(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.