World Championships Preview and Day 1

So we’re here in the LOP (Land of Phil), complete with the $300m palace that the Nike founder built with the loose change he found in his sofa cushions With $41b in the bank, my man won’t be without meals anytime soon. 

But it’s kinda funny: this track is maybe a mile from where Nike began back in the 1960’s, and it’s one of the nicest venues in the world. Would have been nice for Nike to pony up for the sponsorship, but they didn’t. So everything in the vicinity of 15th and Agate is………Asics.

A quick lunch in Bend with Mom and Zoe. 

I do good mugshot….

No Nikes nowheres. Every swoosh, every mention is gone: painted over, covered up, nada, zilch. Gotta pay to play, Uncle Phil. 

The media team: Sanya Richards-Ross, Lewis Johnson, Two Guys I don’t know, and Ato Boldon. Some heavy hitters in the world of track!

My good friend Valarie, the American record holder in the discus, and reigning Olympic Champ. Actually, not my good friend nearly as much as she is of Sophie, the current Oregon State Champion in the same event. 

A drink at the rooftop Carlita’s Lounge is the best view in town. I heard we were having a full moon from the southeast, and the pix came out ok. 

I negotiated a housing back-up plan with air conditioning; the assigned dorms at Carson Hall are without, and are a Bikram yoga tinder box in summer time. Alas, my badge fails to get me into the dorm on the second day…so i have it reprogrammed by Global Services….and then it fails to get me into the dorm on the third day….so I have it reprogrammed again…I’m no longer a UO Guest, but now a UO Student…it’s all about access levels! If it still doesn’t work, I’m going to REI for rappelling gear to enter my 4th floor room from the outside. 

I’ve been here 3 days now, and each of the non-breakfast meals in the dorm included chicken. I guess eggs also count, so it’s a clean sweep. Getting a little tired of fowl, so today i locate some smoked salmon in the salad line. Not too shabby, but I know there’s a taco truck in my future. 

Incidentally, the Carson Hall dining room is allegedly the site of the famous food fight in Animal House. So I pay homage before every meal. 

During the 2014 World Junior Championships, Carson Hall hit Michelin status with amazing selctions at every meal. Clearly, the food service manager has been replaced since then. We are all underwhelmed, to say the least. 

And away we go!

4x400 mixed relay. I’m at the 200m line, and my job is the radio the running order of legs 2 and 3 to the finish line, so the folks there can place the next runners in the right order….the next runner on the first team lines up inside, then the 2nd place runner, then the 3rd….easy peasy, except some of the runners put their numbered bibs right over their country name on their singlets! I can’t read the countries….so I simply call out the colors! I’m brilliant, yes….except that one heat has three teams wearing red. 

Oh well. Not my department. 

During the 100m heats, I’m up on the concourse, where I notice Sebastian Coe coming out of Uncle Phil’s luxury box. Coe has a bit o’ Olympic hardware in his jewelry box. The spectators next to me ask if he is someone important…when I confirm, the woman unabashedly yells out “Sebastian!” He stops, smiles, and gives them a great selfie. 

I love track!

Taliyah Brooks wins the ‘best hair’ category. 

Alex, I’ll take “oh, HELL yes” for $1000…

Ashton looks angry, demented, or out of a John Carpenter flick. 

Mascot Legend making the rounds. 

Chief Umpire Dougie-Dub and Mr. Fred… the latter since has an IOU for his second Olympic Gold Medal……44.4 in 1976 is no small feat!

Eugene prides itself on being eco-friendly…that means no bottled water for umpires. But Brit Stevie (on the left) has goodies for his crew, and they deal me in. 

Team USA captains…

If you don’t know who they are, Imma have the big guy do some chiropractic work on you, and the lovely lass will then put her (very fast and prolific) track spikes on your forehead. 

The vegetarian sausage sign is a bit at odds with the salami pizza, but who knows….

A friend is sampling her way thru Portugal right now; i remain highly offended at the food pictures she posts in comparison. Thanks a lot, Liz! 

Highlight of the day: as the national national anthem singer is hitting the last few notes, we get an awesome flyover by a pair of Air National Guard F-15’s. They go over the stadium and then pull it straight up on full burner! I hear we’re getting a repeat performance tomorrow, so I’ll make sure I’m at the other end of the stadium so I can see them coming.

In the men’s 100m preliminary round, there’s a guy from Bhutan with a qualifying time of 12.05. That’s glacial for a sprinter, but this man is the best his country has, and he’s running at the world championships, so nice job dude!

#Represent

Fred Kerley runs a very easy looking 9.79 with no wind. If he gets a solid tail wind that’s under the allowable limit, he could break the American record tomorrow.

A blast from the past: I see a familiar name from the 2014 junior world championships:  Australian Pole vaulter Nina Kennedy! She made for a very memorable event the last time she was at Hayward Field. .

The Dominican Republic team pulls off a big upset and wins the 4 x 400 mixed relay. They did a really nice job on the last two legs, walking down the favored Americans. It’s always cool for me to see a small country take a big race like that. On my walk out of the stadium, I see two of the Dominican coaches and gave him a nice fist bump!

Back at the apartment, a nice little wind-down activity….

Because my room is fairly close to the pool and hot tub, the nights tends to be a bit noisy, so i use ear plugs. Like everything else in my life, I’m cold-blooded efficient…so much so, that I cannot locate one of them in the morning, but I know it’s halfway to my brain. Using the nail file on my clippers, I gently coax the sucker out. No harm, no foul!

Other than the near-deafness, a good start to the meet!