Opening Ceremonies

To those of you who took the time out to watch the Opening Ceremonies, thank you. It was great to read emails and messages from my friends and family who watched it happen!
I can officially say I've walked the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. What an honor. It was quite an experience, both positive and negative. The torch lighting ceremony was magnificent. It was definitely my favorite part. Just as important was the fact that I walked with my teammate, Rehan Poncha. Over the past year I've told Rehan that I will not walk the Opening in Beijing alone; I wanted to see him right alongside me. To see this dream of ours come true is surreal. It's sort of an “is this really happening?” feeling. I figure getting married is somewhat similar. Kipp and Bartel: get back to me on that one.

The trek getting to the Opening Ceremony was a lot of bus riding, sitting and waiting, as well as walking around near the National Stadium. There was a giant snaking line leading from the Gymnasium where we were seated all the way towards our entryway into the National Stadium on opening night. That's all fine and dandy...but the heat was BRUTAL! The moment you step outside here in Beijing, it's like being hit by a misty wall of sauna heat. It doesn't go away until you get yourself indoors. For whatever reason, the day of the Opening Ceremony was particularly bad. We were breaking a sweat INDOORS as well. Eventually everyone sort of gave up on the idea of looking fresh. We were perspiring like it was going out of style. It wore many of us down to the point where we were lying on the floor of the stadium, hoping and praying that the event would finish soon. That and our legs were definitely sore from standing around and walking for so long. It's surprising that the simple act of standing and walking can be so exhausting. I woke up the next morning terribly dehydrated (my pee was golden brown) and the dehydration lasted all day long. I felt dizzy and as if I were coming down with a nasty viral infection. I think I'm finally at the point where I'm recovered and feeling fresh again. It's taken a lot of conscious effort to recover though. I did everything from taking regular drinks of water, vitalyte and tea; swimming a few thousand easy yards; full body stretching; “going horizontal” (lying down) as well as avoiding going outdoors into the heat when it's unnecessary. While I was half-thinking that I may have sacrificed a bit in terms of performance, I think I'll be alright considering I have four more days to recover.

As I'm sure many of you know times so far have been incredibly fast. Props to Sandeep Sejwal for going a 1:02.19 in the 100 Breastroke, a new national record and a ridiculously fast time. It's just a matter of time Sandeep before you're a key player on the International Scene.

Another congrats out to Larsen and Ous for their performances in the 400m freestyle finals. For those of you who don't know, Ous swam that with a herniated disc in his back. He toughed it out and still managed a personal best and 5th place at the Olympics – not bad I say.
I still have 4 days to go. Salo has me doing a 50 sprint for time tomorrow just to wake myself up and remind myself how to race. Other than that, I'm resting and getting ready.