Travel to China

I feel like I have been traveling for a week now.  My trip started out with a five and half hour flight from Atlanta to San Fransisco.  After 2 days in California I had a thirteen hour flight from San Fransisco to Beijing.  We checked into the village and stayed one night then we traveled to training camp on the coast of China.  There’s been a lot of packing and repacking and hanging out in airports so far, but it’s been fun.

The best part is I am not alone I am traveling with several of my teammates including my training partner Kristin.  We are keeping ourselves entertained.   We are finally settled here in camp and are here for a while.  The facilities here are very nice and we are being treated 1st class all the way.  Today’s weather is beautiful as well.  I was a little nervous when we arrived yesterday to cool weather and rain.  But today it’s very nice, pretty blue skies and 83 degrees.

One of the coolest thing I got to see while in California was a life like statue of John Carlos and Tommie Smith from the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.  Here are a few pictures from the trip so far.

         

Travel Excitement

I know travelling to different to places can seem glamorous but I have to tell you about my return trip from Maui.  I left the hotel at 12pm local time for my 2pm flight from Maui to Honolulu.  It was a short 30min flight.  My next flight from Honolulu to Los Angeles wasn’t leaving until 10:30pm  so I had eight hours to kill.  Will Conwell, US discus thrower, my training partner in Seattle, WA reminded me we had some Huskies on the island.  Lauren a former runner for the huskies lives there but she was coaching at the high school state meet.  But another husky came to my rescue, Blake a former decathlete for the huskies was there on vacation.

We found a place to have lunch and they took me to a beautiful beach.  It was relaxing watching all of the kids playing and there was guy who was rowing around standing on a surf board.  It was pretty cool to watch, it looked like a really hard workout.  We took a short driving tour and then it was time to head back to the airport.

My flight was a little late leaving and by the time we landed in LA I had 10min. to get to my connecting flight to Memphis.  My mad dash began and I made the flight.  I got to Memphis and was thankful to have only 1 flight left, 50 min. and I would be off to Atlanta.  We boarded the flight as usual but the plane was having issues and we stayed parked at the gate for about an hour.  Then they had all of us get off the plane so they could fix it.  We waited about another hour still no word.  Finally the gate agent started booking people on later flights.  I was able to get on a later flight on a different airline. 

After a short 50min flight from Memphis to Atlanta my trip was almost done.  I just had an hour drive left to Auburn, AL.  I couldn’t get there fast enough, I was missing my baby and just wanted to see him.  He waited up for me and gave me the biggest hug.  That hug made me forget about the 30 hours it took to get from Maui to Auburn.

Travel to Osaka, Japan

I was lucky to have some travel partners for this long trip.  Dean Griffiths 400m Hurdler for Jamaica and Markita James 400m Hurdler for USA, both train at Auburn University, were also travelling to Osaka, Japan.  We had a short flight from Atlanta, GA to Detroit, then a 13 hour flight from Detroit to Osaka.  The flight although long was pretty smooth, very little turbulence and pretty relaxing.  I was lucky to get an exit row seat and had a little more leg room.  I was able to stay awake for all 3 of the in-flight movies, National Treasure, Dan in Real Life and 27 Dresses.

The Northwest Airline flight attendants were very nice.  Several of them thought I was a basketball player, but were very excited to learn I was a discus thrower.  We had 3 more athletes join us on flight from Detroit to Osaka and the flight attendant made an announcement wishing all of us good luck in the Osaka Grand Prix and Beijing Olympics.

When we landed the Osaka Grand Prix welcome committee was there to meet us.  Then we had about an hour and a half drive from the airport to the Hotel.  The Hotel is very nice, we are staying at the Rihga Royal, http://www.rihga.com/osaka/index.html  By the time we got to the hotel there was time for dinner and then straight to bed.

Travel to UCSD

After the Mt Sac relays I flew home to Seattle for a few days.  I was able to get some great training sessions in and say hello to some family and friends.  The trip was to short, I had to fly back to Los Angeles, CA. Thursday morning.  After landing we drove to San Diego, CA.  I compete on Friday at 2pm in the UCSD Triton Invite, here in San Diego, CA.

Travel to Mt. Sac Relays

The trip to the Mt Sac relays started with a 1 hour drive from Auburn, AL to the airport in Atlanta, GA. I didn’t have to travel alone I had 2 travel partners with me, my son Theo and training partner Kristin. We had a nice flight and the best part, it was non stop to Los Angeles, CA. I compete on Sunday April, 20th at 3pm.