Track and Field Blogs - Josh McAdams

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Leo and I were out by 9:40pm and up at 6:30am. Pluses and negatives to that. The plus is that I get to talk to Whit first thing in the morning. The negative is that you sit around until 8:30am when the bus leaves for the practice track. Then you don’t start your workout til about 9:45am and it’s hotter and more humid than ever. The workout wnet okay. 8x400m@59-60 seconds with 90 seconds rest between each. I went over the hurdles on the even laps. I hit all the times I needed to, but I still don’t feel as sharp as I should. It felt much worse than it usually does up at altitude in Provo, Utah. But sometimes you don’t feel great in races and you just have to gut it out.

It was really a short day. After getting back from the track, Leo and I grabbed lunch, I hit the showers, and we packed our stuff for the trip back to Beijing. I gave some of the security guards signed New Balance posters and exchanged email addresses.

Unlike most travel itineraries, we only left 2 hours and 40 minutes before our flight departed as opposed to 4 hours before. So we only had to sit at the airport for an hour. My flight consisted of finding out that Bella now knows that Edward is a vampire and she is dangerously secure around him. They are about to go on their first trip to Seattle. Isn’t wonderful that I can be in China at the Olympics, and in a mystical teenage vampire romance at the same time? But the Twighlight movie comes out soon, and the new book just came out a few days ago. I’m as excited as a teenage girl on prom night. J

On the bus ride from the airport, Anthony Famaglietti and I shared old BB gun war stories from when we were kids and the torment our parents went through. He had some good ones, but considering my younger brother Andy still has a BB stuck in his cheek, I think I got ‘em. I have about 5 stories to most others’ one. But that’s how it is when you grow up with 8 kids.

We got in around 8:30pm, went for a 30 minute jog, and then went straight to the dining hall. The food was delicious in Dalian with our personal American chef, but here it seems that there’s so much more of a healthy selection. Here you can get your steamed veggies with nothing on it. There’s not all the dressings of butter, salt, and oil. You can put that stuff on later if that’s what you want. This is much more like Whit’s cooking back home.

Leo and I hit the hay a little late around 11pm. Our room is tiny. I’ll send a pic later. And our first night wasn’t too good. Leo kept making some grunting noise like a mosquito was annoying him. Well I guess it was me snoring. Finally, he just said, “Josh, man. You’re snoring.” So that annoying thing was me. I rarely snore, and of course I said sorry and in the future to just yell at me. While we laid there trying to fall asleep I said, “Is it hot in here?” The air conditioner wasn’t making any sound. Our power went out so I had to go to the breaker box in the hall and flip it. It wasn’t too bad but I couldn’t find my glasses with all the water bottles and junk on my night stand. So I had to scan through the breaker box at like 2 inches away. My wife will tell you it’s pretty entertaining to watch me try and read without my glasses. Then we slept well.

Friday, August 8, 2008 Day of Opening Ceremonies

Lopez Lamong was with our breakfast group this morning and said he had been live on NBC’s Morning Show. He will be the flag bearer for the USA tonight. Back in Dalion we had a selection procedure to decide who would be nominated among all USA athletes to carry the flag. We were supposed to say why we should carry the flag. When the lady asked, “Now all of you who want to carry the flag can stay up there and tell us why you want to carry the flag.” Prior to this I and others had told Lopez we would nominate and vote for him. I was going to stay up there and say vote for Lopez because…but everyone sat down leaving Lopez up there by himself. How awesome was that! Then he told the story that he told me on the way from the U.S. to China. Incredible! He deserves it. He embodies what our country is about. He is a devout Christian who acknowledges that God plays a role in our lives. He is grateful for the experiences he has had. He enjoys every moment out here. He just has an incredible aura about him. I feel privileged to have been able to know him personally on our flights and runs together.

Funny story from a few days ago. After a horse track run, I was talking to some of the student translators. I have been wondering how the Chinese use keyboards when their alphabet is more like each character is a word. They said that a symbol could be a few sounds. Okay I thought. So I asked how many vowels are in the Mandarin language. He scratched his head and said, “I think, hmm, maybe too many.” Classic!

And one more story from Tuesday that I forgot to put in. While we were downtown shopping with our undercover security escorts, we went to cross this side street. These cars were rolling through and the security guy steps out and puts up his hand for them to stop. This guy starts honking at us, and our security guy just pulls up the side of his shirt to reveal his pistol on his waist. Needless to say the guy stopped honking. Flash a badge or gun? I guess either way it takes care of business. The Chinese are looking after us.

After breakfast we walked back to our dorms and there were a bunch of ladies stretching in front of our USA building. What sport? is a fun little game we like to play. So I said softball and Leo wasn’t sure. So I asked them and they said field hockey. One of the women said, “What sport did you think?” Gulp. Leo said, pointing at me, “He said softball.” Ouch. For those of you who may not know, generally speaking, softball players are built much like male baseball players. So that probably wasn’t very flattering. I recovered with, “I was gonna say, ‘This is the best looking women’s softball team I’ve ever seen.’” And that won them over. Leo had this big ‘ole Manzano grin like, “Man that was slick” In the elevator he said, “Smooth pickups are wasted on married men.”

We have a team meeting today for the opening ceremonies at 3pm. I still need to iron my Ralph Lauren suit and shave before heading out. I anticipate putting in some good stuff tonight. About 8 hours til opening ceremonies.