A long line for tickets crushes the Olympic Spirit

I witnessed something quite sad yesterdat afternoon, but let me give you the background before I share my biggest human-generated dissapointment during the Olympics so far.

I noticed the ticket office finally opened so I stood in the line waiting for the tickets. The office was a small space with four tables, staffed by volunteers who were being guided by American supervisors standing behind their backs (on the scale of 1-10, the capability of the volunteers seemed to be at level 2 and the capability of the supervisors at 10, however, for some reason, it all had to go through the volunteers first). The line quickly started growing-it took me about 45 minutes to get inside the office where I was able to sit while I was waiting for another hour and then 20 minutes buying the tickets (some coaches took as long as 45-50 minutes buying theirs).

Just before it was my turn, two guys, one a tall, African guy, the oher a Swedish guy got into a heated conversation as to who should have gotten help first. Their exchange started to culminate very quickly and had it not been for a quick move on the side of one of the supervisors who asked one of the guys to move to another table, I am sure they would have gotten into a fight. I was so taken aback and saddened by all this (the Swede was right by the way-but who cares...). I wish I did not have to witness that. I guess, even athletes on their Olympic highs are prone to the unpleasant behaviors if you have them wait in a long line at a high temperature for long enough...

In any case, I was hardly able to get all the ticket I wanted for (I had more, but the computer crashed the first time I tried to pay....meanwhile the coaches on the tables next to me were buying hundreds of tickets for their teams...). However, I was able to get Aleksandar tickets for Monday and Tuesday night athletics which has some pretty awsome finals, including 1500m, 3000m steeple chase, and many others). I got myself a ticket to see a few swimming events tomorrow morning. I tried for gymnastics, but, not suprisingly, everything was sold out. In any case, I am to see some swimming and will post some pictures later this afternoon.

A Cool Morning in Bejing-could this really be?

I woke up to a cool morning in Beijing (it had rained the whole night). I could not believe that there is such a thing as not being too uncomfortable running here in August. I did 14k (about 9miles) running loops around the village at about 4:10km/6:35mile pace. Then I went to a mondo (tartan) surface loop and did six laps maraton pace. I have asked four different coaches how long the loop was and I got the following answers: Coach 1: 1000m, Coach 2: 900m, Coach 3: 950m, Coach 4: 925m). Whatever it was, I ran 3:27 per lap and I am guessing it was 5.4k worth of 3:45km/6:00 mile pace. Overall, I ran 22k (about 13.5miles). It was my last longer workout and I am glad I waited a day. I certainly felt a lot better both physically and mentally (I could actually see a mountain in the distance - that's how clear the air was!)

How I so wish it would rain the night before the marathon too. Aleksandar has been looking into the effects of heat on the marathon times. Here is what the prognosis is. Supposing I am at 2:38 shape in conditions comparable to those I had in Houston, Texas, where I qualified (60F/16C or below). That projects the following times at the following temperatures and their marathon time equivalents (based on http://www.runworks.com/):

65F/18C: 2:39:01 marathon (3:46.3 per kilometer, 6:04.2 per mile)
70F/21C: 2:40:08.3 marathon (3:47.9 per kilometer, 6:06.7 per mile)
75F/24C: 2:41:21.5 marathon (3:49.6 per kilometer, 6:09.5 per mile)
80F/27C: 2:42:40.8 marathon (3:51.5 per kilometer, 6:12.5 per mile)
85F/29C: 2:44:06.0 marathon (3:53.5 per kilometer, 6:15.8 per mile)
90F/32C: 2:45:37.3 marathon (3:55.7 per kilometer, 6:19.3 per mile)

I refuse to even look at the temperatues and time equivalents of anything warmer than that. Obviously, other factors such as wind, humidity, course will play a role on the day....

Anyway, this post is probably only interesting to you runners, if at all, so off I go to live some experiences so I can write about them :)))).

With an untypical Dane

Now, I think Albert will be jealous...then again, you may be too young to remember the great Wilson Kipketer? He is running for a position representing athletes at the International Olympic Committee so he hang out in front of the dining room yesterday. I got a picture and a free Danish pin! (You can see the dining room in the background)

A Gloomy Day in Beijing

Today was a bit of a gloomy day, outside and in. I got up at 5:30am. My hope was to do a pre-race rehearsal as far as the morning routine goes, then drive the course on the way to the start and then back up until mile 15 or so and then do my last longer run. However, things did not quite go that way….

First, it took a lot longer than it should have to find the right car/driver that was supposed to take me. Then I found out that the driver had no idea about the area and since my map was not exactly too great, he had to stop and do all kinds of driving gymnastics about every 5 miles. It was pouring down too and believe it or not, the speed limit, even on freeways, in Beijing seems to be 80 KILOMETERS/hour. Needless to say, after about two hours of sitting and stiffing up in the car, driving by enormous buildings with names like “China Glory Center”, I was ready to call it a day. I briefly saw the Tiananmen square where the marathon will start and the first two kilometers and then the blue line (which the marathon will follow all the way to the National Stadium) disappeared in the park. I just told the driver (or rather signaled since he had NO English) to turn and take the fastest way home.

By the time we got to the Olympic village I had been sitting in the car for over three hours. I certainly did not have the last longer run in me. I ran around the village for five miles and felt completely drained. I tried not to dwell on feeling so bad too much-one can’t feel great running every day and I’d rather feel like this now than in a week. Insecurity in us running creatures is a state we can easily slip into though.

In the afternoon, for the first time since I came here, I took a nap. I did not fall asleep, but I just lay there energyless for 50 minutes too tired to move. But, because I knew I would not fall asleep at night if I kept napping, I made myself get up. The only thing I had energy for was to watch a movie. My friends Albert and Malajka were kind enough to send some movies with me to China so I picked one called “Hillary and Jackie”. If you thought Thelma and Luise was depressing, watch this one. (Albert, I thought I requested “cheerful, souless, unRussian types of films”?). Now, completely down in the dumps, I figured I needed to be around people to snap out of the gloominess so I walked down to the Slovak Olympic office and watched the women’s road cycling race. Two of the Slovak cyclists who did that same race (only longer) yesterday were there and served as commentators, which was kind of fun. I wish Alex could have been there-he would have enjoyed chatting with them about their bikes and biky things. A gutsy British girl won the race so it was inspiring (it was pouring down there whole race and she got back to the front pack with two kilometers to go-which is VERY unusual in cycling and had it in the end). Now is the evening and I feel a lot better about life again. I went for a dinner, saw Jeremy Warriner on my way (!). I so need to bring my camera with me at all times. Now, I am considering even going for another short run and then it’s off to prepare for the last hard workout tomorrow early in the morning.

It was pouring down so this Estonian rider chose to workout in the hallway. I have never seen those rolls...

NOTE: Some of you have asked me about the air in the email. I think I may have mentioned it at one point in the blog, but the air does not seem to affect me too badly during the actual workout. I feel like coughing afterwards. Today, after it rained, it felt so much better! Funny, how a few days in the 90s makes a high 70s (Farenheit) day feel pleasant. I wish it would rain before the marathon….

The day of the Opening Ceremony

I keep getting emails about how cool the Opening Ceremony was. Geat to know! Now seriously, you'd think that being here and all I should know the best, but I really did not get to experience any of it until our team walked into the stadium. In other words, we missed the whole show (we were at the indoor gymnastics venue waiting and though they had screens there, they were showing flags of different countries instead.... Every now and then they would show a little bit of the show just to interupt it by the flag display, which was always followed by the intense booing).

However, just as I was starting to feel like I missed out, we were in the tunnel leading up to the Olympic Stadium and I could feel the excitement building and culminating. When we finally walked from the dark tunnel into the stadium, the waiting seemed all worth it. I just tried to soak in the atmoshphere so I could remember the feeling forever....

The night was long, I did not make it back to my room until 1:15 am so I am feeling quite tired today. I am off to recover and will try to post something again tomorrow.



Slaven (a decathlete) with two great Slovakian swimmers... (Martina Moravcova on the left is a two time Olympic silver medalist)



Before leaving the Olympic village - with Slaven who qualified in the decathlon-he got his qualifier to the point. One point less (could be as little as a few centimeters in one of the jumping events or a few seconds in the last 1500m race....)

In the shuttle, on the way to the Opening Ceremony

With others on the Slovak team and a volunteer

While waiting I came acroos Rubin McRae (the New Zealand team)-a friend from the Western State College....




The back of Coby Bryant's head....




Outside of the gymnastic venue, waiting in line for marching toward the stadium




And just before the most magical moment of the night: walking into the Olympic stadium




Branca's photo of the march taken in Vancouver




Was he sweating or what?




These outfits looked really warm....

Athletes from Somalia, Netherlands...






Inside the stadium waiting for all the countries to march in....






The Fire Lighting Part.... I mean, seriously, is this the best one ever or what?






And it's time to go home....