olympics

Well, I am still alive. Barely. After a week in the Olympic Village and touring around Beijing at top-speed, I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to sleep and my body is just now beginning to give in to some sort of viral invader. But I’ve had the time of my life over the past few weeks and I am sure I will have to keep telling myself that when I am relegated to my couch tomorrow and the days following, engulfed in phlegm and jet-lag.

First things first: the Final. It hasn’t been easy for me to find an angle from which to frame my experiences racing in the Olympic Final. It’s no simple task to publicly declare the ways your mind and heart attack yourself after falling short of an Olympic medal on a global stage. I’ve juggled thoughts of hope and disappointment since crossing the finish line on the 16th and nothing quite seems adequate. How could anything really bring it all together?
The few things that I have come to settle on don’t really form a cohesive picture, but they are related in some ways. And with all the comings and goings of the drastic, negative, hopeless and humble, they are what continue to fill my thoughts as I continue to sort through the aftermath of the 2008 Olympic Games.

My second trip down the course went a bit better than the first. As an athlete, you can't ask for much more than to improve your performances as you progress through your career, so to have made a substantial change from our heat to the rep feels great as we head to the Final.

It's official: I've survived my first trip down an Olympic race course. That's not to say that yesterday wasn't without it's slip-ups and memorable mishaps, but I've lived to tell the tale which is definitely a step in the right direction.

Friends:

I have had a lot of people ask about the Team USA racing schedule and results for the upcoming events in Beijing. There are lots of places to get results and updates online for my event, the Women's Double Sculls:

http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/Schedule/RO.shtml
www.row2k.com/olympics
www.worldrowing.com

You can watch ALL races LIVE at: www.nbcolympics.com

It has been a busy couple of days since we left the States, and our Olympic training schedule shows no sign of stopping or slowing down as I whittle down the days and hours until I line up for my first Olympic appearance. But I wouldn’t have it any other way—I am absolutely thrilled to be in China, and am enjoying every minute.

I have a few minutes on my hands before I have to begin preparations for departing from Lucerne. I wanted to post a quick entry to report on a fabulous weekend of racing here at the Rotsee in Lucerne. The USA crews in attendance put forth powerful performances producing medals in the men's and women's quads, the women's eight, the men's four, and twice over in the women's pairs. GO USA!!!

Hello out there from Breisach, Germany. We’re into our second week of training camp here in this quaint little German town, rowing three times a day on the Rhine. “We” consists of myself and Ellen---the sole scullers in the group—and the entirety of the women’s sweep group.

It’s a great day to have off from training. It’s still early, but the forecast is for sixty degrees, gray and rain—a perfect kind of day for lounging and watching a rousing mix of movies and daytime television programming. We get to enjoy an off day today because the last three days had all of us at PTC racing in this year’s second National Selection Regatta. I raced in the women’s double event, which had the most entries of any event this year and produced a lot of competitive racing. This was my first appearance at an NSR 2, and my second NSR ever, having only raced the double at last year’s NSR 3. Last year I placed sixth at that regatta. This year, I won.

I am shocked to find that a week has passed and a word has yet to be spoken about our embarkation unto the mandatory USOC Olympic Ambassador Program that took place January 25-26. I suppose, then, that the dubious honor of recounting our adventures at the OAP falls on my shoulders—since I am sure that the avid readers of RowCoachMedia are as excited about reading about the OAP as we were to attend.