Last year Jason and I missed celebrating our anniversary because he was doing a volunteer rotation at the USOC training center in Colorado Springs hoping for an invitation to the Olympics someday. The rotation was a great experience and he left feeling like he would be invited to help with future events but he thought and invitation to Rio in 2016 was a long shot for someone as new to the program as he was. What a thrill it was when he received the invitation in January! He felt a little bad about missing our anniversary last year but so much of our marriage has been about supporting each other in achieving our goals that I didn't mind too much. He is my constant support in my success as an athlete and I have definitely put in years and years supporting him in his career. We commemorated 19 years on August 14th and we celebrated together in Rio! What a great way to celebrate 19 years of working together to accomplish something amazing!
In reality though we didn't get a ton of time to spend together that day. It was the day of the women's marathon, the event I had planned the whole trip around to be there. In February it was such an amazing experience to race with the best marathoners in the country but I was so preoccupied with my own race and how I wanted to perform that I couldn't fully enjoy it. This time I just got to sit watch and cheer on the women that I had been privileged to compete with just a few months earlier and it was incredible. Jason needed to work that day but with the marathon being first thing in the morning and at the Botofogo beach area just a few metro stops away he decided to go catch a bit of the race with us. Unfortunately the metro ride wasn't quite as smooth as we anticipated. The kids and I bought an Olympic pass that gave us access to the public transit we would need later in the day but Jason just bought a single ride pass since he was returning to work. What we didn't realize is that the line we were trying to get on required the Olympic pass so the machine wouldn't give Jason his ticket. Even with Jason's Portuguese we were having a difficult time explaining to the people working what we needed. They were in the typical Brazilian way of not in any hurry to get anything done and I was starting to panic as it was getting closer and closer to the time we needed to be to the race course. I had come all this way and this was the event I really wanted to see and I was afraid we were going to miss it! In the end, we had to run several blocks down the street to catch a different line. Luckily we made it to Botofogo with about 5 or 10 minutes to spare before the runners reached that part of the course. We were at a turn around point where the runners would pass three times, 10k, 20k and 30k. It was a beautiful setting with the beach, the bay and Sugar Loaf Mountain in the background. The leaders came by with all three Americans, Shalane Flanagan, Desi Linden, and Amy Cragg in the lead pack. I was surprised to see how strung out a lot of the runners were already getting. It was a hot, humid day, definitely not ideal marathon conditions. The kids asked how I would be doing in the race and although the lead pack would have left me in the dust I could have run with the slower runners. I was intrigued about each of their stories and how they got there. Even though I have run the Olympic Qualifying mark I realized looking at each of these runners that some of them come from a life with so many more disadvantages than I do. I'm sure given many of their situations it is much more impressive for them to be there than many of the athletes that medal. I admired each of them for the strength to get there. We enjoyed watching life on the beach between laps. There were teenagers playing soccer on the beach, a lady out walking her chicken, parrots in the trees and Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the beautiful morning in Rio. Soon the runners were passing again, almost half way and the Americans were all still in the lead pack while more and more runners started to drop back. It now took almost 20 minutes for all the runners to pass. Due to the conditions many obviously weren't even going to run the qualifying mark they ran to get there. Finally the last lap was passing, the heat and humidity was getting more intense and the lead pack was breaking up. The Americans had started to drop just slightly off the few who were making a move in the lead. It was looking like it wasn't going to be an American's day to medal but a strong showing by USA with all three still in the top 10. In the end we later found out Shalane was 6th, Desi 7th and Amy 9th. If that event had been team scored the US would have taken the gold.
As soon as the runners had passed for the last time Jason rushed back to work and we got back on the metro to navigate our way across the city to Olympic Park where we had tickets to gymnastics. I was nervous about trying to find my way around on public transit without Jason but had been assured it would be the quickest and easiest way to get to events. I was pleased with how organized the transit system was. The line we were on had been shut down to the public and they were only letting people on with tickets to events. When we got to the end of the subway line we followed the crowds to the buses which took us to Olympic Park. Once we got off the bus it was a long walk to the village but they were handling the crowds well and the lines moved quickly. It took a full two hours and we made it just in time for the event finals. Kaitlyn had been saying ever since she found out we were going to the Olympics that she wanted to see gymnastics. The tickets were expensive and difficult to find but she was so excited to go. The first event was the men's floor exercise. Two Brazilians were among the first contenders and did well. They were sitting in 2nd and 3rd place. The crowd was really into it and every time another athlete would make a mistake (including two Americans) they would cheer knowing that kept the Brazilians in medal contention. The Brazilians won the silver and bronze and you would have thought it was the gold as excited as the crowd got! It was fun to watch. The next event was the women's vault where we got to see American Simone Biles, the star of gymnastics at the Olympics this year, win the gold medal. The American crowd was fairly small there so we had a great time waving our flags and cheering her on. We also watched the men's pommel horse and the women's uneven bars where we saw two more medals for the Americans.
We made it back to Ipanema late in the evening and met Jason at the USA House. We had a one day pass for all of us to go into the house but wanted to save it for a day we had more time to spend there. So we browsed the store and waited in the lobby for Jason. He ran into a two of the 10,000 meter runners and brought them up front to meet us. Here we are with Shadrack Kipchirchir and Leonard Korir. These guys were tiny and obviously super fast runners but very friendly and down to earth. They weren't the big names that were winning medals and getting the media attention but they were loving their first Olympic experience!
After dinner we were back to the hotel and crashed in bed. It had been a full day and the next day we were starting early (a pattern that didn't end until we left Rio!)
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