Day 1 of Competiion

A Queen Victoria memorial in Kensington Gardens

The rose garden at Kensington

The start to the day was perfect other than being very tired when it was time to get up.  Yesterday, I met Emily Sisson (shes in the 10k tomorrow) who old me that it's pretty easy to get to Hyde park to run.  I got on the underground from St Paul's to Hyde Park Corner.  The park was great for running in.  There were quite a few runners there and a drinking fountain.  I did my long run today (18 miles) because tomorrow (Saturday) has a morning session.  It's definitely easier to run faster at sea level than in Provo.  The park is attached to Kensington Palace and Gardens.  It took a little over 3 laps around Hyde and Kensington.  I felt pretty comfortable about not getting lost after a couple of laps.  My worry was finding the hotel from the train station.  It all worked out fine though.  There was a drinking fountain in the park.  That was my other worry.  There are not many toilets or drinking fountains here compared with America.









Lunch was good.  They don't have any treats out.  So much as I would like some good English desserts, it's kind of nice to leave a meal only eating nice tasting food without dessert.  I had baked tuna and fruit.

The men's 10k last night was incredible.  It was so much fun to be there.  My view was excellent!  We never know if we'll be in the right place for filming what we've been sent here for.  My job was to film the Americans in long jump, discus, and pole vault.  Things went well.  It's lucky that I have the right equipment.  It's good to work for BYU!  I really like the two new cameras I have and the expensive lenses make a huge difference.  It is challenging to keep aware of when any American is up.  Sometimes they are going at the same time in different events.  I SURE COULD USE AN ASSISTANT!  You know who you are.

Mo Farah was the excitement of last night.  This is his last season of track.  He's switching to road now.  The first lap was taken out in 61 seconds.  That's 4:04 min/mi pace.  So, the field spread out right from the start.  Mo and most of the American's hung out in the back running a little more conservatively to start.  After 10 laps, Mo moved up a few spots.  The crowd got behind him and anticipation grew.  Whenever he moved up a little, the crown would roar with excitement.  A couple of Americans faded when the pace got too hot in the last 3k, but Shadrak Kipchirchir (USA) hung right onto the lead pack of 10.  With 600 to go, Shadrak faded and finished 9th.  When the last lap came and there were a few runners all together, the crowd got incredibly loud.  He stumbled on the second to last turn and stepped on the inside of the track.  He stumbled again on the backstretch.  Somehow, he recovered from that and had a great final 200m to wind by about half a second.  The stadium was filled with a very satisfied crowd.  Mo will run the 5k on the final day.

Usain Bolt also ran and qualified for today's semifinal and final.  The Americans also advanced.  Justin Gatlin got booed when he was announced and when he won his heat.  He was caught for drug use a few years ago and the crowd does not think he should still be competing.  The NCAA champion, Christain Coleman moved on.  I would like him to win.  He is a younger American that has been impressing people all year long.  He's not the favourite, but has a good shot at a medal.  He destroyed the NFL Combine 40yd record this year to show that track sprinters are much faster than football players.  He even did it in cleats on a turf field like the combine does.

A lot of medal ceremonies are being redone from previous world championships due to drug cheats being caught.  The US women's 4x400 got theirs last night.  Natosha Rogers is one of them.  She is Meghan's favourite runner right now.

As a side note, here are some of the things I've been remembering about England.

• The food is really good
• Fun memories came back when I ran around London and saw various sites
• Instead of individual urinals, some places have long pee troughs.  For whatever reason, I had forgotten about those.