Competition Day 9

I did my final run in England before I'll head home.  I went for one more run around the Royal Parks so I could see Buckingham Palace one more time and run in Hyde Park where I did my long run.  It went well and I've recovered well from the 25 miler.

I loved my bus ride today.  I went with Raj, a volunteer who lives here, and met a couple of Japanese hurdlers.  I'm so limited in my conversation in Japanese, but it sure is fun to try.  We talked about some people on the Japanese team and what Japan is like.  They were very friendly and happy to visit.  I will be at the track all day today.  I'm starting this in between events.  The decathlon is going on, so there are events to film all day.  The decathlon pole vault is about to begin.  Our medal hope fell in the hurdles and fouled all of his discus throws.  The relays all advanced as event winners.  The 4x100s are tonight and 4x400s tomorrow.

After the morning session which went well for all four US relays, I went to the mall to get lunch.  I found a Marks and Spencers and a food court.  I was disappointed by the food court.  I had McDonalds, Subway, KFC, and other American-like fast food places.  So, I went to M & S to get a sandwich, salt and vinegar crisps, and a Battenberg Cake.  I'll try to share it with Andy and Tyler, but they are not back to the track yet.  The men's 5k with Mo Farah is tonight, so it's sold out.  The 4x100 finals are tonight too.  This will be an exciting evening.

 They have fun with the scoreboard and other things to get the crowd entertained while nothing is going on.  Today, the whole stadium was singing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life".

The 5k was exciting!  Mo Farah was the big hope for a gold in the stadium.  With a lap to go, there were four runners in it.  Two Ethiopians were leading with Mo and Paul Chelimo (USA) right behind.  On the final lap, one Ethiopian faded.  Paul came up on Mo and looked to pass him.  Mo held him off and with a close finish Mo was silver and Paul bronze.  The stadium was so loud!!  They were disappointed the Mo couldn't pull it off.  However, after the race, Mo was gracious in his on track interview and they showed a highlight of his career on the track.  He is retiring from track now and will do some racing on the roads. He'll have to watch out for Jared though.

The 4x100m relays were exciting too.  USA won the women's with GBR silver.  The men's had GBR ahead of USA. After doing some measurements, it seems the first leg was too slow for USA and they couldn't overcome the deficit even though each of the other three legs ran faster for USA.  Jamaica was not doing well and halfway through the anchor leg, Usain Bolt pulled up with probably a hamstring strain and didn't finish.