The room where I am staying....
These are the buildings in which we are staying. The building with the blue banner is one of the computer labs/entertainment centers.
First of all, thank you for your kind and supportive posts, it makes it at least that much more exciting for me knowing people “back home” are cheering for me as it may be making the Olympics just that extra little bit more special for you. Here is a little commentary on my first day in the Olympic Village…
This morning I woke up at 5:30am, feeling pretty good. That is until I went outside (probably at about 6:30). I was disappointed to find out that it did not exactly feel much cooler than the heat I had experienced the evening before. It was barely bearable as I started running and was progressively getting worse and worse.
This morning I woke up at 5:30am, feeling pretty good. That is until I went outside (probably at about 6:30). I was disappointed to find out that it did not exactly feel much cooler than the heat I had experienced the evening before. It was barely bearable as I started running and was progressively getting worse and worse.
While I struggled with the temperature, the pollution did not seem to affect me (I purposely did not wear the mask today to see how I would feel). Not during the run anyway. However, for about six hours after the run, my lungs felt irritated; I constantly cough or feel like I need to cough. Generally, I have not been feeling too well since after the run. I feel like I may be coming down with flu. Not sure if I can blame it solely on the pollution though as I am still jetlagged and sleep deprived.
Fingers crossed I will start to feel better tomorrow as I am hoping to do one of the last two harder workouts- Yasso’s 800s. Those of you who are not familiar with this workout, it is kind a test as to how fast one can run a marathon. So, let’s say I can do 10x800 (or do eight feeling like I can do another two) in 2:40 with a 2:40 jog in between. This would suggest I will be able to run close to 2:40 in a marathon. Before Houston I was able to maintain 2:41s (at altitude), which translated to a 2:39ish marathon at sea level. So, my hope is to maintain 2:40s here, but we’ll see. Enough analysis of my health and running though, here is what you may find interesting….
The most unusual (for me)
Hands down, it has to be the climate and the air. The fog or smog or whatever this is seems so dense and oppressive-I have never seen or experienced anything like it. It’s like you can only really see up to quarter of a mile, everything else is just kind of smudged in the mist far away. If I woke up in Utah one day and it looked like this I would think some awful catastrophe was going to take place-like the end of the world or something. It really just gives one (or at least me) such a feeling of unease and discomfort. But escape is always close-the rooms, the dining room, the internet places are all air conditioned and, similar to a lot of places in the US, one needs to put on a top not to be freezing. So, it’s a constant back and forth between being a little too cold and a lot too hot.
General Feel of the Olympic Village
The Olympic Village venue feels kind of like being at a huge conference like TESOL. People with badges everywhere-only a lot more security. OK, and the people are generally not quite so overweightJ.
People
Everyone is wearing cool sport stuff, generally, something you would only wear to a gym if you really wanted to impress someone (unless you were an Eastern European in which case you are also likely to wear sporty stuff for non-sport activities). So, it kind of feels like being at a Sports fashion show or something.
Generally people seem in good spirit. I only really talked to two athletes so far today, one of whom was an Australian rower who is hoping to medal with her seven other teammates. It’s kind of funny- as soon as you tell people that you are running the marathon, they give you this “oh, you poor thing” look that is well-intentioned, but that kind of freaks me out. As far as celebrities are concerned, I saw that really tall basketball player in the dining room today-Yao Min I think his name is. It was quite amusing actually-he walked across my section of the dining room and EVERYONE (probably 500 people) turned to look at him. You just can’t quite help it-it’s not so much that he is so famous, but he is so TALL - you wish you did not have to look and in the end you just can’t help it.
As for the “other”, you see the volunteers because they are constantly trying to facilitate your life. But then there are these people- the “sweepers”. About every few hundred yards, if you look hard enough, you see people with brooms. The sidewalks seem completely clean so it just seems a little needless to continue sweeping them and most people who do this seem at quite a different place as they are doing it. I wonder if these are some of the factory workers who were asked to do this once their factories were closed…. I wish I could talk to them, but instead, I have to do with an awkward smile and a butchered “nihao”.
Food
Now, I know at least four males who would consider the dining room a complete paradise on earth. You get amazing free food from all around the world 24 hours a day. Yes, that’s right. If you happen to wake up hungry at 2:30 in the morning you can go and eat. In fact, this whole village is just a total utopia. Besides food, you drop of your laundry and pick it up 6 hours later! You can sign up for free massages and everyone goes out of their way to make your life easier. I have yet to open the door when I want to walk into a building J.
Room
Rooms are simple, but very modern and sleek. I mean, how could they even have afforded the newest Kohler faucets? I wanted those so badly in our newly remodeled bathroom, but there was just no way we could have 1. afforded them and 2. get them. How it is possible to have the 2008 expensive model Kohler faucets and sinks for 10,000+ athletes is beyond me. Though I must say, the craftsmanship or functionality are just not quite there. And again, this is something I probably would not see had we not been remodeling a bathroom lately. The shower is only separated from the bathroom floor by a flimsy plasticky thingy so when one showers the whole bathroom floor gets completely flooded. The grouting looks worse than that Alex and I put on in our own bathroom. It just does not look like something that is going to work very well with heavy duty use (I am not sure what the future holds for this village-perhaps these will be turned into dorms like they were in SLC?).
Fingers crossed I will start to feel better tomorrow as I am hoping to do one of the last two harder workouts- Yasso’s 800s. Those of you who are not familiar with this workout, it is kind a test as to how fast one can run a marathon. So, let’s say I can do 10x800 (or do eight feeling like I can do another two) in 2:40 with a 2:40 jog in between. This would suggest I will be able to run close to 2:40 in a marathon. Before Houston I was able to maintain 2:41s (at altitude), which translated to a 2:39ish marathon at sea level. So, my hope is to maintain 2:40s here, but we’ll see. Enough analysis of my health and running though, here is what you may find interesting….
The most unusual (for me)
Hands down, it has to be the climate and the air. The fog or smog or whatever this is seems so dense and oppressive-I have never seen or experienced anything like it. It’s like you can only really see up to quarter of a mile, everything else is just kind of smudged in the mist far away. If I woke up in Utah one day and it looked like this I would think some awful catastrophe was going to take place-like the end of the world or something. It really just gives one (or at least me) such a feeling of unease and discomfort. But escape is always close-the rooms, the dining room, the internet places are all air conditioned and, similar to a lot of places in the US, one needs to put on a top not to be freezing. So, it’s a constant back and forth between being a little too cold and a lot too hot.
General Feel of the Olympic Village
The Olympic Village venue feels kind of like being at a huge conference like TESOL. People with badges everywhere-only a lot more security. OK, and the people are generally not quite so overweightJ.
People
Everyone is wearing cool sport stuff, generally, something you would only wear to a gym if you really wanted to impress someone (unless you were an Eastern European in which case you are also likely to wear sporty stuff for non-sport activities). So, it kind of feels like being at a Sports fashion show or something.
Generally people seem in good spirit. I only really talked to two athletes so far today, one of whom was an Australian rower who is hoping to medal with her seven other teammates. It’s kind of funny- as soon as you tell people that you are running the marathon, they give you this “oh, you poor thing” look that is well-intentioned, but that kind of freaks me out. As far as celebrities are concerned, I saw that really tall basketball player in the dining room today-Yao Min I think his name is. It was quite amusing actually-he walked across my section of the dining room and EVERYONE (probably 500 people) turned to look at him. You just can’t quite help it-it’s not so much that he is so famous, but he is so TALL - you wish you did not have to look and in the end you just can’t help it.
As for the “other”, you see the volunteers because they are constantly trying to facilitate your life. But then there are these people- the “sweepers”. About every few hundred yards, if you look hard enough, you see people with brooms. The sidewalks seem completely clean so it just seems a little needless to continue sweeping them and most people who do this seem at quite a different place as they are doing it. I wonder if these are some of the factory workers who were asked to do this once their factories were closed…. I wish I could talk to them, but instead, I have to do with an awkward smile and a butchered “nihao”.
Food
Now, I know at least four males who would consider the dining room a complete paradise on earth. You get amazing free food from all around the world 24 hours a day. Yes, that’s right. If you happen to wake up hungry at 2:30 in the morning you can go and eat. In fact, this whole village is just a total utopia. Besides food, you drop of your laundry and pick it up 6 hours later! You can sign up for free massages and everyone goes out of their way to make your life easier. I have yet to open the door when I want to walk into a building J.
Room
Rooms are simple, but very modern and sleek. I mean, how could they even have afforded the newest Kohler faucets? I wanted those so badly in our newly remodeled bathroom, but there was just no way we could have 1. afforded them and 2. get them. How it is possible to have the 2008 expensive model Kohler faucets and sinks for 10,000+ athletes is beyond me. Though I must say, the craftsmanship or functionality are just not quite there. And again, this is something I probably would not see had we not been remodeling a bathroom lately. The shower is only separated from the bathroom floor by a flimsy plasticky thingy so when one showers the whole bathroom floor gets completely flooded. The grouting looks worse than that Alex and I put on in our own bathroom. It just does not look like something that is going to work very well with heavy duty use (I am not sure what the future holds for this village-perhaps these will be turned into dorms like they were in SLC?).
Stuff
If I were ten years younger, being at the Olympics would be like Christmas. I mean, I knew we were going to get some clothes, but I had no idea we were also going to get suitcases, bags, cosmetics, shoes, hats, vitamins, drinks, you name it. I have no idea how Alex and I will be able to get all this home. But hey, what a problem to have!OK, let me figure out how to post the few pics and a short video I took.
Till tomorrow,
Zuzana
Posts
4 comments:
Hi Zuzana!
It's been fun keeping up with you
through the blog. Also, the pictures are great, so keep 'em coming(if time permits). It's neat to see and read what you're experiencing, and from your perspective of it all.
We're all so proud of you here in SLC!
Michelle S
z-
best of luck in the Games. i have a few friends completing in the cycling events[men's road race & TT] and they found the air quality appalling since arriving. it is a sad situation for the endurance events, i wish that was not the case.
i hope that your health stays on track and that sub 2:40 is within your grasp.
go fast-
chris davidson
Hi Zuzana-
A friend who works at the U forwarded your blog to me..I intend to read it daily and cheer as hard as I can for you during the marathon. Best of luck and health.
-Jan
They can "afford" all those Kohler faucets because they probably are a sponsor of the Games and probably gave them to the construction crew.
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