Phenomenal - Olympic Weekend Wrap-Up

“When I came back, after all those stories about Hitler and his snub, I came back to my native country, and I could not ride in the front of the bus. I had to go to the back door. I couldn't live where I wanted. Now what's the difference?” -Jesse Owens

As I mentioned last week, I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!! I also hate the Olympics. This juxtaposition is due to my feeling of remorse, regret, disappointment, [insert other synonym here] that I didn't get to participate in gymnastics when I was younger. I see gymnasts like Shawn Johnson and wonder if that could have been me. I doubt that I would have gone as far as the Olympics, but I really think I could have excelled at this sport.


And then I see the 33 year old gymnast, Oksana Chusovitina, and think, "I still have a chance!"; but I really know I don't. And I also realize that if I were any good at gymnastics I probably would have gone to another college and I would not have met my husband. It all worked out well in the end.

Michael Phelps. Awesome. I watched him swim with his relay teammates to his 8th gold of these games. It was phenomenal. I doubt I'll ever see such an athletic feat in my lifetime.

Saturday night was the women's marathon. I watched every minute of coverage for this event with hope that Deena Castor would bring a medal back home to the US. I was extremely saddened when she had to drop out in the early miles. She said she felt a pop in her foot. It takes great courage to drop out of a race of this magnitude, even when something serious is afoot... pun intended. I applaud her ability to realize when she can't go on and I look forward to see what else she can do.

Paula Radcliffe was my next hope for this race. Eight weeks ago she was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her femur. I thought she might be able to pull through and medal, but she wasn't able to. It looked like she might drop out in the latter miles of the race, but I think she really did not want to repeat Athens. She was criticized a lot for dropping out of that race four years ago. Deena and Paula were on two ends of the spectrum, and I believe they both did what was best for themselves.

Shalane Flannagan won the bronze in the women's 10 K! Our hopefuls, Lopez Lomong and Bernard Legat, in the men's 15oo m did not qualify for the final race. China's hurdler, Liu Xiang, dropped out of the race after a false start by another runner and disappointed 1.3 billion Chinese. The Jamaicans are the fastest people in the world with Usain "Lightning" Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser taking gold in the men's and women's 100 m races. Tyson Gay said he was 100% in the semifinal heat for the 100 m, but I really think that his hamstring is still injured. I love that he won't give an excuse though.

This year looks to be a great year for the athletes. The Olympics are always a place where character and sportsmanship is displayed. I wasn't around to see Jesse Owens' snub that is mentioned in my quote, but this is part of what the Olympics can bring to the forefront of people's minds. He was a great ambassador for African Americans in the Civil Rights movement. Hopefully, changes like this will begin in countries that continue to violate human rights, e.g. Russia's treatment of the Georgian people and China's role in the Darfur situation.

Runs:

M - 6 mi, 55:04.33

T - 6 mi, 54:01.35

Th - 5 mi, 42:57.51

Hot Dam!

"Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air, can't live, can't breathe with no air" -Jordin Sparks

Saturday I ran the Hot Dam Runs 5 miler. I wasn't expecting much from this race, but I thought I should be able to run it in less than 40 minutes. I was very surprised at how hilly the course was. I felt pretty good in the first mile, but not great. I was having some trouble breathing. Stupid asthma!
For the first 2.5 miles I was leading a woman that I had seen at several races, but she had never beat me. I knew I wasn't feeling up to par, but I didn't want to lose either. She drafted behind me until the turn around and then she passed me. I kept her in my sights the rest of the race, but I never did catch back up to her.
At the Prairie Dog Runs back in February there was a guy who would speed up as soon as I got close to him, then slow down. This went on for the last few miles of that race. It happened again at this race, but only for the first mile then the last half mile. I was so disappointed because I finished just a few seconds behind him. Ben was cheering for me to beat him, but I couldn't. :(
I finished in 40:27, which isn't too bad, but not as fast as I could have gone if I hadn't had any trouble breathing. Oh well. This makes it easier to beat my time at next year's race.

The bigger story this weekend is the Olympics!!! I love the Olympics. It makes me want to be a gymnast or a swimmer. I really can't wait until August 15 then the track and field events start! Here's an awesome rap about the Olympics from Paul Brogan:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89X0CP4MuME

The biggest story this week is that two of my friends from college got married!! Yay! I love weddings!

Runs:
T - 3 mi, 26:41.30 - This included my race against Felix!!!
W - 5 mi, 41:03.94
S - Hot Dam Runs 5 mi, 40:27.21; I got 26/60 overall, 7/23 women, 2/3 age group

Sibling Rivalry

"Besides winning, [the most fun thing is] getting out there and mixing it up with friends; it's the competition." -Al Unser, Jr.

So sorry for not posting anything sooner. I have a good reason for my late post; I was waiting until after I raced one of my coworkers, Felix.
Felix is sort of like my big brother at school. He has really taken me under his wing and taught me a lot of stuff that is really important for me to know as a grad student.
He is also Chinese (Felix is his American name). He has no brothers and sisters and one day we were talking about this and I told him I could be his little sister. Part of my responsibilities as a little sister is to taunt and annoy the older sibling.
I have told him on several occasions that I am faster than him and could definitely beat him in a race. So, today, we tested my theory.
Felix plays soccer every weekend and is pretty quick. He is 8 years my elder (like my real brother), but is still in good shape for that age ... ;) ... like my real brother. We decided that he would be able to beat me in anything shorter than a quarter and I could beat him in anything longer than a mile. So our agreed upon distance was a half mile.
I plotted our course using mapmyrun.com and we made our way over there around 5pm. It was 99 ºF and I was little worried about my asthma so I used my inhaler. We warmed up and stretched a little bit, and then we were off.
I led the whole first quarter. The jogging trail we were running on gave at each step; it was like running on sand. A bus stop was on the trail, and as you would expect, a bus stopped right as we ran by. There were only a few students getting on and off, but it was enough to slow us down a little bit. I got back up to pace and then realized I didn't hear Felix's steps anymore. I was not about to look back or slow down, so I just ran the last straight-away. I finished in 2:51.84 and turned around to see Felix had about 1/16 of a mile left. I whooped him!!!
I wasn't wearing my usually running watch, so I couldn't get his time, but I bet he finished in around 3:15 or 3:20. That's not bad.
I did end up having an asthma attack, and I think that scared Felix. He made sure I was okay, like a good brother. This was a lot of fun & I look forward to being able to rub it in his face tomorrow about how much faster I am than him.
That's what little sisters are for, right??

Runs:
T - 5 mi, 42:02.41
W - 4 mi, 34:21.94
Th - 7 mi, 58:31.24 - this was a speed workout, 5x1600 at 7:13
S - 10.59 mi, 1:38:14.96