The crowds were coming.

The Group on the Wall

I still have so many pictures to share... we were the absolute 1st people on the Great Wall that day. We made it to the section called Badaling, one of the more touristy sections but because of our early arrival, it wasn't too bad, not too mention the only area open at that time. We were lucky to have Sylvia there with us. Sylvia was with the Bafangzy Group that was helping us with everything- accommodations, transportation, tickets to the events, tours for families. Sylvia was obviously her "English" name and she was so sweet. The sweetest little voice and such a nice lady. She is 25 years old and originally from Shanghai. She had spent 5 years in Moscow studying and learning Russian. Sylvia has also traveled to the states, Australia, Japan and speaks all those languages. Pretty amazing. She would like to come back to the states to study nutrition at Cornell. 

So the visibility that day was not the best but probably pretty average. We were spoiled our first two days on China with absolutely clear, blue, sunny skies. That was not the usual. Regardless, the wall is pretty amazing and something you need to experience in person.

Wednesday morning started early, 5:30am early. The staff decided it was time to head out to the Great Wall. How amazing was that...

The Team and Jimmy

Party time...

Tuesday night we had our post race party at the Auspicious. All family and friends of athletes were invited to a buffet dinner with drinks.  It was a nice way to bring closure to the event and unleash everyone to their own devices. I had organized a slideshow with about 400+ pictures which took about 15 minutes to show. All in all a great night. 

I have been quite neglectful of my blogging duties and for that I apologize. I am back in the states but wanted to share the last few days. I was finished with my responsibilities on Tuesday after the men's race. Before I forget, I wanted to share pics fro my long hike run Monday after the women's race. I was out for about 90 minutes and it was awesome.

Sorry, it's Wednesday night here and I believe Sunday was the last time I wrote. Been a little busy I guess you could say. The women's race was Monday and the Men's race Tuesday (yesterday). So I will go back a bit in time... Monday I was to be picked up at 6:30am by NBC. I just assumed I was going to the race venue and helping from a broadcast box but it turned out I went down into the city to the "International Broadcast Center" or IBC. This place is HUGE and is where all Broadcast companies from all over the world are staged out of. NBC had about 1/3 of this building that will be used as a convention center when the Games are over. It was AWESOME!!! So I'm waiting for my ride and they do not come. I call and 7 and the intern setting things up for me says she has made a mistake and can I take a taxi down. I had no idea where I was going but fortunately one of the athlete's husband was commentated for BBC. He's an Aussie who finished 4th in Athens. His wife ended up 4th here. Anyways, Greg and I shared a cab which worked great because he had been down the day before to check it all out so he knew exactly where to go to pick up our quest passes. So the intern, Janique they shows me around the NBC area. We pass Bob Costas and Chris Collinsworth... probably many others I did not recognize. She took me to the cafeteria that has free coffee and an awesome spread of food- anything you want. MMMMMMMMM... coffee... it was free Starbucks, just like a store only you didn't give them your money. So I sat next to the producer who was coordinating 30 miles away from the triathlon venue, which cameras should be on which athletes and who was who and how long it would take for this lap of the bike and that lap of the swim. It was pretty amazing. I attached a little video from my time there Tuesday... having technical difficulties, will try tomorrow.

My cathartic yell

The park across from the Auspicious- Sunday am

Dr. Keith and Sharon

You must be thinking, gosh, this girl has a lot of time on her hands to be blogging but there's so much to share. We woke up at 5:20 this am and headed out back to the trails for a morning jog/ hike. It was FANTASTIC. So many people out hiking these strenuous trails- dad, you would have been crying! So I'm not sure if it's a religious thing or cultural or just their way of cathartic release but the Chinese just scream. These loud, long releases from their belly. If you listen close to the video, you can make it out. You see these little old Chinese men climbing these trails and they are very steep and long- these people are in amazing shape. After being out about 90 minutes we came back to the hotel. There's a park across the street from the Auspicious and it was filled with people doing all kinds of activities: swording, ribbons, table tennis, badminton, rollerblading, meditating... pretty amazing.
Check it out...

So we had the absolute pleasure of meeting Harry at dinner tonight. He plopped himself down while Jeff and I had dinner in the western restaurant. Quite a curious and precocious 19 year old from the area. He was there having dinner and just decided he wanted to make some friends. He has friends from all over he told us, not a shy bone in this kid's body. His English was excellent, much better than my Chinese anyways. Jeff and I exchanged emails and skpe addresses and made Harry promise if he went to California he would go to In-N-Out Burger and not Burger King- a seriously BAD move to choose BK over In-N-Out. So, Harry, if you're reading this... this is a shout out to you. You are one cool 19 year old Chinese guy!

Oh, so if you did not know, the triathlon woman's events occurs here at 10am on Monday the 18th and the men's event is at 10am on Tuesday the 19th. I am told they will be televised prime time in the states on Sunday the 17th and Monday the 18th. Please watch an send some good vibes our way. Our athletes are looking great physically and seem to be calm and collected so... we want some medals!!! I will be helping the NBC broadcasters with indicating who's who for both races.

Harry- one rad dude!

Our first full day in Changping. I slept in this morning until 7:30. Again I am sharing a room with Sharon, one of the coaches, and we didn’t get to bed last night until after 11pm- and after waking up before 5am yesterday, and playing mother hen… it was GREAT to sleep. I took my breakfast in the Western style restaurant which offered eggs with ketchup, hard boiled eggs, lots of noodles, rice, some bacon, some sausagey things, a variety of sweet breads, some fruit and vegetable… and COFFEE. It was great to have some good old coffee with cream and sugar. Sharon and I sat for at least an hour chatting, eating and looking out the window as China went by. How time escapes you. The athletes were then off to ride up to the venue and get in a swim at the venue in open water. They had a packed day from there it was to the Jundu Tourist Hotel for their race briefing and pontoon draw, and then back to the Auspicious for a quick change and back to the race venue for a press conference. Unfortunately since I am not credentialed staff, only 3 staff are, I cannot get into the race venue until race day. I got an AWESOME run in. You ran about 10 minutes from our hotel to this gate, go through the gate and you are at the base of foothills. All along the ridge of these foothills are rocky trails. Yes there’s some climbing involved- increased heart rate, fatigue and sweating, but when you get to the top, it’s amazing. It looks like it goes on for quite a long ways. I plan to head back early tomorrow with a camera and more time. You can see south into Beijing which I am guessing people haven’t been able to do for a long, long time.

So we are working through a company here called Bafanzy. I’m not quite sure what exactly their business is but they help us with transportation as well as the accommodations. Most of them are younger women in their mid to late 20s with very American names, Sylvia, Merry, Wendy, ect. I am working with Sylvia a lot and she is just as sweet as can be. She’s 26 and spent 6 years in Moscow so in addition to English and Chinese, she speaks Russian and a little Japanese. All the staff is so nice and eager to help then again we are paying a lot of money for their services.

The Auspicious Business Hotel

Out the window of the Auspicious Business Hotel in Changping

Out the window the airplane landing in Beijing


My friends at Ediya coffeep wall of picture fame behind us

At the CheJu Airport passing time, gaming...

It is Friday night and we have arrived in Beijing. It was a beautiful day- blue skies, good visibility, one of the best the athletes have ever seen. Our day started early as we packed 6 bikes and LOTS of luggage onto the back of a flatbed truck at 5am at the Marathon Center. There was a LOT of stuff between bikes and bags and everything else. It cleared the way to fit everyone in the vans and get us safely and with enough room to the CheJu airport for our 9:15 direct flight to Beijing. I mentioned that many other countries were training in CheJu- and we were ALL on the same flight. Every major contender for a gold metal, both men and women, were on our flight. I think there were some 60+ bikes they had to fit on. They ended up bring many pieces of luggage onto the plane to fit in empty seats. Good thing the athletes are as big as my little pinkie because with all the extra baggage, that plane must have weighed a ton. We claimed all our bags and bikes and were quickly through customs- a very painless process. Our contacts in China met us there at the airport, packed us up on the tour bus and we were on our way to the Auspicious Business Hotel, our home the next 7 days. Tourists cannot rent cars in China- kind of crazy, I think. Makes things that much more challenging for such an event like this but, oh well. On the bus ride Julie whipped out her computer and led us in a game of “Olympic Trivia”. Do you know how many countries are competing in the 2008 Beijing Games? I forgot the answer so I suggest contacting Julie. At the Auspicious, in the Changping district up near the Mind Tombs, we were greeted by the staff. The Auspicious is more of a Chinese style hotel, extremely elegant and with more of a Chinese touch. After a lot of running around to get everyone squared away, I headed out for a run. I made it 20 minutes up to the triathlon venues and then back. So many people out, so many Chinese riding their bikes and very few cars on the streets. Everyone was amazed at how clear it was. Blue skies and clouds which is pretty rare. Our venues is about 30-40K northwest of Beijing. It’s very close to the Great Wall which I hope to see after my responsibilities have ended. So the run went well. I was coughing a bit when I returned but who knows. As for food, the concern, of course, is that the athletes do not get sick. That being said we have a nutritionist who has to go every morning to the Beijing Normal University (this is where all support staff who can’t get into the village are being staged) for all the meals. Bob is the lucky man with that job. So we have purchased a microwave, some coolers, a set of plates and silverware, cups and whatnot so he can serve athletes’ their meals out of his room. Crazy, huh! For sure but it is food the athletes are comfortable with and know (knock on wood) has been prepared properly in order to avoid sickness. It is now close to 9pm and I have been up for a bit. I usually have no problem sleeping on planes but I was next to two Spaniards on the plane. Quite the comedians, these guys, enjoying their beer and flirting with the Korean flight attendants. That’s all for today…

Korean woman selling fish

Support staff at Dong-A-Marathon Center

Me inside Buddhist Temple

Only 1 day left in CheJu. Today was a quiet day which began at 6am with a nice jog around the center. It was hot- and sticky and wet, once again. I just don’t do so well in humidity which is why I live in Colorado and not the Midwest. A pretty low key day as the athletes are winding up main training and now just fine tuning what they can. The usually run to E-Mart for some coffee, and then back again for ice for the ice bath and it was already the afternoon. Before I knew it, it was staff outing time. Scott served as a great tour guide and got us to a few places. This island is a volcano so there are these crazy cliffs and rock formations made from the volcano flow. It’s pretty cool because you look out to the water and there are these stone islands sticking out of the water. They say that the gods got angry and chopped the top of the volcano off and threw it into the water to form one of these structures. I still have yet to get a picture of the island as it really never seems to be clear up there. It reaches a height of 1950m (but maybe not because that doesn’t seem possible, over 5,000ft- I will need to confirm). I hope to get to the top tomorrow night for a sunset. I will let my pictures tell my story as I’m prtty tired tonight- ready to drop quicker than usual. Enjoy…

Another Day in Paradise...

Sarah in her ice bath

The Market today

Matt and Bobby at lunch

Kobe, Jarrod, Matt

Julie, Kobe, Laura and randon guy

Have I mentioned it is humid here, cuz it is. It’s real hot. I mean sticky hot… like Louisiana hot. So I decided to go for a run shortly after waking up- and it was hot. Sharon (my roommate and one of the coaches) and I headed out at 8:30ish and did our best to shuffle along. We made it 40 minutes which I considered pretty good considering we probably sweat a few gallons. Sharon headed in and I decided to walk a bit and watch the little old women manicuring the soccer field I was running around. Finally we had blue skies. What a beautiful island. Most of the athletes had down days- very light, recovery days. Matt, had a rest day so around 1, Matt, Bobby (his coach) and myself ventured into a nearby city. Matt just wanted to get away from the center and see a little more of CheJu than he had so far. Great idea to me. I can’t deny an athlete something that will mentally free their mind. We walked around and found a little authentic looking restaurant. Fortunately the menu had pictures and a little description in English. As we were sitting there we looked across the street and spotted “Tombstone”. “Let’s go there”. So we decided rather than be rude and leave we would order something at where we were and then go across the street. The guys decided on a rice omelet with something fried on the side. For all I know it could have been Victor Lopez’s long lost Korean brother. All meals are served with kimche. It’s like a pickled cabbage with some red spicy stuff on it. I tried it and wasn’t a fan. After paying we crossed the street to Tombstone where I ordered a plate of chicken curried rice, as did Bobby , and Matt got the chicken salad. More kimche, some pickles, miso soup, some creamy warm stuff with a corn flake floating it… they serve lots of appetizers. I guess we were getting our moneys worth. We took our time and chatted about this, that and the other. Bobby is very interesting. Originally from South Africa and has been living in Boulder for almost 20 years. He’s a pretty amazing running coach as he has coached some Olympic runners. He knows a lot and is super enthusiastic about running in general. After lunch we headed to the market to check things out. It was smelly. They had all kinds of things- pig’s heads, fishies, veggies, fruit, clothing, shoes, appliances… a little of everything. Then a stop at “Paris Baguette” and we were on our way back to the Center- 4 hours later. Tomorrow, we are having a “staff field trip”, to where, I do not know but I will be sure to take pictures and share any stories… so check back.

Refueling the Beaver 125

Hunter's Door- his third Olympic Games



Looking out my deck at the World Cup Stadium on a rainy afternoon




Julie in her ice vest aka Santa suit

A few more pics...

Lunch at Dong-A-Marathon Center

Sprint Tri Sign

Monday, August 11th
So it’s day 4 here in CheJu. Yesterday was extremely rainy and HUMID. This is the perfect climate for the athletes as it is way humid. The heat index is ridiculous. The day started early(for me these days) at about 5:40 as two of the athletes were competing at a “pre Games sprint tri”. There are so many countries training here that a guy from the Korean Tri Association organized a sprint triathlon. We headed out with Jarrod and Julie after 6 down to the venue. Another scorcher of a day on the way. A very informal race with probably 12 women and 20 men.

Everyone had different training objectives with the race as a few stopped after the swim and then a few after a lap of the bike and a few after a lap of the run- trying to get in some hard swim and bike efforts but also trying to stay somewhat fresh for next week. Jarrod ended up 2nd in the men’s race out of the 6 that finished. And Julie was 1st out of 2. None the less, fun to have a bit of a preview. I don’t feel like I’m doing too much but the days do go quickly. I am dead tired at night and have been falling asleep face down in my book. Right now I’m watching the men’s basketball team, China vs. US- in Korean. I’m hoping to be fluent by the time I leave. So Dr. K and I made our, what is becoming, a daily run to the “E-Mart” for coffee. He also had to get 20 bags of ice for ice baths for the athletes. I knew I should have brought my French press- what a mistake!!! The Doc and I debated buying a coffee maker but decided to just do our daily runs and we would look that much more forward to coffee in Beijing. So this E-Mart place… yea, like a K-Mart with a little of everything. I try to be open minded but I just don’t get the fish and seaweed stuff they seem to love here. After 2 cappuccinos the Doc and I made our way back to get the ice baths ready, I fiddled with my computer to get a wireless connection, made a skpe call, took care of some emails and bam- it was already lunch. More delicious Korean ham. I never think I’m too picky of an eater until I travel out of the country and find myself craving my American food. The ham just looks different especially still on the bone. And the cheese, it’s like Kraft cheese in the plastic wrapper individually wrapped- YUCK, I haven’t eat that since I was 7. Must remain open minded, must remain open minded, must remain open minded… this is my mantra. So shortly after lunch I sagged two of the girls on the bike as they rode to the open water swim for the day. We headed to Jungmung Beach two vans, two girls on two bikes and one lone scooter. I definitely have the scooter thing down. No worries, I wear a helmet. Especially here… these people are HORRIBLE drivers. Really. It’s like their stop signs and stop lights are optional. It’s even rubbing off on me when we pull up to a red light and one of the athletes tells me, “no one’s coming, you can go”- and I do! Such is life, I succumb to peer pressure. So… we hang at the beach a bit and watch the athletes swim and then it’s back to the Center. Another trip to E-Mart. Do some work on the computer and then it’s already dinner. More pasta, chicken, some extremely delicious tofu… meeting time with staff and athletes… and here I am, typing away at 9pm on Monday night. So, the highlight of the day, for me… at dinner I bring up that I went to the Colorado Springs Zoo last weekend. If you have not been, you must go. It was fantastic. My dad, Chris and I spent 4 hours checking everything out. I found myself intrigued by the grizzlies and the mountain lions, maybe because they are practically out the back door. (maybe not grizzlies but my friends Alison and Nathan still swear they saw one in the San Juans- and I saw Nessie my last trip to Scotland- never been to Scotland)… I digress... so Sarah proceeds to share her story of the tapars and their mating ways. Quite intriguing to say the least. You Tube it is all I can say. And I thought the penguins were interesting… I missed out. So I am off to bed here soon. Tomorrow I hope to take a field trip with the bike mechanic. We haven’t decided where but I’m sure I will have some pics to share tomorrow.

(L-R: Sarah, Nate, Jeff, Dr.K at SFO)

Traveling… ah the joys. I write from CheJu, South Korea, an island off the southern coast of South Korea. I am told it is the Korean Hawaii. Extremely humid, very scenic and a big tourist destination for the Korean people. We are staying at the Dong-A-Marathon Center. It is the US athletes in addition to the German and Cech athletes. There are many other countries here as well, Spain, Switzerland, New Zealand and Great Britain, all using this location as their pre- Olympic Camp venue. It makes sense; the climate is humid, same as Beijing; it is in the same time zone as Beijing; it is not a long flight over to Beijing; and maybe most importantly, it’s out of the pollution and craziness of Beijing.

My travels began early on Thursday the 7th when I met Nate(husband of an athlete) at the Olympic Training Center. Nate was the lucky sherpa with 4 bikes in his possession- one spare for his wife, one for a coach, one spare for another athlete and one general spare. We had a 6am flight out of Colorado Springs into San Francisco where we met up with Dr. Keith, our chiro and PT guy; Jeff, our bike mechanic, Sarah, Nate’s wife and an athlete who had been at the required team processing for two days; and Bobby, the personal coach of a male athlete but also a Boulder running coach who helps our athletes out with technique and form from time to time. So it was off to South Korea with one stop in Nagoya, Japan to switch from United to Korean Airlines. Did I forget to mention that upon arriving in San Francisco, we were also united with 6 bikes that had come with Sarah from Team Processing that belonged to the other 5 athletes who were on their way to Opening Ceremonies? Sarah opted to avoid the extra travel and lack of training that Opening Ceremonies would cause. So while we were on our way to South Korea, the rest of the group was almost to Beijing for Opening Ceremonies. After a quick plane switch in Japan we were on our way to CheJu. After 24 hours of travel, we arrived at 5pm Friday evening, Korea time. *Korea and Beijing are 15 hours ahead of Colorado. We rented to vans for the 10 bikes, beaucoup baggage and 6 persons. After smooshing everything in, we left two persons and 3 bike boxes at the airport. A second airport trip would be necessary. The sun was setting on our first trip to the Marathon Center so it was possible to see things but we had also been traveling for almost 24 hours. That’s the equivalent of a blood alcohol level of like .05, that’s drunk driving- that’s a good night at the Loop. So needless to say, my excellent directional skills were not sharp. So we quickly dropped off the first group and Dr. K and I turned around and went back. It wasn’t difficult to find our way back to the airport of the other side of the island, 45 minute drive, but, unfortunately, not the same can be said for the trip from the airport back to the Center. Does anyone here speak or read Korean? We stopped at a gas station and asked for directions and after much sign language and pointing to maps, we turned around and headed back the way we came. We eventually found our way and were in bed by 11pm.

I slept like a rock Friday night- Saturday morning. I do not suffer from any inabilities to sleep anywhere at anytime for extended periods of time. It’s just not a problem. So Saturday began after 9 hours of sleep with breakfast with the group. Some scrambled eggs, toast, yogurt… pretty typical and normal. I had a busy day ahead of me as I am morale lady for the athletes. I had emailed family and friends of each athlete asking them to send photographs, letters, notes, signs, whatever to decorate their doors with. And after an hour at Hobby Lobby in Co Springs before I left- I was destined to be crafty! The doors took a little more time than I anticipated so the final phase, streamers, had to be turned over to Bobby (he’s South African and called it “bunting” which I loved) to finish out the job as I was off to the airport to meet the 5 athletes and 3 coaches coming from Opening Ceremonies. I arrived right on time to an extremely tired group of athletes. They had marched just the night before in the 100+ degrees. All I heard for the 45 minute car ride back to the Center was how sweaty Hunter was and about hanging with the basketball team- Kobe, Mello, LeBrun…(sorry if I spell that wrong). Our triathletes were in awe. Not to mention shaking hands with the “W”. Even if he does suck he’s still the president, I guess.

So everyone was here now. The athletes quickly changed and got a quick spin in on their bikes and some added a run afterwards. I had the honor of following one of the guys while he was biking, on the scooter we rented for the week. FUN! This thing, the “Beaver 125” gets up to 80K/hour. Dinner was at 7 and… mmmmm… spaghetti Korea style. No, actually it was good and fine although no meatballs. The staff had a meeting after dinner to talk about the next day’s schedule and then it was off to bed at 10pm. I DROPPED.

CheJu is beautiful. Apparently it’s just a huge volcano so it’s quite hilly with only the coast being flat. I could give you some facts about the island but, to be honest, I don’t know too much. I do know the main city with airport is on the north shore. We are staying on the south shore. My guess from the north to south end of the island is about 25 miles. From east to west probably more like 50-60. I could be totally off here. I haven’t had the opportunity to venture out but hope to in the next few days.