. The drivers here are fearless and drive erratically, even on the sidewalks if someone has blocked the street.

Security at the stadium was alternately extremely tight and disturbingly loose. We all had Games credentials that get us in most places, but we don't have the special 'STA' that gets us into the stadium. So we were initially stopped and politely turned away at the first entrance we tried. Then we waltzed into the second and made it all the way down the ramp and through the tunnel into the stadium itself before we were told, again very politely, that we couldn't go any further. We had gotten far enough into the stadium to get a great view of the interior, the arching metal and glass roof and the spectacular torch that looks like a huge fulcrum hinge that once lit will swing up to an upright position. The track surface is currently covered with a thick black felt while they set up for the Opening Ceremonies in nine days.

Our goal in going to the stadium was to see the course, so after being ushered out of the tunnel leaving the track, we followed the course as it wound up out of the Olympic complex and onto a local residential street less than a mile away. The ramp was very gently sloped, a blessing after some of the steep ascents and descents we have faced in other stadium starts and finishes. We had been told to worry about the hills of Athens but the course has been greatly improved. There are a few spots with some gentle slopes, but the absurdly steep hills faced by walkers in the 1997 World Champs have been eliminated. There are even a few mature trees to cast some shade over the course and help alleviate that intensity of the Mediterranean sun.

After traveling all day yesterday, it would have been nice to just return to the Village and relax. Instead we quickly repacked our bags and bussed ourselves to the Athens airport for our evening flight to Crete. Now I am sitting upstairs of the hotel lobby here at the Pilot Beach Resort tapped into an ethernet line on my laptop. I haven't had time to download any of the photos I took today, but now that we are settled in one place for a week or two, I'll have more time.

Now it's off to rest up for tomorrow's adventures. Perhaps a dip in the ocean is in order first, to gaze up at the stars and sink my toes into the soft Cretian sand.

Olympic Village, Athens

2004-08-03T21:01:00.000-07:00

August 3--Olympic Village, Athens

Oh my goodness, I made it! After a long two days of traveling from San Diego to Chicago to Frankfurt to Athens, I am in the Olympic Village. It's late on Tuesday evening and I'm ready to get some sleep. It may be difficult with all of the excitement of today, but I'm so tired that I'll probably fall asleep before I know it.

The best part of today was seeing all of my friends who have also made the US Olympic Team: Deena Kastor and Jen Rhines were on the same flights from Chicago to Athens; my training partners Curt Clausen and John Nunn met us in Frankfurt; the entire US women's soccer team, fresh off a 3-1 victory over China, was at Team Processing at the American College of Greece (so I got to chat with friends Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, Cindy Parlow and their coach April Heinrich); Abdi Abdirahman and Anthony Famiglietti were in the Village when we arrived. It was great!

Team Processing was a lengthy ordeal, lots of hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. But it was swag central with lots and lots of wonderful Olympic clothes from US sponsors Roots and adidas. I'm a bit disappointed with the Opening Ceremonies outfits this time. Usually we wear a nice blazer, khakis, and a panama hat. This time there is none of the dignity and ritual of the older uniforms. We're going to look like a bunch of sloppily dressed teenagers with hats on backwards, baggy sweat pants, and blue suede shoes. Yes, Elvis would be proud of the shoes, but he would be horrified by the rest of the ensemble.

Well, that's it for tonight. It's going to be another busy day with a trip to view the race course in the morning and then an afternoon flight to Crete. Enjoy a few photos from today's travels.

View of Athens from plane

Team Processing at American College of Greece

Me and my Opening Ceremonies friend

First view of the Olympic Village

Leaving for Athens in the Morning

2004-08-01T21:00:00.000-07:00

August 1--San Diego

I'm almost packed tonight and certain that I will be sitting on the plane before I realize that I forgot something important. Isn't that the way it always is when you're getting ready for a long trip? I'm very excited about the trip and the adventures that await. I'm a little anxious, but that's pretty normal, too. If all goes according to plan, I should be in the Frankfurt airport in 24 hour waiting for the US Olympic Team charter flight to Athens.

Tonight Liz took me out to dinner at the local 'Olympic Cafe' for some Greek cuisine. It seemed appropriate to end my training in San Diego with a bit of Greek flavor. Yeah, in a couple weeks I'll be wishing I had eaten a nice Mexican meal of taquitos with guacamole and chips, but the souvlaki platter got me in the mood.

My flight out in the morning is at 6:30am, connecting through Chicago on my way to the charter flight in Frankfurt. I'll be checking into Athens around 1pm local time and then the process begins. First I'll get my official Olympic accreditation badge with my photo ID and a barcode that tells the security at each and every checkpoint who I am, where I'm from and whether I am an athlete, coach, delegation member, medical staff, or some other member of the Olympic family. For the next four weeks, my accreditation badge will be my pass into the Olympic Village, into and out of the athletic venues, into the cafeteria, housing, Games transportation, everything. Without it, I'm up a creek. With it, I have access to all sorts of interesting places.

After accreditation, I will pick up my bags and go through Greek customs. My bags will then get taken to the Olympic Village, I'll board a bus with my US teammates and we'll all be on our way. The track and field coaches have said they are going to get us a tour of the racewalk course on Tuesday evening of Wednesday morning. It will be nice to take a look at the 2km circuit that I'll be walking. Mentally it helps to have a picture of what the course looks like, where the turns are, the hills (rumor has it there are some nasty hills on the course), and whether there is shade or not. On the afternoon of the 4th, all of the track and field team members and coaches will get on another charter flight for Crete. There, we check into the Pilot Beach Resort. Five big big big star resort. From the website, it looks incredible. It's a shame that we have to do all that training rather than sitting poolside or dipping our toes in the Mediterranean. It's rough getting ready for an Olympic 50km. :)

Well, time to rest up for the big trip in the morning. Wish me luck!

Yosemite Training

2004-07-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

July 25--Yosemite National Park

Wow! It's hard to imagine a more beautiful place to get in a good workout. Sean Albert and I joined a few others from the Olympic Training Center for a long day of hiking that was capped by a breathtaking (literally) ascent of the cables on the side of Half Dome. If you have never been to Yosemite, go. Even if you never get out of your car, it will be well worth the trip. But you really should get out, see the falls, wander through the meadows in Yosemite valley or, better yet, the large glacier-swept Tuolamie Meadow to the north. It's no wonder that John Muir loved this place. The size and scale of the valley and the surrounding mountains is hard to believe.

Sean and I made the most of our trip by driving up on Saturday morning and staying in the luxurious Curry Village tent city. It had everything you could hope for when camping in the great outdoors: soft beds, downy pillows, warm blankets, hot showers, and neighbors who stayed up drinking late into the night, talking and banging pots and pans in your ear. Or perhaps it was the crying child who kept falling out of bed. 'Thump.... whaaaaa! whaaaa!' And then again an hour later, after the considerate parents had carried her screaming through all of the campsites to make sure we were all awake: 'Thump....whaaaaa! whaaaaa!'

Even with little sleep, we were energized for the 5:30am start by the splendor of the granite monoliths and towering ponderosa pines. Last year Sean and I made this same hike with 15-20 track and field athletes from the training center including Curt Clausen. The three of us quickly separated ourselves from the pack and made it to the top before anyone else that day. After some photos out on the 'diving board' we hustled back down before the hordes arrived. The cables are never fun because of the exposure, but with lots of other people on them ahead of you, they become pretty dicey. This year it took us a few hours longer: more time for photos and snack breaks.

20km Olympic Trials

2004-07-17T20:58:00.000-07:00

July 17--Sacramento

I thought it would be hard to watch today's 20km Olympic Trials because I wasn't competing. My knee injury has cut into my racewalk training for weeks now and I knew if I raced I would likely overdo it. Coach is right, though, I have a much bigger race to focus on in just six weeks. Yikes, that seems like such a short time.

It was very exciting to watch the guys mix it up today. I had expected the race to be a bit more tactical than it was. From the beginning I wasn't surprised to see a slow pace and a large pack. But Kevin Eastler and Tim Seaman made a break for it much earlier than I would have guessed. The finish times of the top four ended up being a bit slower than some people anticipated, but given that it was a trials race it shouldn't have surprised too many people. It was great to see a few young guys getting into the thick of things with Ben Shorey and Matt Boyles showing only a few nerves at their first 20km Olympic Trials. With luck and preparation, perhaps they will be on the podium four years from now.

2004 Olympic Games – Introduction

2004-07-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

July 15-- San Diego

I've been wanting to begin this journal for weeks now. Since March 21, I have known that I was on the Olympic team when I hit the 'A' standard in the 50km in Tijuana. Now I have finally gotten around to writing the first of what I hope will be many journal entries as I prepare for the 'big dance' in Athens. This journal may not be the most informative Olympic resource, but I hope to share my experiences with friends and family around the country so that they can feel a part of the Games. I know the cost of a plane ticket is prohibitively expensive for most, so in some small way I hope to bring the Games to you.

Read on and enjoy.

Sydney, Stadium Australia - Closing Ceremonies

2000-10-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

The Games are officially over but the party has just begun! I've just returned from the Closing Ceremonies (WOW) and am too exhausted to join the rest of the athletes in late-night partying and carousing.

It's already well past midnight and the Village is surprisingly quiet. Everyone must have gone downtown to the Opera House or Darling Harbor to find the night clubs and pubs. Dancing and pubbing have been added to the Olympic program, it seems.

The Closing Ceremony tonight was pretty darn spectacular. Using all sorts of props, dancers, and music, the show highlighted Australian movies, entertainment superstars, and sports heroes. There were "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" drag queens, "Mad Max" road warriors, and "Strictly Ballroom" ballroom dancers. Paul Hogan, Elle MacPherson, and Greg Norman rode parade floats around the stadium before joining Midnight Oil, Men at Work, and several other "famous" Australian rock bands on stage for a rousing rendition of "Waltzing Matilda".

The best part, though, was parading on to the field for the second time during these Games. Instead of the orderly procession of each nation, all the countries came in together all mixed up in a jumble of colors, flags, and national emblems. I walked in with Canadians, Malaysians, Cook Islanders, and Belorussians. And everyone was smiling, taking pictures, dancing, and jumping around (we were excited, but it was also really cold so we had to move around to stay warm).

As the show moved from one stage in the center of the field to another along the side and back again, all the athletes drifted around the infield trying to get a closer look at the action. I wandered around talking to people I had met and recognized from earlier in the Games: people I raced against, met on a bus ride to the Olympic Park, or sat next to in the cafeteria a few days earlier. Many athletes were trading their uniforms, jackets, and pins. I saw two women who had practically stripped in order to exchange their t-shirts. There was so much else going on, no one even noticed.

Each athlete from the U.S. was given two tickets to the Ceremonies, so my parents were able to get in and have a great view of the festivities. I was even able to track them down up in the stands. I called them using the cell phone that I have on loan while I am here, and they were able to see me standing on the infield waving my little American flag up at them.

During every Games, the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron is a really big deal. This year, Cathy Freeman had the honors and it was awesome. The dowsing of the flame is often less climatic, but the Aussies had something special planned. The young girl who was featured in the Opening Ceremonies came back and sang a special "Goodbye Sydney" song (or something like that). Just as she finished singing and everyone's attention was on her and the flame above her, a Royal Australian Air Force fighter jet flew low over the flame. As it passed over the cauldron, the burn-off from the jet burst into flame as though the flame had jumped from the cauldron to the jet, and then the jet soared low over the stadium and rose into the sky, just a slowly fading orange beacon in the dark night. It was pretty cool.

It's nearly one in the morning and I have a busy day planned tomorrow. Packing, moving out of the Village, and visiting some of the sights here in Sydney. The Olympics may be over, but my Australian adventures continue....

Cheers,

Philip

It's over! I'm done! I finished!

2000-09-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sydney, Olympic Village

Today's Olympic Village Headline:

It's over! I'm done! I finished!

What an amazing, exhilarating, and thouroughly exhausting experience. I am so tired now. (Or as they say down here in Australia, "I'm stuffed, mate!" The Aussies are full of odd little sayings.)

I don't know where to begin telling my story of today's 50k race. Let's see. I'll start at the end and then jump around to the beginning and then just try to piece together a jumbled narrative.

I finished 28th out of 56 walkers who started the race, right in the middle of the pack. My teammates Curt Clausen and Andrew Hermann finished 21st and 31st respectively. My time was 4:03:10 which was the second fastest 50K I have ever walked and the fastest this year.

During the race, there were several disqualification for breaking one of the two racewalking rules. Several other athletes dropped out before the finish because of the weather conditions. It was hot. The sun was up early and the humidity at the start was pretty high. By the end of the race at noon, it was nearly 30 degrees celsius, about 90 degrees fahrenheit.

Okay, to the beginning: I woke up this morning at 6am (after my roommate shook me awake because I didn't hear my alarm going off... oops, that would have been bad). After a wake-up shower, I ate a Clif bar, a banana and wandered over to the cafeteria for some toast ala PB&J. At 6:30 I was on the bus to the staging area, a training track adjacent to the Olympic Stadium. Two of our athletic trainers were there to help stretch out the U.S. walkers (thank you!). Suddenly it was 7:20 and time to go through the check-in process.

All the walkers were ushered into a tunnel that runs from the practice track to the main stadium. Coach gave us out last instructions and a hug. And then my Irish racewalk friend, Pierce O'Callaghan, wished me good luck.

When I walked into the Opening Ceremonies two weeks ago, I had expected to be overcome by so much emotion. I thought that all the years of work, all the painful workouts I had endured, all the memories of training with so many wonderful people, all the joys and failures of my walking career would come rushing in a torrent of emotion, tears, laughter. It happened today when Pierce said, "There are so many people who would kill to be in your shoes right now as you enter that stadium. Go get 'em!" I laughed and then the enormity of it all hit me and I had to wipe the tears away as I walked down the long, quiet tunnel.

Once underneath the stadium, I had a few minutes to collect my thoughts, change into my racing shoes and uniform, and do a few warm-up strides. Then we were introduced to the audience in the stadium. Because of our 8am start, the place wasn't full to the gills, but the people who were there made plenty of noise.

The three Americans were lined up on the front row. It was a bit nerve-racking since I was ranked 55th out of 56 starters, but hey, if I was going to be scared it would have already happened when I entered the Olympic Stadium.

Bang, we were off on five laps of the track inside the stadium. The crowd cheered in a wave as we came around and around the track. Then we walked into the tunnel, up the ramp, and one kilometer alongside the Stadium and SuperDome to the 2 kilometer loop where we would spend the next three plus hours sweating it out.

My plan was to walk very steady, consistent splits for each 2k loop and finish up in under 4 hours. After the first 10k, I was right on target, 47:33, and had gotten into a nice rhythm. In a 50K, it is critical to establish a good steady pace and put your brain on cruise control. So I was focused, relaxed and feeling pretty good by 10k. At 20k, I was still feeling loose, was trying to stay well-hydrated and cool. I could tell that it was getting warmer but I tried not to think about it too much. I put ice in my hat, ice in my shorts (brrr!) and kept drinking my electrolyte solution and water.

By 30k, I was getting tired (wow, big surprise!), but I felt good, relaxed and was still clicking along at my goal pace. People ahead of me were starting to struggle. I caught a few people and then a few more dropped out. The heat and an ambitious early pace started to take its toll.

At 40k, I started to have some problems moving my legs the way I wanted to move them. I kept saying, "Okay legs, keep the pace, keep it moving, let's go." But my legs had stopped listening. They had their own ideas about what would be fun, things like stopping, lying down, soaking in cold water. They began to voice their opinion more and more vehemently and I kept having to tell them to "be quiet, do your job, walk, one foot in front of the other." I slowed down to about 5:15-5:20 per kilometer over the last 8k and fell off my goal time. But I was still gaining on other people, surged up the last hill onto the road for home, and cruised into the Stadium to the roars of an appreciative crowd that had grown to near-capacity.

My racewalk buddy Elizabeth Paxton, a promising Junior (under 19) girl who trains with us occasionally in San Diego, had dared me to finish into the stadium with little American flag deely-bops on my head (I don't know what they are called, but they look cool). So I wore them the last kilometer into the Stadium, just for Elizabeth.

So that's it for now. I need to meet my family in town and then get some rest.

Cheers to you all and thanks SOOOO much for your emails and support.

Philip

Let the Games Begin!

2000-09-27T20:51:00.000-07:00

Today's Olympic Village Headline:

Let the Games Begin!

The Olympics have been in full swing for 12 days and today for the first time I really really feel like they have started. The reason for that, I think, is that all of my friends and family have arrived. My parents and high school track/cross country coach got in two days ago. My brother arrived yesterday. And my girlfriend, her mom and two sisters, and my cousin arrived today. Now we can start this party!

The past three days have spun by pretty quickly. I've gotten into a nice routine of training, eating, sleeping, visiting with my family, more eating, more sleeping.

My typical day in the Olympic Village begins around 8 am when I wake up. My two roommates, Jason Pyrah (1500 meter runner) and Pascal Dobert (3000 steeplechase), are usually still asleep. I get dressed, walk up the hill to the main road that runs through the center of the Village. Within 30 seconds, a bus comes by, stops to pick up me and other athletes and takes us two stops down to the main cafeteria (open 24 hours a day). I walk into the HUGE white, circus-like tent where hundreds of other athletes have been eating breakfast since dawn. This morning, it was raining, so I hurried in, found some hot cereal, a banana, yogurt and some orange juice. Normally I just have cold cereal, maybe some toast with peanut butter and jelly.

By 9 am, I am back at my house ready to go to practice. Curt, Andrew, and Coach arrive and we walk back to the bus stop, take the bus to the International Zone at the other end of the Village. We walk outside the Village fencing, down the hill, and to our two kilometer loop along a flat, paved bike path. Today, Andrew and I were met by Matt Zaffino, the reporter from KGW TV back in Portland, OR, who did a short interview and then left his cameraman to film us stretching and training for 45 minutes.

After the workout, two young girls rode up on little scooters and asked all three of us and the Hungarian walking team for autographs. They were excited because the new development that they moved into a year ago is adjacent to the Olympic Village, which will be turned into a lovely suburb once the Games are over.

Once back inside the Village, having survived the accreditation badge scan, the airport security bag x-rays and metal detector, I jump on another bus that takes me back to the U.S.A. area. After nearly every workout, hard or easy, I try to get in to the Sport Medicine clinic to get some help stretching out and loosening up my muscles. I spend from 15 to 45 minutes there before going back to my room, showering, and by then it is usually lunch time.

After eating a high-carbohydrate meal, I waddle back to my room and lie down. I met one of the mountain bike riders from Colorado earlier in the week, and she summed up the three rules for endurance athletes prior to a major competition: 1) If you are standing up, sit down. 2) If you are sitting down, lie down. 3) If you are lying down, put your feet up. To that I usually add, eat lots of carbohydrates and drink plenty of fluids.

In the afternoons I sleep about an hour, read my book for another hour, and then sit up to watch some of the Olympics on TV. The great thing about being in the Village is that we can watch any of the events, live, at any time. There are 25 different Olympic channels piped in from all the different venues around Sydney.

The past couple days, I have been over to the Olympic Park to meet up with my family and friends in the late afternoon. Yesterday, I went into downtown Sydney to meet Mom, Dad, Malcolm (my twin brother) and Coach Bailey (Lincoln H.S. Go Cards!). Today I met up with the same group and my girlfriend and her family who arrived today. It's nice to spend a couple hours outside the Village relaxing and talking with the people who came all this way to see me.

Dinner at 8pm, relax and read for another hour, and then to bed around 10pm (now!).

My race is less than 36 hours away and I am starting to get a bit nervous. I've received lots of emails from school kids (THANK YOU!) who have asked me if I get nervous before a big race or not. Of course I get a little nervous, but I have also been in many big races before. I know that if I get too nervous, I will begin to worry and not be able to relax and race as well as possible. The key to racing well is being excited and confidence, and maybe a bit nervous, but not anxious and worried. In order to have a great race, you have to care about how well you do. If I went into this race thinking, "Oh, it's just any old race, whatever," I wouldn't do very well. I need to think, "This is a great opportunity for me to really get out there, have fun, stay relaxed, and walk super fast!"

It's time for me to get some sleep now. Let's hope that the U.S. baseball team doesn't wake me up when they get back to the Village carrying Tommy Lasorda on their shoulders.

Cheers from Sydney,

Philip

Cheers, mates!

Philip

Sydney, Olympic Village - Chess Champs

2000-09-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

Today's Olympic Village Headline: U.S. Racewalker battles Australian Chess Master and says, "Check, mate!"

Who says that the Olympics are just about flexing your muscles? In order to be the best athlete in the world, you need to exercise your mind as often as your body. In an effort to prove that athleticism and intellect do mix, I took the Olympic Chess Challenge.

While two of the world's chess grandmasters battled it out in two short-play chess games in the Olympic Amphitheater, I tried my best to outwit Australia's youngest chess master. Since he is only 14 years old and has a much younger and nimbler mind than my own, I decided he needed some kind of handicap. The way the tournament was set up, he had to play me and 19 other athletes and officials at the same time. After choosing his opening move against me, he proceeded to make 19 other opening moves and return to my board to answer my first move.

There were a few tense moments when I had him on the defensive. I did get to say, "Check, mate!" to him a couple times, but he got up a pawn late in the game and was able to outlast me for the win. I was happy to be one of the last players standing, though. All those games of chess for the Lincoln High School Chess Club finally paid off.

It was a big media event for the Australian chess community, so I may even be featured in their monthly newsletter or the local newspaper. Photos were taken; interviews were given. It was all very exciting. I think I made reference to the mental concentration it takes to walk for four hours in a 50 kilometer event, comparing that type of cerebral task to the rigors of a chess match. I'm sure they were impressed.

This morning's workout was much less taxing than the chess match, just an easy 10 kilometers at just under 8 minute per mile pace. It's nice to feel very comfortable and smooth now that I am cutting back on the mileage. Over the next few days, I will continue to do some short workouts and rest up a good bit.

I rested most of the afternoon and then went into downtown Sydney tonight for the first time. Wow! There is a ferry that shuttles athletes from near the Village directly to an area called The Rocks in the heart of Sydney.

In order to get there, we passed directly beneath the famous Sydney landmark, the Harbor Bridge. Mounted in bright lights across the entire span of the bridge are the five Olympic rings. It's an awesome sight, especially cruising slowly underneath with the glow of the city lights all around. And then, as soon as you pass underneath the bridge, boom, there is the Opera House lit up in blue, then gold, then red, and white and a mosaic of colors. I've seen so many photos and so much TV footage of the bridge and Opera House that I expected to be disappointed when I saw the real thing. Nope. It was really amazing.

Many of the swimmers and athletes in other sports that have already finished were drifting into the downtown area to celebrate and enjoy the post-competition aspects of the Olympics. They may or may not be back to the Village later tonight. Many of them were with family and friends who had made the trip over from the U.S. to see them compete.

It's gotten late and I need to get on my pre-race schedule: "Early to bed, early to rise, makes a walker fast, faster and fastest!"

Cheers, mates!

Philip

Sydney, Olympic Village

2000-09-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

It's getting down to crunch time here at the Olympic Village. Today was the last of the intense speed workouts before the race and it went really well.

As I prepared for this morning's workout, the drama of yesterday's 20k race was still fresh in my mind. The tension and fatigue of watching yesterday's grueling race made it tough to focus on the intervals that I had to do today. What made it easier was seeing that 20K gold medalist, Robert Korsenovksi, and my training partner, Jefferson Perez, were out on the course for a workout the day after such a hard effort. If they could do an easy workout after a hard race, the least I could do was my tough workout.

Now that the men's 20k is over, the focus at the practice loop definitely shifted to the men's 50k. All of the heavies were out in force: Korsenovski (Poland) will be a strong contender in the 50K (he'll have seven days of rest between the 20K he just won); Jesus Garcia (Spain), 1997 World Cup Champion; Valentin Massana (Spain), 1996 Olympic bronze; Tomaz Lipzig (Poland), 1999 World Cup silver; and the guy from Kazakstan who won the World Cup last year. Not to mention a couple Russians who walked really really fast earlier this year.

I did some of my workout with Curt Clausen, my U.S. teammate who finished 4th at the World Championships last year in the 50K. Usually no one pays much attention to the American walkers, but all the athletes were keeping a close eye on us. They were looking at our technique, our shoes, how relaxed we looked, how fast we were going. Several coaches would check their watches when Curt went by to see what kind of splits he was walking for his 2Ks. It's nice to see the U.S. walkers being taken seriously.

On the way back to the Village, we were stopped by a pair of journalists who wanted to do a quick interview. It turns out they work for NBC and were at our 50K Olympic Trials in Sacramento back in February of this year. They promised to send some coverage back to the NBC affiliates in Portland, OR, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN. It may be brief-lived, but being somewhat famous is fun.

It would be easy to get carried away here at the Village, too. There are always media people roaming around outside asking for interviews and trying to meet with the athletes. It would be so hard to be someone like Marion Jones or Michael Johnson who is always being asked for an interview. I'll take my fame and fortune in small doses, thank you very much.

Well, it's time for me to get a shower and dinner. I'll try to stay away from the free McDonalds, but those apple pies are just so tempting.

Cheers, mates!

Philip

Sydney, Olympic Village, Men's 20km

2000-09-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

What a race!

I've just gotten back from the men's 20K racewalk and I am so tired. It was exhausting! I never thought that watching a race could be so physically taxing, but here I am with sore muscles, tight shoulders and this heart-ache that won't go away.

My friends and teammates, Tim Seaman (USA) and Jefferson Perez (Ecuador), both raced incredible races and came up short of their dreams.

I've trained with Tim for the past three and a half years and it was so hard to watch his race get taken away from him. From the very beginning, he was walking so well. He was strong, confident and had an easy rhythm that he looked like he could have continued all day. He started in the middle of the pack of 50 walkers and was simply beautiful, keeping pace with the world's best.

Then he got a red card for loss of contact (in competitive racewalking, judges monitor all the walkers to make sure they aren't violating the two rules: 1) you must maintain continuous contact with the ground and 2) your advancing leg must be straight on contact and stay straight through the vertical support phase). By 8K, he got another red card. If you get three red cards, you are removed from the course and not allowed to finish. He was on the brink of elimination.
I could see the anguish on his face. Physically he could go faster, but his technique was limiting him to a certain speed. The judges wouldn't allow him to go any faster. Rather than quit, or slow to turtle-like speeds, he kept going and raced a very tough, brave race. For the last hour of his race, Tim was within one red card of being eliminated and he pushed through to a respectable finish. Of course he would have liked a faster time, but he survived his first Olympics.

Jefferson, at the age of 26, is an Olympic veteran. He competed in 1992 and didn't do very well. In Atlanta in 1996, he did everything perfectly and was able to destroy a talented field over the last two kilometers and win Ecuador's first and only Olympic gold medal. He is one of only a handful of Ecuadorian athletes here at the Games and he carried the hopes of a nation on his small shoulders. Yesterday, he entered as one of the favorites for a medal, but his competition was fierce.

By ten kilometers, a pack of eight or nine guys had separated themselves from the field. Poland's Robert Korsenovski (forgive my spelling) was at the front pushing the pace from the beginning and slowly the pack begin to disintegrate. By 15k, there were only two Mexicans, Bernardo Segura and Noe Hernandez, a Russian, and Jefferson trailing Korsenovski.

Of the group, Jefferson probably has the best closing speed, so I was optimistic that he would do well. But I could tell that he was laboring. Usually when Jefferson is racing, he has this tranquil look on his face. He may be walking 4:00/km, but looking at his face you would think he was reading a book or playing cards. With 5K to go, he was either reading a very intense novel, or he was losing at poker.

Korsenovski kept pressing the pace and he and Hernandez made a break from Segura and the Russian. With three kilometers to go, Segura was out of the hunt for a medal; he was way back. Jefferson was holding his own but had drifted to a distant fifth position. Over the next two kilometers, miraculously, Segura closed the gap on the leaders. Entering the stadium, he was challenging for the lead, and coming across the line, he out-sprinted Korsenovski. It was too good to be true for Segura as he was DQed after the race. He had gather three red cards in the last few kilometers.

Jefferson maintained his position and crossed the line in fifth, moving up to fourth after Segura's DQ.

I talked to Jefferson afterward and expected him to be despondent and upset with his fourth place finish. He was happy. He was pleased with the way he had raced and said that he had given it everything that he had. There are some races, he said, that you won't win, but as long as you give your absolute best you should be happy.

He was impressed by his competitors and gave them credit for racing really well to take the three medals in front of him. I'm sure he would have liked another gold medal to go with the one he won in Atlanta four years ago, but he was so gracious after not having made it onto the podium. He has always impressed me as a great athlete, but today he demonstrated that he is a true champion.

Now that the race is over, I am exhausted from all that excitement and drama. I may not have raced, but I need to lie down now and take a nap.

Cheers,

Philip

Sydney, Olympic Village

2000-09-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the Village.

It's been a long day and I'm finally settled into the Village for the second time. This morning, I had my last long workout before beginning the official pre-Olympic taper. I'm down to eight days!! Yikes!

After training along the Brisbane River for the last time, I finished packing up my bags at the Marriott. Andrew, Curt and I caught a taxi to the airport and flew down to Sydney. It's been fun traveling around prior to the Games because everyone asks us about our sport and what event we will be competing in. Before dropping us at the Brisbane airport, our cab driver wanted to know all the details and then get our assurances that we would be back to visit Brisbane some day.

When I was down at the Village a week ago for the Opening Ceremony, I moved into my room and left a bunch of stuff, mostly clothes. When I got here today, I found out that my room had been taken over by two other U.S. track athletes. For whatever reason, the bed I had slept in and was returning to today had been given away to someone else. I half expected my stuff to be out in the driveway. Thankfully, one of the coaches had gathered all my stuff into a box. So now I am in a new room with new roommates. It's all a bit crazy, but I'm trying to roll with the punches.

It's getting late and I need to get some rest. Tomorrow at 12:50pm, my friends and training partners Tim and Jefferson will be racing 20K and I need to be well rested for my job as cheerleader.

Cheers, mates!

Philip

Back in Brisbane

2000-09-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Howdy Philip Phans!

The past two days have been a bit of a blur now that I'm back here in Brisbane and on a regular routine. I've been spending lots of time glued to the Channel 7 Olympic coverage. It's a bit frustrating because they have this fascination for Australian athletes and don't give the Team USA results after each event. Oh wait, I'm in Australia--now it all makes sense! Besides being a bit Aussie-centric, the coverage has been pretty good. Unlike NBC, they actually show lots and lots of races and events. They don't spend 30 minutes telling you how Marion Jones decided to choose her shade of eye-liner or some other insipid "human interest" story.

The excitement and drama of the Opening Ceremonies and Olympic Village is slowly beginning to fade from my consciousness as I return to a predictable training routine. All of that will change again tomorrow. After a hard training session in the morning, I will check out of the Marriott (goodbye five-star luxury) and fly down to Sydney for the last eight days of preparation for my race (hello Olympic mania).

I'm getting very excited about competing. On Friday, the Athletics events begin (or Track & Field as us "Yankee blokes" like to call it). And the first gold medal to be awarded on the track will be in the men's 20 kilometer racewalk. My good friends Tim Seaman (USA) and Jefferson Perez (Ecuador) will be facing some stiff competition from the Russians, Mexicans, and Spanish. There will be 50 walkers in the 20k. In my race, there will be 54 starters.

The great thing about getting to watch the men's 20k on Friday is that I will get a great preview of the course. I'll be able to see Tim and Jefferson battle it out over the same 2 kilometer course that I will be walking on a week later. Right now, I am more excited about their race than I am for my own. I'm sure that will change as the days tick past.

When I woke up this morning, I realized that the count is down to only 9 days! That seems like such a small number after so much preparation, so many days, months, and years. I've known that I was on the 50K team since February, seven months ago. And I first made the commitment to train full-time to make an Olympic Team back in 1993, seven years ago. (Seven may be my lucky number... to make the Olympic Team, I had to finish in the top three at the Olympic Trials and walk under the Olympic "A" time standard of 4:00:00 for 50 kilometers. In Mezidon, France, last year, I walked my personal best of 3:59:53 a whopping seven seconds under the "A" standard.)

There are a few things that I still need to do here in Brisbane before tomorrow's departure. One thing I would like to do, if I can find my way to City Hall, is ride to the top of the historic Clock Tower. Since I haven't done hardly any touristy stuff since I've been here, it will be my one indulgence. My pre-race taper has officially begun if I have the energy to walk five blocks down the street to ride an elevator to the top of a tower. It sounds sad, but I rarely have the energy in the afternoons to get out of the hotel and see the sights. Yipeee!

That's all for now. Thanks to everyone who has sent an email and who is cheering me on in their own special way. I really appreciate my growing fan club.

Can you all do me a small favor? If you have never tried racewalking, get out and try it. If you don't know how, check out the How-To-Racewalk site on the links section of this webpage, or just go walk around the block a few times, as fast as you can.

Cheers, mates!

Philip

Opening Ceremonies Recap!

2000-09-16T20:42:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I am here inside the Olympic Village!

Let the Games begin!!

Wow! If you didn't see the Opening Ceremonies yesterday, you really missed out. It was huge, spectacular, awesome, massive, outstanding, impressive, and a whole bunch more adjectives that my mental thesaurus is currently lacking.

On Thursday night, I flew down to Sydney and checked into the Olympic Village. It was a long, tedious process but all of the security checks and extra precautions made me feel very safe. My new roommate in the Village kept me up late telling me about all of the U.S. Track & Field team politics surrounding the selection of team captains and flag bearer, and a multitude of other coach vs. athlete issues.

The next morning Tim, Andrew, and I tracked down a great training course inside the fenced-off Village. Just a few hundred meters downhill from the U.S. Team housing, there is a 800 meter long bike path, flat and paved. By the time we got there on Friday morning, there were already several other racewalkers working out on the circuit. Russians, Greeks, Poles, and Latvians sped past us as we stretched on the grass adjacent to the path.

There were athletes from other sports that used a large grass field nearby to run, shadow box, skip, roll around, and generally be athletic. The whole area had a very festive, carnival atmosphere to it. Every athlete wore his or her country's colors: yellow, blue and red for Romania, white and blue for Finland; red and white for Austria. On one side of the path were the athletes adorned in bright colors, and on the other side each house was swathed in banners and flags boasting the national emblems and colors of France, New Zealand, or Spain.

I started playing a game as I walked along the path: Think of a country whose flag or athlete you haven't seen yet: Iceland, Mongolia, Ivory Coast (I tried to think of small, obscure nations that might have only a few athletes). Within a few minutes, I had seen an Iceland flag hanging from the third floor of one of the buildings. Then a coach walked by with a jacket with "Mongolia" lettered along the back. As I started my speed workout, two runners from the Ivory Coast jogged by. It was amazing.

After the workout, after lunch, after resting every so briefly, I got ready for the Opening Ceremonies. I ironed my shirt, dusted the lint off of my official USA Olympic blue blazer. I tied and re-tied my red, white and blue tie (I can't remember the last time I wore a tie... athletes don't often have to dress up, we just wear t-shirts and shorts wherever we go).

Buses took the entire U.S. delegation, including all of the famous types like the Dream Team and the tennis superstars, to the SuperDome where we settled in for a long wait. At 6:30, the Opening Ceremony began in Stadium Australia, half a mile away. All the athletes from all the countries sat watching the silent big-screen monitors from the SuperDome seating. Without the sound, it got dull. We had to guess at what was actually happening. Eventually, people got restless. The Australians started to sing a song about Matilda. The Dutch got up and shouted a bunch. Then the U.S. Team clapped and yelled "U...S....A...U....S....A..." No one else seemed to like that. We were booed. Then the New Zealand athletes all stood up, took off their blazers, and did an elaborate Mayori chant and dance. Everyone cheered. It was much more creative and inspired than "U...S...A...!"

Once the dances and music and theatrics in Stadium Australia were over, they began to usher the athletes out of the SuperDome and over to the track at the Stadium. Starting with the team from Greece, we all filed out of the SuperDome. The United States is right near the end of the alphabet, so we waited for Angola, Botswana, Chad, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Haiti... you get the idea...

Then we marched. We marched through the tunnel under the stands and into the Stadium.

The stadium was huge. There were so many people. It was almost overwhelming, too much visual stimulation. The people seemed far away like they were watching from another room or something, almost surreal. Cameras, lights, and people screaming everywhere.

I remember when i walked in to the stadium for the World Junior Champs in Bulgaria. It was spine-tingling, tear-jerking, WOW! And I expected the same here in Sydney. In fact, the idea of walking into the Olympic Stadium as an Olympian has been one of those images that has motivated me over the years. It's one of those things that I have always said, "I want to do that some day. I am willing to work really hard to do that." I expected to be overcome by emotion, swept away on a tide of joy.

It didn't happen.

Maybe I was in shock, maybe I couldn't comprehend it all at that moment. But it just didn't hit me the way I thought it would. I didn't get all teary-eyed. I didn't get too many tingles (just a few). In a way, I felt like I had done it all before. As if I knew what to expect, here it was, and gosh, that was nice. Perhaps I had envisioned it in my mind so often that now that the moment was here, it was as though it had already happened and I was prepared for it all to unfold just so.

Once we were settled and the speeched were made and the Olympic flame entered the Stadium, I took the time to stop and think a bit more. That was when the significance of the moment hit me. As I saw the flame circle the Stadium, a small but bright beacon of the Olympic spirit, it began to sink in. I thought, "I am in the Olympic Games. This is my dream."

Cathy Freeman, Aboriginal-Australian and 400 meter World Champion, stood at the base of the Stadium steps and looked up into a torrent of water that roared down from the top of the Stadium. With the torch held high, she stepped up and up and up and into a pool of water that had gathered. She faced the crowd and then she surprised me. She took the flame, the symbol of the Olympics, and she placed it in the water at her feet. I'm still sorting out the symbolism, but instead of dousing the flame, the water appeared to erupt into an arc of fire that encircled Freeman. Slowly, the fire rose up around her and the Olympic cauldron was revealed and lifted into the night sky above her head as water poured down over her.

It was spectacular. At that moment, it all hit me. This is real. Not only am I an Olympian, but this is it, this is the Olympics. The whole world is watching this moment and holding its collective breath. And I am a part of that moment. Wow.

As you can imagine, I had a hard time falling asleep after all the excitement. It took us over an hour, though, to shuffle out en masse from the Stadium, through the security checks, and back into the Village. At 1am, I finally drifted off.

Today was quite dull in comparison. I just woke up in the Olympic Village (wow!), went and ate breakfast at the Olympic dining hall (wow!), and worked out with hundred of other Olympic athletes (wow!).

Andrew and I had decided awhile ago to avoid some of the craziness in the Olympic Village and come back to Brisbane to finish our final preparations. It is quieter here, less stressful, and we can rest without being kept up by other athletes running around at all hours.

So, I sign off from Brisbane after another very exciting Olympic adventure.

Cheers, mates!

Philip

Olympic Village, Sydney!

2000-09-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I am here inside the Olympic Village!

Under cover of darkness, two of my racewalk teammates and I made it into the Village. We were met at the Sydney airport by an official Olympic escort who ushered us on to a waiting charter bus. All three of us, and one 4x400 relay runner from Ireland, rode the huge bus through the darkened streets of Sydney to the Olympic Village.

Once we arrived, we were asked to wait on the bus while our bags were unloaded and sniffed carefully by a team of drug-sniffing dogs. We cleared the first checkpoint and were escorted into the second security check. All of our luggage was sent through an X-ray machine, like the ones you see at the airport. We had to walk through the metal detectors.

Then we were loaded onto another, smaller bus that would take us the 5 minutes to the Olympic Village itself. Several athletes from Belgium and Germany joined us for the short ride. At the entrance to the Village, we were stopped again and a uniformed police officer stepped onto the bus to check our credentials. Everyone was cleared... except the bus driver!! He was told he could not enter the Olympic Village because he was missing the necessary OLV on his Accreditation Card. The truck that was following us with our luggage had an extra driver who jumped in and chauffered us the rest of the way.

Once inside the Village, we were confronted with a suburban maze. All the houses look identical and, at night, are only distinguished by dimly lit national flags hanging from balconies and out windows. There were a few street names and complex numbers visible but only when there was a well-placed street lamp nearby.

After a tour of the neighborhood, we were able to locate the German then American areas. I have just dumped my bags in my room that I will be sharing with Tony Cosey, U.S. steeplechaser, and Curt Clausen, one of my 50K racewalk teammates. It's much too late for me to be up typing emails from the nearby athlete lounge, but I don't know that I am going to sleep real well. Afterall, I'm in the Olympic Village! I must really be an Olympian. How cool is that?! Wow!

Tomorrow is the Opening Ceremonies and I need my rest, so off I go. Once you get into your rooms and don't realize where you are, all of the bedspreads have huge "Sydney 2000" logos on them.

Sweet Olympic Dreams!

Cheers,

Philip

Brisbane

2000-09-13T20:40:00.000-07:00

G'day, mates!

It's another sunny, breezy day here in Australia's River City. Nearly all of my U.S. Olympic Track & Field teammates left yesterday for Sydney and the Olympic Village. The four U.S. racewalkers, our coach, and our training partner, 1996 Olympic Champion Jefferson Perez, are all that remain here at the Brisbane Marriott.

This morning we took two taxis down to our 4 kilometer loop course on the Brisbane River Bikeway. The plan for me and my 50K teammates Andrew and Curt was get in one more good, tough distance workout (coach may surprise us with another next week, too). On today's menu we had 30 kilometers, zone 2 heart rate, which was seven and a half laps of the bike path.

Every day in training I use a heart rate monitor. The monitor has a watch and an elastic band that goes around my chest and sends a signal to the watch. With a heart rate monitor, I can keep track of how many beats per minute my heart is beating. It gives me a very good idea of how hard I am working. A week before we left San Diego, we did very detailed sports science testing to determine our target heart rate zones for certain lactate levels.

(Basic sports science lesson: When you exercise, your muscles produce lactic acid, that burning sensation you get when you are climbing a flight of stairs or running hard. At slower speeds, the body has the ability to flush out any excess lactic acid from your muscles and you can continue to run or walk comfortably. That's called training aerobically, with enough oxygen. As you get going faster and faster, your body produces more and more lactic acid. Eventually, your body can't remove the excess lactic acid and your muscles fatigue and cramp. That level is called the aerobic threshold. Suddenly your body doesn't have enough oxygen to give to the muscles and it begins to work anaerobically, without oxygen.)

So, based on the lactate testing and using the heart rate monitors, we can determine our aerobic threshold and walk just below that level. That way, we can walk for a very long period of time without cramping up and slowing down. As you can imagine, there is always a margain of error and sometimes you go over the threshold and have problems.

Today, I was able to walk within my zone and go faster than I had gone in any previous workout for 30K in many many months. I was a bit nervous because I wasn't positive that my muscles would be able to endure the speeds I was going, but I finished very strongly.

Now I am very tired. I swam in the hotel's swimming pool a bit this afternoon to loosen up my muscles. I ate an extra helping at both lunch and dinner to make up for all the energy I used during nearly two and a half hours of continuous walking this morning. And now I am getting ready for a very very good night's sleep.

Tomorrow is going to be a BIG day. Andrew, Tim and I fly down to Sydney, check in to the Olympic Village (oh my goodness, it's all very real!), and on Friday we march in the Opening Ceremonies. Wish me luck!

Cheers,

Philip

Brisbane

2000-09-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

G'day, mates!

Today was a bust. I've come to realize after years of training and racing at a high level that there are going to be good days and there are going to be bad days. Today was a bad day.

We were scheduled for a hard speed workout at the University of Queensland track. During my warm-up, I was laboring with my breathing and I felt a kind of tunnel-vision dizziness. And it just got worse when I started going faster. Rather than do the 5 kilometer intervals, I went out on to the adjacent road and did an easier steady state walk.

When I got back to the hotel, I fell asleep for nearly an hour. I was just exhausted and had no energy. Perhaps I haven't completely recovered from last week's workouts.

I can't remember if I wrote about the fun I had two days ago. Brisbane is going to be hosting next year's Goodwill Games (the first time that it will be outside of either the U.S. or Russia). The organizers had a bunch of us athletes over for a media day where we got to meet a velvet python and fuzzy fuzzy koalas. They were both super soft and smooth. The koalas didn't pay much attention to all the people there, they just kept eating eucalyptus leaves.

And yesterday I saw several famous track & field athletes at an international track meet held south of Brisbane at the Super Sports Centre in Runaway Bay. Merlene Ottey from Jamaica, who has won something like eight Olympic medals won the women's 100 meter dash. Donovan Bailey, 1996 Olympic Champ and former world record holder from Canada, was in the stands. And I saw Hachim El Guerrouj, world record holder in the mile and 1500 meters from Morocco. They were all very normal and nice, which shouldn't have surprised me because everyone I have met on the U.S. Olympic Team has also been very nice and approachable.

Tonight I had a lovely dinner with three Olympic Trials winners: Deena Drossin, women's 10k (and second in the 5K); Adam Goucher, men's 5k; and Gabe Jennings, men's 1500mt. They are all very interesting, smart people, which was refreshing to see. The U.S. Team heads down to Sydney and check in to the Olympic Village tomorrow morning. I will be staying here in Brisbane for a few days longer before I head down for the BIG festivities at the Opening Ceremonies.

That's it for today. Good night everyone...

Philip

Brisbane

2000-09-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

G'day, mates! It's been a windy, warm day here in Brisbane. Last night there were reports of strong winds down in Sydney, but it seems the winds moved north and hit us pretty hard today.

I got out to the track at the University of Queensland this morning and thought I was back in Northfield, Minnesota in the fall when the wind just won't quit. It was one of those gusty, dry winds, too, that seem to pick up all the dust and leaves and swirl them around at your feet and up into your face. It wasn't the best weather for a speed session on the track, but if it is going to be windy in Sydney it was good practice.

After training today, I had one of my first "Oh my goodness, I am really in the Olympics" moments. I was given my official, bonafide, real Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Credentials! It will be my photo-ID for the next three weeks allowing me to get into the Olympic Village, eat meals at the Olympic dining hall, gain access to the practice track, and (drum roll, please) enter the Olympic Stadium!

I've been able to stay pretty loose and relaxed about this whole big Olympic adventure, but I must admit to getting chills when I put the credentials around my neck. Looking down at my own face and the Olympic Seal stamped across the front makes it suddenly seem very real.

The closer it gets to the Opening Ceremonies, the harder it will be to stay real relaxed and focused. Being up here in Brisbane and away from the Olympic Village, it has been easy to pretend that I am at just another international competition. I don't see the silhouette of Stadium Australia on the horizon. I don't walk into the Olympic Village every day after practice. But next week I will be going down to Sydney for the first time and it will all be there. All the athletes of the world will be there. All of my other U.S. Olympic teammates from 28 different sports will be there. It will take a lot for me to stay calm and not get too excited.

Of course I am excited and nervous and anxious, but I don't want to get too emotional. There is a fine balance between being "up" for an event and being over-excited. I remember the first BIG international racewalking event that I went to. It was in Beijing, China in 1995. I had qualified for the U.S. team competing in the World Racewalk Cup and I would be racing against the five best 20K walkers from every other country in the world. I made the mistake of stopping to think a bit too long about what that meant. I thought, "Here I am on the starting line with the best in the world. These guys are so fast. Look at how lean and muscular they are. They must have trained so hard to get here. Gosh, they are really going to do well today because they are such wonderful athletes." All of that was true, but I forgot to remind myself that I was one of them. I forgot to tell myself that I belonged right there on the starting line with them. I got too excited and I panicked. I had a bad race because of it.

So this time at the Olympics—the biggest race of my life—I will stay relaxed and remember that I belong here. Of course it will be difficult, but then it wasn't easy getting here in the first place. It will be just one more challenge for me that I am really looking forward to facing.

That's it for today. Coach has been kind enough to give us a day of rest tomorrow, so I hope to enjoy it. Maybe I will check out the swimming pool here in the hotel and ride the ferry up and down the river to see the rest of Brisbane that I have missed.

G'day!

Philip

Brisbane

2000-09-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the busy athlete hospitality area here at the Brisbane Marriott. More than 30 more U.S. Olympic Track & Field athletes showed up today to pack the dining hall and fill the computer and PlayStation terminals. The ping pong table was hopping until someone got overzealous and broke all of the balls smashing them into their opponent.

Today started like most days: training training training. My teammates and I took a short taxi ride down to the river bike path and prepared for a very very long workout. 35 kilometers (nearly 22 miles) and almost 3 hours later, I was done with one of the tougher distance workouts I have done recently. It gave me a lot of confidence to get through a long workout like that in warm conditions.

A few days again, we measured out a 2 kilometer stretch of the bike. Curt brought his special measuring wheel that clicks off each meter as you roll it along the ground. It makes it very easy to measure out a nice flat, paved asphalt course that we can use. The reason we use a short course of only 2k is that we need to stay well hydrated during a long workout. Every ten minutes or so, we can pass by our coach who hands us a water bottle full of an electrolyte solution. We try to drink at least 8-12 ounces of fluid every ten minutes. Every hour or so, we also will take in a more concentrated electrolyte solution like CLIF Shot or Power Gel to boost our energy levels. When you walk a 50 kilometer race, you have to keep taking in calories in order to survive the distance.

I was very pleased with the way the 35K went, especially because I wasn't super tired when I was done. After it was over, I told myself, "I still have another 15K (9.3 miles) in my race, and I feel tired but pretty good now." We have been doing a lot of speedwork recently, repeat 5Ks and 3Ks, but for some reason I always feel more prepared after having done a good long workout like I did today.

After lunch and a short nap, the U.S. racewalk team was asked to do an interview by one of the local news stations. The reporter and camera crew came into our athlete hospitality area and interviewed each of us. When we watched the piece tonight, I was surprised that they cut everyone else but me. So I got to be on TV and talk about how we were enjoying our stay in Brisbane.It was fun.

Now I am going to bed early because I am still exhausted from this morning's walk. Back in California it is 4AM, so I'll just pretend that I am staying up late.

G'day!

Philip

Brisbane

2000-09-04T20:36:00.000-07:00

Good evening class!

Today we are taking a geography quiz. Ready?

Where is the nation of Qatar?

Where are the Cayman Islands?

Where is Sierra Leone?

If you can find them all on a map, then you should also be able to find Australia. During today's workout at the University of Queensland track, I met athletes from Qatar, the Cayman Islands, and Sierra Leone. It is amazing to me how many different countries will be sending athletes to Australia to compete in the 2000 Olympic Games.

I've heard that there will be 197 countries represented with over 10,000 athletes competing. To test your knowledge of the world's countries, try to see how many you can name. Did you get more than 20, 50, 100?

I got to ride the CityCat ferry again this morning to get to practice. It was pretty warm this morning, so the speedwork on the track became very difficult for all of us. I managed to get through the entire workout of 5,000 meter intervals. Some of the guys were too tired to finish. Like last Monday, I did four 5Ks and was horribly horribly tired by the time I was done.

It was one of those workouts that was physically brutal, but the real struggle was in the mind. In order to endure a really tough training session like today's, I have to prepare myself mentally beforehand. I have to make a short-term goal. To do that, I usually do a little talking to myself. I decide, "Okay, I am going to do this workout. I know that it may be hard, but I am making a commitment to finish this thing. Let's go." If I have set a goal to finish the workout, then when it does get difficult and my body is screaming for me to "stop, stop STOP!!" I can remind myself of that goal. Then it makes it easier to get going again and finish.

I got back to the Marriott at 1pm after riding back on the ferry and spent the rest of the afternoon lying down, sleeping, reading my book, and talking on the phone to my girlfriend back home. At 5pm, I met my teammates for a 30 minute easy walk from the hotel, along the river path to the Botanical Gardens, past the Mangrove Swampwalk, and back to the hotel.

We have a sports medicine staff of six people here helping us out with three athletic trainers who double as massage therapists, two medical doctors, and a chiropractor. We also have two sports psychologists on staff. After a hard workout, I try to go in to the sports medicine area here at the Marriott and get help stretching out or get a short massage to help loosen up my tight, sore muscles. Right after today's second workout, I spent half an hour getting some help from the athletic trainers for a sore quadriceps, sore hip flexors, and a blister on the big toe of my left foot. Now it's time to read a bit before bed, digest my dinner, and get some sleep.

G'day, mates!

Philip

Brisbane River

2000-09-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

Today was an easy training day. We went for a mere 12 kilometers (7.4 miles) walk this morning along the river path, over two bridges, and back to the hotel. On the way around the loop, we saw the beginnings of today's River Festival.

Brisbane, Australia has a beautiful river that winds through a stunning skyline. The most impressive structure over the river is the Story Bridge, a massive double arched suspension bridge that reaches across the bend in the river to Kangaroo Point.

Each spring the city hosts a raucous River Festival that began tonight with the most impressive fireworks display I have ever seen. The same group that orchestrated the Sydney and London Millennium 2000 Celebrations put on an ear-shattering, eye-popping display tonight.

Most of the US Olympic Track athletes went down to the riverwalk to watch the fireworks and we were all dazzled and amazed. Two barges parked in the middle of the river went through three series of 10 minute barrages of lights and noises and huge bangs. And then the highlight: they lit the bridge on fire! At least it looked as though the entire bridge was blown out of a cannon, rainbows of light exploding from the highest span, white light cascading down from beneath the roadway. Then, to top it all, an F-16 flew low over the river trailing a pulsing ball of fire.

It seemed that the entire city population turned out for the event. Over the next week, there will be concerts at the South Bank cultural center, outrigger canoe races along the river, and food festivals galore. Too bad that I'll be training for most of that time.

That's all for tonight from Brisbane, the River City Down Under.

Cheers, mates!

Philip

10pm

2000-09-01T20:33:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, what a long day it has been! And what an adventuresome day, too.

To tell the story properly, though, I need to give a little bit of background. For the past two years, I have trained with Enrique Pena, former coach of the Columbian and Ecuadorian National Racewalk Teams, and current coach of 1996 Olympic 20K Champion, Jefferson Perez of Ecuador.

In the fall of 1998, Enrique began coaching the US Racewalking Team that lives in residence at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA (I've been a resident athlete since January of 1997). In February of 1999, Jefferson joined us to continue training with Enrique and to be a part of our team. Since that time, he has been an integral part of our program and has served at times as our assistant coach by giving us technique advice and helping with our training programs. He has also been an incredible role model for all of us. He is not only a champion in his sport, he is one of the kindest, most generous people I know.

At the beginning of this year, Jefferson was allowed to live at the Olympic Training Center as our assistant coach. His residency is part of an Olympic Solidarity program, an agreement between the US Olympic Committee and countries like Ecuador that can't always provide the best facilities for their athletes.

When we decided as a team to attend the pre-Olympic camps at Couran Cove and here in Brisbane at the Marriott, we included Jefferson in all of our plans. We informed the staff of the US Olympic Track & Field Team and they had no problems... until Jefferson arrived into Australia.

Olympic solidarity suddenly took a backseat to our Olympic coach's xenophobia and isolationist attitude. The thinking of the US coaching staff is that Jefferson is our competition and can not also be our assistant coach, training partner, and friend. We were told that if we wanted to continue training with him, we would have to find another training venue. Jefferson can not train with the US athletes at the track reserved for the US team. He can not ride on the bus with us. Initially, they even wanted him to find another hotel and eat meals in another restaurant. Of course we were outraged, but they stood their ground claiming that everyone would want to train with the US Team if we made any exceptions.

So, when Coach Pena decided that today we would do speedwork on the track, we had to look for a track besides the one being used by the rest of our non-racewalking US teammates. Thankfully, racewalkers stick together around the world and we had a contact at the University of Queensland who was happy to help.

After a nice breakfast here at the Marriott, we all walked down to the river and caught the CityCat ferry, Brisbane's river transportation.

The CityCat ferry is the way to travel around Brisbane. It runs up and down the river, crisscrossing from the north to the south bank all the way from one end of town to the otherr. Students at the local universities and professionals who work in town use the CityCat as part of their daily commute.

When we arrived at the track on the university campus, we were surprised to see about 400 high school kids arriving at the same time. We hadn't been told that a high school track meet was being held at the exact same time as our practice session. We had to improvise. Instead of doing speedwork on the track, we did our workout on the road adjacent to the track. Coach measured out a course (we had brought our measuring wheel with us for just such an emergency) and we were off.

The 20k guys, Tim and Jefferson, did 15 x 1 kilometer with just over 2 minutes rest. The 50k guys, Curt, Andrew and myself, did 7 x 3 kilometer with 3 minutes rest.

It was an extremely tough workout both mentally and physically. There are so many things that can distract you if you allow them to do so. Because we had planned to do the workout on a track instead of the road, we could have let that bother us. We could have let all the traffic on the campus ring road bother us. We could have let the long ferry ride and long wait before the workout bother us. But everyone did real well and focused on the task at hand.

It wasn't easy, but it was a good test in many ways. When we get to Sydney and are in the BIG race, we will have even more distractions. Perhaps it was better that we did have to face all of those obstacles today; it was good practice.

We didn't arrive back to the hotel until lunch time. After lunch I took a nap because I was so tired. Then at 5pm coach had us go out for an easy 30 minute walk along the river. This evening the whole US Team was invited to a local sports bar for free food and drinks. The local news cameras showed up and filmed some of the long jumpers and staff out on the dance floor. If they had filmed the racewalkers, we would have been the ones sitting over in the corner trying to stay awake.

Coach has promised us that tomorrow will be an easy day. We even get to sleep in a bit and start our workout at 9am instead of 8am! I'm going to get cozy with my pillow now and dream about walking fast and gold medals.

G'day, mates!

Philip

Report from Couran Cove!

2000-08-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today was great. I woke up feeling tired and sore. My muscles were still achy and not completely recovered from Saturday's 30K workout here on the island. I knew that I had a real tough track session ahead of me, though, so I put all the fatigue out of my mind and simply thought about walking fast and relaxed. I knew that a positive attitude was the only thing that would get me through.

We got a later start than usual because we had to take a 30 minute ferry ride to the mainland and the brand new "Super Sports Centre". The four of us American walkers and Ecuador's Jefferson Perez were joined by a large support staff that helped by encouraging us, giving us water, and reading us splits.. Andrew, Curt and I, who are competing at the 50 kilometer distance, were faced with the challenge of 5,000 meter intervals, four of them with five minutes of rest in between each. Tim and Jefferson, who are "only" racing 20 kilometers, had 8 x 2k with slightly less rest.

Before every workout that I do, Coach Pena gives each of us a specific goal to focus on during the training session. A few days before we left the US for Australia, I had done a similar speed workout on our Chula Vista Marina 2.5k loop course. My pace had been about 4:30/km or 22:30 for each 5k.

Right before today's workout, coach asked how my legs were feeling and I told him, "Tired. I feel as though I have already done the first three 5ks and this is my last one instead of my first." With that in mind, coach suggested that I walk the same splits I had walked two weeks ago. "You may still be tired from your travels and the hard workout two days ago, but you can do this workout." I replied, "Okay coach, I'll try. I'll do my best." And then, with a chuckle, but sternly, he said, "No, Philip. You don't try, you will do it. You have no choice. Okay, go." (For a second, I thought I was Luke Skywalker listening to Yoda's words of wisdom.) That was when I knew, despite how I felt, that I would have a good workout. Now I just had to go out and see how good it would be.

During the first interval, for the entire 12 1/2 laps around the 400 meter track, I felt the fatigue and soreness creeping in on me. I had to tell myself to relax, let it pass. And it did. Slowly the fatigue and heaviness in my legs lifted like a fog. My legs felt stronger, my movements more coordinated and smoother. It never felt effortless as it does some days, but over the next two intervals I was able to pick up my pace just a little bit.

At one point, Jefferson, who was resting between his 2k intervals, yelled at me, "Just a little bit more, give just a little more," and when I asked my legs if they had more to give, they just went a little faster. My first 5k was 22:44, just getting loose. The second was under coach's goal pace for me, barely, 22:25. By the third I was over halfway and still alive so I figured I'd go a bit faster, 22:08. And on the last one I decided to just go for it and see how much I could take, see how long my tired legs would last at 4:20/km (6:56/mile), and I came through in 21:35. It wasn't a PR, and last year I may have even done 4x5k faster, but it was the best I have done this year and gave me a lot of confidence. Coach asked me, as I was starting my cooldown, "If you can do that when you feel tired, what will you do when you feel great?" Good question. I have another four weeks to get some answers.

That's all for now. We leave the island tomorrow on the 10:30 ferry for the Marriott in town. We've got a bit of a scandal/problem with Jefferson training with our group. The head coach got a bit wacky this evening about not permitting support staff, use of U.S.A. facilities, etc. We may have a bit of a crisis in the next day or two. I'll let you know more.

Philip

Report from Couran Cove!

2000-08-22T20:28:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I'm here at the business centre at Couran Cove, the island resort a few miles from Brisbane, Australia. It's awful nice here with so much to do and see and we've had quite a good time already. Coach Pena, Jefferson Perez and Tim Seaman arrive today, sometime this afternoon, so perhaps it won't be quite as relaxing as it has been thus far. The training has been going well, though, as we become adjusted to the new time zone and weather conditions.

When we stepped on to the island from the Big Cat ferry ride, there were "agile" wallabies there to greet us. The island is just off shore from southern Brisbane, about an hour's drive from the airport, but it feels like it's in the middle of the tropics somewhere.

On our first full day here, I got up early for one of the resort's "Guided Nature Walks". We were bird watching... and there were so many birds. The coolest named bird was the Willy Wagtail, a small black and white bird with a long black tail that it wags back and forth in order to stir up insects. The resort mascot, a large bird of prey called a Whistling Kite, was sitting on a big dead tree overlooking the mangrove swamps that encircle two-thirds of the island. It then took off and soared over the gum trees to a more secluded spot. Then there was the pair of sulfur-crested cockatoos that are huge and noisy. While we were walking, we also saw a Golden Swamp Wallaby, larger and more scarce than the ubiquitous Agile Wallaby that can be seen all over the island, even next to the swimming pool.

But the coolest things I saw yesterday were during our two training walks. Just as we started the first walk, we saw a large white king-fisher... except it wasn't really a king fisher because it was HUGE. When we got back to the room, we looked it up and it's a Kookabura, one of the Olympic mascots.

Then while we were wandering off the main trail, we heard a large rustling in the bushes and saw a huge, and I mean six-feet long, scaly and split-tongue flicking all over, LIZARD! It's called a Goanna and looks like an over-sized iguana. It was a bit startled and climbed straight up a tree, straight up like a squirrel, until it was ten or fifteen feet off the ground. Very cool.

During the afternoon workout, we heard more rustling in the bushes and stopped to dig around a bit and found a little spiny anteater, also known as an Echidnea, our second Olympic mascot of the day. It looked just like a porcupine with long quills all over its back. Now all we have to find is the duck-billed platypus.

The weather has been great, sunny and mild. In the mornings, the sun rises around 5:30am or so and it sets quite early at 6pm. I'm adjusting to the jet lag pretty quickly, partly because it is easy to stay up during the day with all of the activities around the resort.

They have a sports center with basketball hoops, shuffle board, lawn bowling, ping pong, and numerous other fun stuffs. There is also a watersports area that offers kayaking, sailing, and hydrobiking. We have yet to try most of the activities, but they offer rental bikes that make getting around the island or out to the ocean side very easy. The food is also excellent. The rooms are large, clean, and offer gorgeous views of either the mangrove swamps or the open bay between the island and the mainland.

Perhaps today I will see a duck-billed platypus, if I keep my eyes open.

Talk to you soon,

Philip

Enroute from San Diego to Sydney

2000-08-19T20:26:00.000-07:00

When I was in grade school, I remember reading about Australia's exotic animals, like koalas and kangaroos. I remember finding Australia on a map of the world and thinking how far away it must be. I'm on the plane right now from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, about to discover just how long it takes to fly to the other side of the world.

My Olympic Track and Field teammates and I boarded a plane in San Diego earlier this evening. We are all wearing the same gray sweatpants and white polo shirts, so we are very easily recognized as a team. On the first flight, the captain of the plane announced that the Olympic Track and Field Team was on the flight and everyone cheered and asked us lots of questions. It's great being a member of the 2000 Olympic Team and I am so excited now that the journey has begun. It's suddenly very real. "I'm going to the Olympics." I've been telling myself that since I finished third at the 50km racewalk trials in February, but now I'm actually on the plane to Australia. I'm wearing my official Olympic clothes. I'm surrounded by my Olympic teammates and coaches. I'm really going to the Olympics. Wow!

It began to sink in a few days ago when I went through Team Processing. All of the Olympic sponsors gave us clothes and luggage and other goodies to take along. Adidas gave all of us shirts, shorts, shoes and workout clothes. Nike gave us a bunch of clothes, too. I hardly had to pack any other clothes! It's fun being treated so well. They even offered free haircuts and manicures before our long trip. I suppose they want us looking our best. The flight ahead of me is very long. We were told it would be nearly fifteen hours of continuous flight. They'll show us three movies, serve two meals, and there will still be time to spare. Right now I'm going to get some rest.

It's already been a long day. I raced 20 kilometers this morning with Jefferson Perez, 1996 Olympic champion in the 20km racewalk, and my U.S. Olympic walking teammates. Then I finished packing and began morning with Jefferson Perez, 1996 Olympic champion in the 20km racewalk, and my U.S. Olympic walking teammates. Then I finished packing and began my journey. Now it's time to take a short nap and dream about kangaroos and platypus. (What's the plural of platypus?)