Pictures Set 4

Hey, look at me. I'm Jeremy Wariner.

But I rather be LaShawn Merritt.

This is what every track athlete lives for. 

Getting that American flag in your hand and

taking a victory lap around the track 

signifies that you are a member of the 

hardest team to make, the US Olympic Team.

The residents of Eugene are very proud that
their town is know as Track Town, USA. In
living up to their name, they will be hoisting
the World Championship Trials in 09, the
NCAA Championships in 2010, the US
Championships in 2011, and the US
Olympic Trials in 2012.


Another view of the Willamette River

I spent a lot of time hanging out with my
friends, Lauren Williams and Reese Hoffa.

On the walk up to Pre's Rock we passed an
exhibit by a local artist. He used wood logs
to make figures representative of track and
field events. This is a sprinter in the blocks.


Hotel Eugene: Not exactly the Westin but it
was filled with track fans which made it an
awesome place to stay. It was also only a
five minute walk to the track.

Mel, Len, Joe, and Ed at Pre's Rock.

Thanks to all who have visited this blog and

left comments or sent e-mails. God willing, I

hope to do it again in 2012. It would be fun

to have any of you join us. The trials are over

and the real thing begins on 08-08-08. 

                              Go USA

Pictures Set 3

Just a block away from Hayward Field is this
den of iniquity. I'm ashamed to say that I
was a frequent visitor. (Thank God for 1 John
1:9) :)

View of the Willamette River from the foot
bridge leading over to Pre's Trail

This house is typical of some of the houses
you see as you walk up to Pre's Rock. Now
you see why people love living in Oregon.

Come Fall Saturdays, Autzen stadium is filled
to capacity as fans turn out to support the
U of O football team. At one time, football
games were play at Hayward Field.

This sign gives the history of the Pre Trail
and helps runners plan where they want to
run and how far they want to run.

Set 4 coming soon.

Pictures Set 2

View from Row 25 Seat 22.

Brad Walker is up and over in the pole vault.

If you were a spectator, this

is what you wanted to have.

Getting these block of tickets

was not easy but well worth

the effort.

This student dorm was my hide away for 10

days during the trials. The sheets on the

bed were changed once a week and we

got fresh towels every day. What more

could you want?

Live bands performed on stage and were

viewable on the jumbo tron.

Pictures Set 3 coming soon.

Pictures Set 1

Click each image to see it in a larger size.


Two heros of this venue: Bill Hayward &
Steve Prefontaine.

Watching a rerun of the 800 outside the
stadium on the jumbo tron.

At the track: Ed, Joe, Mel, Niles--average
track IQ 172 (sorry guys that I lowered your
average)
your average

A common scene on the streets of Eugene.
Runners have the right of way.



Need a tee-shirt? At the Street Fair you can
find any shirt you want as long as it has to do
with running or the Olympic Trials.

Hope you guys run out and get your July

issue of Runner's World. You won't believe

who is on the cover.

More pictures coming soon if I can post
them without getting and internal
error message.

Day 10

Day 10 (07/06/08)
This is travel day and my travels started early. After breakfast we collected our suitcases and climbed into the taxi waiting for us outside the dorms. A 20 minute drive had us out to the Eugene airport by 8:40. The Eugene airport is very small but efficient and easy to use. After check in and security we headed to our gate for the flight to San Francisco. A brief glance up to the Departure Screens showed that our flight was delayed. Typical. So our 10:29 flight didn’t get off until 11:40. After an uneventful flight we landed in San Francisco and went our separate ways. Ed, Joe, and Keith live in the Bay area. I of course went to check the Dreaded Departure Screens hoping not to see (but expecting to see) the word Delayed next to my flight #. Looking up at the screen I didn’t see the word Delayed (pretty good, right? but hold on) instead I saw the word Cancelled. Now when the word cancelled is associated with one of my dental appointments, that’s okay, but when it applies to a scheduled airline flight it is not okay. My next move was to visit a customer service representative who, after playing with her computer for about twenty minutes, put me on a flight to Burbank. My wife was able to pick me up there and so after a trip that started at 8:40 am, I was home by 8:00 pm. I don’t think a direct flight to China takes much longer than that. As glad as my wife and daughter were to see me after 12 days, it was my dog Oreo who when berserk. She didn’t leave my side for the next 24 hours. Check the next Blog (coming soon) for some pictures.

Day 9

Day 9 (07/05/08)
Before going into the stadium today I took one last trip up and down the street fair. People where just having a blast visiting all the different tents set up by sponsors, watching repays of track races on the jumbo tron, dancing to live bands, and eating everything from ice cream (which I would never touch) to gourmet meals. If I ever had any doubts about the saying that, “All good things must come to an end,” those doubts have been erased. These trials, which have been a great thing, came to an end today. For eight days, we have witnessed feats of amazing athleticism. Motivation is an indispensable factor when it comes to an athlete pushing himself beyond his normal limits and skills and there is no more motivating factor to a track and field athlete than a chance to represent his/her country at the Olympic Games. Day 8 produced several results that could only have happened within the parameters of these trials. Start with the men’s high hurdles. The final was nothing short of amazing as David Oliver towered over his competition and won in 12.95 over two time Olympic silver medalist Terrence Trammell. David Payne placed 3rd with his 13.25. Payne owed his coveted place on the Olympic team due to a heartbreaking spill onto the track by Anwar Moore as he came off the last hurdle. He lay on the track agonizing over what might have been because he was plainly in possession of 3rd place when the mishap occurred. Now, if he can stay young and healthy, he has to wait 4 more years for another chance to become and Olympian. Then the women blasted out of the blocks in their high hurdle race. Blasting out the fastest was Lola Jones and she just kept extending her lead until she had bested the field with her 12.29 which matched the best race ever run by an American woman. But again, because of a 3.3 meters per second wind, her run won’t go into the record books. “It just shows not to give up, or not to give in”, Jones said. “Four years ago, I didn’t even make the final, and now look. I’m the U.S. champion.” Of course two of the highlights on this the final day of track and field were the 1500 races. The women towed the line first. This race was run to qualify for the Olympic team and not to post blazing times. Rowbury, Erin Donohue, and Christin Wurth-Thomas had already made the A standard so they only ran to place in the top three which is exactly what they did. Shannon Rowbury won in 4:05.48. Jordan Hasay, the 16 year old high school sensation, finished in 10th place out of this 12 runner field in a time of 4:17.36. As was true with the women, the men also went out slowly with Gabe Jennings leading at the 800 in 2:00.7. On the back stretch of the 4th lap, Lagat, Manzano, and Lopez rushed by Ahmed who had pushed his way past the leaders at the bell. Crossing the finish line it was Lagat 3:40.37, Manzano 3:40.9 and Lomong 3:41.00. As a result of this finish, for the first time in history, the men’s 1500 Olympic team is made up of athletes all born outside of the United States. All three are naturalized citizens. Lagat was born in Kenya, Manzano was born in Mexico, and Lomong was born in the Sudan. When asked about living the American dream, Lagat said, “Where else can this be possible? America is where everyone is welcome, and we are all proud to be wearing the red, white, and blue.” The event that I will never forget and had the crowd of over 21,000 holding their breath was the woman’s pole vault. With our seats practical looking down over the cross bar, this event couldn’t have been more exciting. Among all the women in the world, only three have vaulted over that magical height of 16 feet. One of those women is Jennifer Stuczynski who is the American record holder. Jennifer’s talent was so superior to the rest of the field that she pasted the first two opening heights. Only when the bar was raised to 15 feet 1 inch, and most of the field had been eliminated, did Jennifer pick up her poll and run down the run up toward the bar. In what should have been child’s play for Jennifer, this vault turned ugly as she knocked the bar off the standards. Not to worry, right? She should be able to clear the bar on her second vault, even with her eyes closed. But, in a shocking mishap, she failed to clear the bar. So here’s the situation for Jennifer, the class of the field. She has one more try at 15’1”. If she clears the bar, she goes to the Olympics. If she doesn’t, she doesn’t go. “The first one didn’t scare me, but the second one got me a little nervous.” said Stuczynski. “On the third attempt I tried to relax, thinking this is routine and I just have to jump at it. If I don’t make it I don’t make it and I’ll deal with that latter.” So with every eye on Jennifer, she ran down the run up, planted her pole in the box, and sailed way over the bar. A disaster had been averted. After that she had the bar raised to 15-7.75 and won the event outright with her first attempt clearance. Not content with that, she had the bar raised to 16’ 1.75. With 2 failed attempts at this height, she had one more chance to clear the bar. As she bent the pole into an almost upside down U shape, she rode the recoiling pole up, up, up and flipped her body over the bar. But, coming down she nicked the bar and up it bounced off the standards. The cross bar came back down on the standards in a way that normally would have sent the bar tumbling to the ground, but, this time the bar stayed in place and Jennifer had now just set a New American Record. The roar from the crowd was one of those special Eugene Hayward Field moments that people will always remember. Just as Jennifer will always remember the road she took to this American Record and how close she came to not even being on the Olympic team. After the meet was over, my buddies headed off to a pub but I stuck around and worked my way down to the first row and the railing that comes right up from lane 8 of the track. After the pole vault awards ceremony, the three wins started their victory lap right in front of me. I’m not a celebrity chaser but it was fun to stick out my hand and get a handshake from Jennifer Stuczynski, the lady who just set a new American record. With all this dream stuff still swirling around in my head, it was a real let down to have to go back to my room, pack my bags, and get ready to leave Track Town, U.S.A.
Blog Day 10 coming soon.

Day 8

Day 8 (07/05/08)
This was pretty much just a kick back day. It was my first day without wheels so I didn’t venture beyond the UO campus. Breakfast was the normal stuff yourself routine and then sit around the table and hash out what was going to happen at the track today. Things started happening around 11am o’clock with the 200 quarterfinals and one of those inauspicious heats produced the biggest surprise of the day. Tyson Gay was out to add the 200 title to his victory in the 100. Gay was running in quarterfinal #1 and everyone expected this to be a walk in the park for this guy that had just run the fastest 100 meters ever recorded. But, 50 meters into this race there was shock and awe as Tyson went tumbling onto lane 7 of this very fast Hayward Field track. In these trials there are no second chances and a DNF (did not finish) after his name on the results board meant that his aspirations for an Olympic double had just vanished. If Gay’s tumble resulted from a pulled hamstring, which he was grasping, it would mean the end of his track season but if it was a cramp, chances for a full recovery before the Olympics were good. Thankfully, at this point, it has been diagnosed as a deep cramp. Tyson will race soon but probably not soon enough to keep his appointment with Asafa Powell in London a few weeks from now. BTW, I just read in the paper this morning that Gay could earn up to 2 million dollars this year so, although you can’t run away from your problems, if you run right, you can run into some big money. Try getting up on a ladder and putting a mark on the wall that is 7 feet 6.5 inches from the floor. Now get off the ladder and look at that mark. Okay, are you looking at that mark? Imagine jumping up off the floor and flinging your body over that mark. Sound impossible? Try telling that to Jesse Williams who did just that. Williams, a transplanted USC high jumper who now calls Eugene his home, thrilled the home crowded with his first attempt clearance of 7’6.5” in the high jump. That was good enough to win and put him on the plane for Beijing. Steeplechaser Anthony Famiglietti ran away from the rest of the field until the last lap when William Nelson and Joshua McAdams sensed that a tired Famiglietti might not be able to hold on for one more lap and started their finishing kick in hopes of running him down. But the determined leader wasn’t going to go down easy. As a matter of fact, he didn’t go down at all and at the finish the 3 top runners were separated by only 1.5 seconds. After the race, Famiglietti said, “I got out and ran aggressively like I always do, whether that meant finishing dead last with dead legs or finishing first with dead legs. Luckily, it was first. You have to forget if you’re going to die.”

Day Seven

Day 7 (07/03/08)
The people of Oregon are very proud and protective of their beautiful state. In reaction to the host of new people moving into the state (mainly from California), I use to see bumper stickers that read “Welcome to Oregon, Now Go Home.” I haven’t seen any of those so far. All I see is “Obama 08 Change We Can Believe In” stickers and posters that are planted in front yards all over town. I’ve been up here for a week now and I’m beginning to feel like an Oregornian. I’m learning the names of streets and locations of buildings I like to visit both here on the campus and downtown. We’ve seen a lot of people moving into the dorms today as some people come in for just the second half of the meet. Often these are people who can’t get the full 12 days off it takes to do the whole meet, or people who come to see their family members or friends that compete over the last four days of competition. Since I didn’t have to be out to the track until 7pm today, I had plenty of time to relax. In the morning, I went over to a new and closer location of Allann Brother’s Coffee Company where I posted to this blog and read my e-mail. After lunch I went over to see the Knight Library. Perhaps you have heard of Phil Knight (the swish man, as in Nike, and multi billionaire). This library is just one of his many contributions to his alma mater. They have already cleared the land for his next project which is a new basketball arena to replace the legendary “pit” where the Ducks now play. Phil’s father, William, has his name on the Law Library So you could pretty much say that the Knight family owns this campus up here and what a beautiful campus it is!

This next part of the blog is for Melinda so if you are not Melinda, don’t read this paragraph because it is kind of scary. On the way back from the library, I was approached by an attractive woman who started chatting me up and talking like she actually knew me. After a few minutes, she said that she had two tickets to Madam Butterfly and asked if I would l would like to go see it with her. When I politely declined, she got very agitated. When I started to walk away, she grabbed me, turned me around, and said, “I won’t be IGNORED, Dan.” I have no idea who Dan is but she must think I’m Dan. Clearly this woman is delusional and I hope I’ve seen the last of her.

Now back to the open part of the blog. (you didn’t read the above paragraph did you Cherie?) The best races on the track last night saw pull what many considered an upset by LaShawn Merritt who defended Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Wariner in 44.00 to 44.20. 24 year old Anna Willard capped off a great week up here by winning the 3,000 meter steeplechase in a new American record of 9:27.59. This record run came after getting engaged to steeplechaser Jonathan Pierce last Saturday. I’m sure this will be a week she will never forget. Looks like her honeymoon will be in China.

Day Six

Day 6 (rest day 07/03/08)
I was up by 6 am today and out on the Pre Trail by 6:30. I really prefer to jog in the evenings because the old joints in my unglorified body just don’t loosen up very quickly anymore. There are a lot of good things about morning jogs, however. The air is crisp and fresh. The birds are singing and there are a lot of worms. (you do know the story about the early bird, don’t you?) I was showered, dressed, and down to breakfast by 7:40. Yesterday evening I went out to my favorite watering hole, Prince Puckler’s Ice Cream Store. While I was nursing my dietetic, fat free, sugar free, low cal hot fudge sundae (minus the hot fudge but with the cherry) I saw a poster advertising that Ryan Hall, the winner of the Olympic Marathon trials ,would be out at the Eugene Running Company signing autographs the next day. (It’s kind of ironic that I learned about this autograph signing because earlier that day I saw Sara Hall, his wife, running by my dorm and when she stopped for a minute, I was able to her for a short time.) I thought it would be hoot to go out there and meet Hall and give him a little advice about how to win the marathon in Beijing. So, after breakfast I was on the bike, peddling like a Tour de France Champion. About a hundred people got there before I did so I had to wait in line for about 30 minutes before I was able to impart my running wisdom onto Ryan Hall and get his autograph. (now, if he wins the Olympic marathon in China, you will know why). This evening after dinner, Ed and I walked over to the Street Fair and went into the Nike Tent! Every running related item you can think of was in there and that is where I learned about Nike’s amazing chip device that fits into your shoe, syncs with your ipod nano or a wristband that you wear. This marvel of technology then records your run and calculates how far you ran, how fast you ran, and how many calories you burned up. After you run, you simply sync the wristband chip, or your ipod to you computer and it shows all the results for every run you do after that. All this information is stored on a hard drive at Nike’s computer center. There are a lot of fun things you can do with the info. You can e-mail it, compare it with how your friends are doing, set up challenge runs with anyone else that has this technology, run virtual 10 K races, and join TheHumanRace on 31.08.08 where you will be able to compare you race results with tens of thousand of people all over the world. Go to nikeplus.com to learn more about this exciting new technology that is being integrated into running. I can’t let you go without picking your brain. Tomorrow night is the highly anticipate showdown between Olympic Champion Jeremy Wariner and rising start LaShawn Merritt. Who do you think will win this 400 meter dual on the track?

great slide show of OT Trials

For those of you who don't have the slightest idea who the athletes are the I've been talking about there is a great slide show of all the action on the track here in Eugene at this link.

http://www.oregonlive.com/trackandfield/

Day Five

Day 5 (rest day 07-01-08)
My how time flies! I can’t believe we are in July already. But when you are having the time of your life, I guess you just have to expect time to fly. Rest days up here are kind of misnomers because you are still busy. It’s just that you are busy outside of the stadium instead of in it. After breakfast, Joe, Mel, Len, Ed, and yours truly took a hike up the road from here to where Steve Prefontaine, Eugene’s legendary running icon, met his maker. In a tragic alcohol related accident, Pre was returning home from a post race party when the small sports car he was driving careened into a large bolder alongside the road and America’s greatest distance run was dead at the age of 26. This bolder is now know as “Pre’s Rock” and is kind of a shine in his honor where visitors leave notes, medals, tee-shirts, flowers, running shoes, and other running related items. My afternoon was spent ride along bike trails along the Willamette River Bikeway System. It was just another day in Paradise. A little more food for thought: The other day at the meet, I saw a tee-shirt with the following written on the back, “Track and Field, the only true sport, everything else is just a game.” Agree or disagree?

Day Four

Day 4 (06/30/08)
Some people don’t do mornings but I guess I’m a morning person because I think the morning is the best part of the day. So, not to miss a morning up here, I was up before 6, put on my running attire and headed out the door (actually 3 doors before I could get to my bike). It’s only a short ride over to the Prefontaine Trail where I love to run. There are over 6 miles of trails all covered with bark chips. This makes for a very soft surface to run on which is perfect for my feet. Pre found trails like this running through out European cities where he competed and when he came back to Eugene he sold the city fathers on building just such a trail through Alton Baker Park. Here you can run through forests, open fields, next to rivers ,creeks, ponds, bridges and past Autzen Stadium where Oregon plays their football games. This morning’s run was an extra special bless from the Lord because this time last year I truly believed I would never run again until I got to Heaven. For me it doesn’t get any better than jogging along this trail for 30 minutes listing to songs like WE HAVE ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD, SPEAK SOFTLY LOVE, O FORTUNA, SCHOOL DAYS, JOHNNY B. GOOD, WHISPERING BELLS, TOWN WITHOUT PITY, MOMENT TO MOMENT, and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE on my iPod (the 8th wonder of the world). The only thing that would have made it better is if Kelsey and Oreo were here to run along side me. Latter that morning I rode my bike back to the Allann Coffee Co. where I was able to post another blog. After dinner we all headed back to the track for the 7:10 start of the women’s 400 IH semifinals. The weather today has been much cooler. Some of the smoke from the Northern California wild fires has now reached up here and the skies are not as bright and sunny as they have been. This cooler weather made for great distance running and whereas distance races normally sends most track spectators out for a bathroom break or to grab a hotdog, here it keeps everyone in their seats because that is what they like best. The 800 is actually a middle distance and filled with drama. The women’s final was run out of 2 alleys tonight because of the big 12 runner field so they had to go out fast in order not to get tangled up when they broke for the poll. The drama in this final was to see if Oregon Track Club member Nicole Tetter (who was advanced into the final by the meet referee after her tumble in the semis) could make the Olympic team. This 34 year old knew she wasn’t the favorite and that she is nearing the end of her career and she knew that she wanted one more last hoora. Hanging in the middle of the pack for much of the race, Nicole finally moved into 3rd position at about the 600 meter mark and held on coming out of the final bend. For a short time it looked like she had an Olympic berth within her grasp but behind her, Kameisha Bennett was charging down the backstretch after her. Bennett’s heroic efforts put her ahead of Nicole, 2:01.20 to 2:01.30. For most fans in the stands, they had a little heartbreak as Nicole was a local favorite but that little heartbreak soon turned to joy when it was announced the Tetter was on the team despite her 4th place finish. What most people didn’t know was the Tetter had run an A standard time of 1:59.91 back in May of 2007 (the A standard is the time an athlete must accomplish if the country they represent is sending more than one athlete in an event). The second chances Nicole got by being advanced into the final and by leaping over the 3rd place finisher means a second trip to the Olympic for her. “From falling, not thinking that I was even in the finals, to getting 4th and making the team by default,” she said “I can’t wait to get to China.” Mark down June 30, 8:25 PM on your calendar as the time Hayward Field experienced one of its most crowd pleasing moments ever. The men’s 800 final was a classic. Three Eugene based runners were part of the 8 man field for this race. Nick Symmonds, Andrew Wheating, and Christian Smith. Symmonds was a true contender for a place on the Olympic team coming into the meet with a string of victories over top flight competition. But Wheating was a question mark. After all, this Oregon sophomore was only 7th in the Pac 10 conference as a freshman. After a meteoric rise this year, he became the NCAA runner-up but this is not the NCAA. This field included people like 4 time U.S. Champion Khadevis Robinson. Then there was Smith who most people had written off as extremely lucky to make the final and was one of the last 800 entrants allowed into the Trials with only a provisional qualifying time. Symmonds let Robinson take out the race and that’s just what Robinson did, pushing the pace hard and passing the 400 in 50.33. Probably less then 1% of the world population can run one lap that fast and here these guys still have another lap to go. “It was the fastest opening lap I’ve ever run,” Symmonds is quoted as say. As the second lap progressed Symmonds and Wheatly started moving up, Symmonds on the inside and Wheatly along the outside. With half a lap to go, Symmonds was boxed in by a wall of runners and looked to be in serious trouble. But he had learned a lesson from previous races that is hard to learn. It’s called “patience”. That patience he exercised paid off when one of the runners ahead of him moved one step to the right. That one small crack in the wall was the opportunity he was looking for and Symmons shot through the gap and launched his trade mark kick that took him to victory in a commanding style with a personal best time of 1:44.10. At the same time Symmons was shooting through from the inside, Wheating was running wide of the pack and as the crowed came to their feet and roared with a vengeance, Wheating began to pick off the runners that stood between him an a trip to Beijing. There is no doubt it, there was pandemonium in the stands when Wheating placed second with a personal best time of 1:45.03. “Oh my gosh, the crowd was so loud, I couldn’t hear myself breathing,” Wheating said. Behind Symmonds and Wheatly, Robinson, the prerace favorite , was hanging on for dear life. Christian Smith, the 3rd string Oregon runner, and Lopez Lomong were coming on strong. Smith snuck up behind Robinson and with a desperate lunge at the finish line completed Eugene’s sweep of the 800 Olympic team members. “I saw Khadevis and I knew he was the guy I had to get,” Smith said. “I just took a lean and dove. I didn’t think a lean alone would be enough. I wasn’t sure if I was diving for third or fourth. I couldn’t believe it when I got up off the track and saw that I was third. It was an unbelievable feeling.” Many feel it was the loudest crowd to ever to witness a track meet. Wheatly was quick to credit the crowd with his and Smith’s success. “I believe Oregon was 1-2-3 because of this crowd.
Do you remember my plan as laid out for this race in blog Day 2? Well, can you believe it? I forgot to bring my ear plugs. My ears are still ringing!

Day Three

Day Three (06/29/08)
As far as this blog is concerned, Day 3 was a real bummer. Having talked to some people at the University Book Store, I learned that about 5 blocks from my dorm room was a Carl’s Jr. Free WiFi there they told me. So off I go to a place I’m really not very fond of but I thought here is my chance to easily post to my blog everyday. I should have remembered a lesson I learned a long time ago – anything worthwhile is never easy or cheap. I was real excited when I turned on my laptop and saw the little signal in the menu bar up at the top indicating I was receiving an Internet connection. That excitement didn’t last long because when I opened my browser, I got that dreaded message – server cannot be found. And sure enough, no matter where I looked or how long I looked the server could not be found. Since looking for a server was no fun I decided to do something else that was fun. I went back to the dorms, washed up, and went over to the cafeteria for lunch. Shortly after lunch it was finally time to head off to the track in order to be ready for the men’s 100 semifinals. Sunday’s schedule included three running finals. Tiffany Ross-Williams won the 400H in 54.03. Lashinda Demus, who ran for Long Beach Poly, I believe, just missed the team as she finished in 4th place. Bernard Jackson won the men’s 400H in 48.17. My favorite field event is the pole vault and we had great seats for viewing that contest. Experience paid off in this event as 35 year old Derek Miles cleared 19 feet 1/4 inch to finish on top while 40 year old Jeff Hartwig (some people are grandpas by that age), competing in his 5th Olympic Trials, soared over 18 feet 8.25 inches to take second place. One nice thing the meet organizers did was to schedule the best for last on this 3rd day of track and field. (Personally I think that revenue from TV contracts might have had something to do with their scheduling decisions, but what do I know?) Why was the 100 meters the best? Simply because it produced the fastest time ever run in the world for 100 meters under any conditions. And who won? The guy that was lucky to get out of the first round where he finished 4th, Tyson Gay. Since his margin of victory over the rest of the field was clear, the only thing we needed after his race was the time. When his 9.68 popped up about 3 seconds after the race (thanks to the modern miracle of electronic timing) there wasn’t anyone left sitting in their seats as the fans yelled, screamed, and clapped their little paws silly realizing that they had just witnessed something that had never happened before in the history of sports. Don’t look for Gay’s record run to be found in the record books however, because, as the headlines in the local paper up here put it, his new record was Gone With the Wind (remember that book/movie?) For record purposes the wind at a sprinter’s back cannot exceed 2.0 meters per second and for Gay, the wind chasing him down the center of the track was 4.4 meters per second. Sunday’s meet was over about 5pm so we were able to eat our dinner at the cafeteria as opposed to getting a sandwich at Hammys. With so much daylight left, (doesn’t get dark here till after 9pm) I decided to head back to Allann’s Coffee Co. where I had been able to post my first blog from Eugene. After my 3 mile ride, I get into the coffee shop, turn on my computer, and wait expectantly for internet connection. It never happened, no matter what I did to get on-line. Finally I asked one of the gals working there if the had a password or something I needed to access the internet and she apologetically said that their WiFi had been out all day and they hadn’t been able to get it working. So I ended the day as I started it, not being able to get on-line. One good thing happened though. Instead of having to ride back to the dorms on the city street bike paths, I discovered a bicycle/walking path that runs through the forest and along the Willamette River and dumps me off right near the University. What a great, fun ride that is.

Day One (out of sequence)

Yesterday I accidently posted Day 2 instead of day 1. I thought about skipping Day 1 altogether but my inbox has been has been flooded with thousands of e-mails requesting a posting of Day 1 so here it is for the one or two people who will read it.

(06/27/08)
Day one of the trials got off to a great start. I woke up about 6 o’clock and decided to go out for a short jog. My jogs are definitely short and slow these days because of my neuropathy but I enjoy them so much that it is worth the discomfort they bring to my feet. The first thing you notice when you hit the ground running is that you are not alone. Everywhere you look there are people out running and jogging. The guy next to you could be Joe Jogger who plods along like I do, or it could be an elite runner who is entered in the Olympic Trials. It is not too difficult to tell the two apart. After my attempt at jogging I joined my friends at the all you can eat breakfast buffet where I quickly undid any health benefits that I might have achieved through my morning jog. After breakfast I had some time to kill (I hate that phrase because the older I get the more cognoscente I am of how little time I really have left and God keeps reminding me that I am suppose to be redeeming the time I have left and not killing it) so I did a little reading, rested my eyes (do I need to translate that expression for you?) ate some lunch, and then decided to make a dry run up to the track to check out our seats and to watch the high hurdle heats of the heptathlon which started at 1PM. The other guys didn’t want to get to the track until 5:30 because that’s when the real interesting events started. The first thing I learned was that security at these trials is really stringent. In order to get to the track you have to go through a security check similar to that of an airport. Once you get through that you need to walk through the street fair that stretches around two sides of the track. I enter the track from the east side where the ticket taker examines you ticket and runs an electronic scanner over the bar code on your ticket to make sure it is not bogus. You can’t take food or water into the stadium but you can take an empty water bottle in and fill it up at one of the drinking fountains. So, that’s the first thing I did. Then I headed up the stairs of Sec. P to row 25. What an amazing view of the whole track. We look down on the backstretch almost right across from the finish line. With a good pair of binoculars you can see just about every event. The toughest to follow from our seats are the long jump and triple jump. I no sooner settled down in my seat than the high hurdles began. Normally the heptathlon high hurdles are not very special but the few fans in the seats for this event were treated to something special when, in Heat 2, Hyleas Fountain ran 12.65 to set a new American Record previously held by Jackie Joyneer-Kersee. Her time was also the second fastest time ever run in the world. So, by making the extra effort to come early I was treated to a bit of history. After the hurdles I headed out with most of the fans that came to see the hurdles. (only the most die hard of die-hard fans stuck around for the field events of the heptathlon) After spending some time wondering through the street fair, I went to University Village. I found a bike shop where I was able to rent a bike for $60 a week. (my first bike didn’t cost that much and I owned it but these bikes are not you grandparent’s bikes—they are high tec and ride like a dream) Eugene is the most bike friendly city I know of. There are almost as many bike paths as there are streets for cars and you can get all over the city on a bike. Biking is such a big part of transportation up here that the meet organizers have a special bicycle lot where they have free valet parking for people who ride their bikes to the meet. Back at the track in the late afternoon it was fun to see the meet kick off with a special introduction of the 1980 Olympic Team Members. (if you recall, that was the team that never got to go over to the Games in Moscow because our county (Jimmy Carter) decided to boycott the Games because of Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. (kind of ironic because look where we are now). It was neat watching two of my favorite athletes, Mary Slaney and Steve Scott take their honor walk around the track. Then the real fun began. We watched Adam Nelson step in the ring and with one throw hit the automatic qualifying mark in the shot put. In the women’s 100, Marshevet Hooker looked good leading all qualifiers for tomorrows semi-finals with a time of 10.76w. And, really surprising and exciting was to see Jeshua Anderson become the fastest qualifier in the 400 H with a time of 49.05. Anderson comes out of Taft High School and is only a freshman at Washington State. All you City track athletes and fans know all about Jeshua and I’m sure are rooting as hard as I am for him to make the Olympic Team but remember he is only a freshman and the whole cast of established stars in this event are still around and will follow him in to tomorrows semi-final. Maybe you think that perfect 10s only happen in gymnastics but the 10K final here tonight was a Perfect 10. Flanagan proved that our food for thought was a mute point as she broke Mary Slaney’s Hayward Field record with her time of 31:34.81. She pulled two other exzooberant runners onto the Olympic team along with her, Kara Goucher and Yoder Begley. Begley was especially overcome with joy as her 3rd place time of 31:43.60 also gave her her first A qualifying standard for the Olympic Games. Day One was really One Day to remember. Can’t wait to see what Day Two holds in store. (06-27-08)

A great link to info and pictures of the Olympic Trials can be found here:

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/OT/Home/index.csp