AN EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME

BEIJING DAY 3-7 – August 9-15, 2008

The Beijing experience has been so great! The village is amazing with so many things to do although I have not made time to indulge. I have been trying to stay off my feet and out of the heat. When my races are over I’m going to try to see all there is to see out here!

I did get a chance to whoop up on Selim (my teammate, fellow hurdler, soon to be training partner and dear friend) in some air hockey!!! Its so hard not to be competitive. (Oh I guess I should mention how he clobbered me in fussball… ugh!) J

 

Its fun to see everyone

Exchanging pins…

Shopping for souvenirs…

Taking lots of pictures…

Eating lots of food…

And best of all…being in the Olympic spirit!

OPENING CEREMONIES- ALL I CAN SAY IS WOW!!!

BEIJING DAY 2 – August 8, 2008

 The Opening Ceremonies took place this evening and I knew I wanted to be a part of it. Regardless of the long waiting and standing on our feet for hours, I could not imagine missing the opportunity of being a part of the opening ceremonies of my very first Olympic Games. And I’m glad I didn’t miss it… phenomenal! By the time it was our turn to walk out onto the track, my feet felt like they were on fire from all the standing and walking we had to do, after all we were country #61, with so many still behind us. As we stepped out, flag waving to be presented to a packed stadium audience, my heart raced and my spirit soured. I celebrated as I knew best with singing and dancing… and the world witnessed my joy as the camera focused in (if only for a moment) on this girl’s first official Olympic experience. I thank God!

OLYMPIC DREAM COME TRUE

yeah!!! That’s Selim and I in first class

BEIJING DAY 1 – August 6/7 2008

 

After running my last minute errands in the morning, I met my teammate and dear friend, Selim Nurudeen at LAX to take our flight to Tokyo. We are about to be Olympians! I suggested to Selim that he change his seat to sit next to me because I had gotten an exit row and there was no one sitting next to me. Everyone who we talked to in the process was super excited that we were on our way to Beijing for the Olympics. The bug is in the air and everyone’s catching it! We were so excited when one of the check-in agents decided to bless us by upgrading us to first class seats! WOW! In our excitement we couldn’t help but think that this is the beginning of what will prove to be an amazing experience. We thank God and pray that our athletic performances and event experiences will prove to be more of the same… A blessing.

 

10 ½ hours flew by in relaxation and video entertainment! I gotta do this first class traveling more often! wink

The second flight was not as exciting since first class was full and we had to take our original middle seats toward the back of the plane. But it didn’t matter… I was on my way to the Olympics!!! Whoo hoo!