The Olympic Trials!

Last week, our coach friend (and Jay's middle school running coach), Dan Winger, sent us a text: "I have three tickets to the Olympic Trials next Thursday. Do you want to come?" Our answer was an immediate "We're in!" It would be a five hour drive to Eugene, Oregon from our house--right on the edge of doable round trip in one day. We figured with three drivers, it would work great. So we cashed in all kinds of familial and neighborly goodwill to find places for our kids to stay while we were gone, and the big day quickly came!

On Thursday, June 24th, after the kids' morning swim team practice and after Jeff and I coached our high school cross country team summer training practice, we all came home and took turns showering and getting ready to go to our various destinations. Rose and Amber were headed to Grandview to spend the night with their cousins. Jay was going next door to spend the night with his best buddy Ian. Jeff and I had to leave before our kids (not my favorite), so I let them turn on a cartoon while the girls waited to be picked up, to protect Amber from her own adventurous self. Before I turned to Netflix, Amber was riding her bike in socks, no helmet, along the canal. Not a great activity for an unsupervised 6 year old to do, haha. The girls were picked up a little while after we left home, and Jay headed next door soon after.

Dan Winger met us at our house and at 10am we hit the road to Eugene (aka Track Town USA). Jeff drove, Dan rode shotgun at my insistence, and I sat in the back. While we drove, I asked Dan to tell us his story, because I knew he was an amazing runner and had a long history with the sport, but I didn't know many details since just met him this spring. He shared a super interesting awesome real-life story of grit and fitness and overcoming challenges. My favorite part was when he got to college at UW on a running scholarship, he didn't know that the cross country race was a 10k (twice as far as high school), so in his first race as a freshman he went out at a 4:30 mile pace with "some guy named Steve Prefontaine", who subsequently ran him into the ground. Dan finished near the back of the pack in that race and "decided he needed to get stronger" for future races. BUT SERIOUSLY! It was a runner's paradise, listening to such an awesome real-life stories from a white-mustached guy riding shotgun in my minivan.

Dan Winger admitted to "testing" us to assess the extent of our running dedication/nerdiness. When he moved to the Yakima Valley a few years ago, he started searching for a running program to get involved in. Several other schools failed his cloaked runner's tests, but Jeff impressed him. Dan said he tosses out random comments to see how Jeff responds, and so far every response from Jeff has confirmed that Jeff is deep enough into running and knowledgeable enough of running to fit what Dan was looking for to work with in his retirement. With a grin, he said that this trip to the trials was another test. Our immediate response of "we're in!" made him so happy and confirmed our place on the running nerd spectrum. For the record, I am a running nerd, but I doubt that I could pass very many of Dan Winger's tests because he is next-level, so thank goodness for Jeff! Haha.

Anyways, it was cool to hear his story while we drove southwest towards Eugene, Oregon and the mecca of track and field. We stopped south of Portland for a late lunch, and Dan took the wheel afterwards, driving us the rest of the way in to Eugene. We parked at a hotel where Dan's longtime running buddy was staying with his wife and daughter, and we walked over to Hayward Field with them. It was refreshing and intimidating to talk with people who had so much running experience and knowledge!

To gain admission to the University of Oregon's pristine newly finished gorgeous Hayward Field complex, we had to have our electronic tickets scanned and show our Covid vaccine cards (so we didn't have to wear masks in some areas). Only empty water bottles were allowed through the gate, and bags had to be clear. It was an interesting combination of Covid precautions and Olympics security. Once we were past the entrance checkpoints, Jeff and I went straight into the stadium itself. We had to wear masks while walking around in there but not while sitting (?) thanks to very strange Oregon Covid guidelines. But whatever, we were THERE at the Olympic trials!!

The track and field and stadium were practically perfect and there wasn't a bad seat in the place. It was 89 degrees and our seats were in full direct sunlight, though, so Jeff and I were drenched in sweat about one minute after we sat down. We kept getting up and taking breaks in the shady area behind the stands on the middle level, where there was a wide track circling the inner sanctum. There were plenty of water bottle filling stations and bathrooms out there too. 

We walked around the entire perimeter of the arena on the track behind the seating and admired all of the sights: We saw famous athletes warming up on the 3 lane warmup track. (those 1500 meter men are tiny!) There were roped-off VIP areas, and we even saw at least two recognizable athletes! What a walk! We paused our walk for the national anthem, and it was just so Olympic-ish and awesome to hear the national anthem at the Olympic trials. 

We sat behind the men's world record holder in the discus once, and when we moved to shadier seats, we sat across the aisle from an 800 meter runner who we had just watched race on NBC the day before. It was the strangest kind of deja-vu over and over. I'd recognize a face and wonder why they looked familiar, then Jeff would tell me what event they did and immediately it would click. Another amusing element in the mix was realizing that most of these world class athletes were also younger than us. Getting older is a wild ride!

The meet itself was run as smooth as butter. The athletes walked out onto the track right before their races, single file, following an official. They were introduced to the crowd over the loudspeaker, shook out their legs a few times, toed the line, and then pow, off they went on their race! Efficiency was the name of the game. Right when one heat finished, another single file line of the next heat's competitors walked out and took their positions. The aids and workers were everywhere carrying gear and setting up equipment so efficiently, I barely noticed them until I did notice them, and then I couldn't stop watching their carefully choreographed setup/takedown routines. Hayward Field knows how to run a meet.

The crowd knew to get quiet when the starter called the runners to the start line, and sitting in a massive stadium full of silent people collectively holding their breaths while the starter raised his gun and the runners leaned over the line was deliciously suspenseful. Being part of the energy in such a huge group of people who knew things like "quiet for the start" was electrifying!

Every time something extra excellent happened, I choked up a little. It was just so neat to see it happen in real time rather than the edited clips you get from watching TV coverage. The women's shot put competition was going on for a long time in centerfield, and every time there was a break between races, the crowd would gasp and ooooh at especially far throws. We saw the Olympic Trials record broken TWICE in the women's shot put, by two different women! So COOL! There was always something to watch, somewhere to look. The flawless scheduling made sure of that. 

Preliminaries we watched: the women's pole vault, women's shot put, women's discus, men's 1500m (3 heats), women's 800m (5 heats), women's 200m (4-5 heats--hi, Allyson Felix!), the men's 400m hurdles, and the men's 5,000m (2 heats). I think the only final we saw was the women's 3000m steeplechase, but what a final it was! Wow. Such a gritty race with the chiseled steeple veteran Emma Coburn breaking away to finish in first place for her second Olympic trials in a row after all kinds of shuffling and stumbling among the field. And she set an Olympic trials record! The energy in the stands was electric! I felt all of the feelings.

On that high note, we joined the throngs and headed out of the stadium, back across the street, and to our van parked at the hotel. We already want to go back sometime to see more of the Prefontaine running mecca of Eugene! We said goodbye to Dan Winger's friends and began the long 5 hour drive home. It was just after 9pm. Jeff drove the first 2 hours, then Dan took the wheel and we FLEW home. He told me "I drive like I race." Which is to say, fast and fierce. I had to close my eyes to cope, haha. It's not like he was a dangerous driver, he was just not as deliberate as Jeff and I drive, and everything feels faster in the dark. There was a full moon so it wasn't that thick pitch dark going over Satus Pass, thankfully, but still. I dozed for about an hour of the drive, but then felt too cold and uncomfy to actually sleep, so I just endured. We turned on a Harry Potter audiobook for entertainment, of course.

We pulled into our driveway around 2:45am. Dan got his bag out of the trunk, said goodbye and thanks for coming, and climbed into his car. We thanked him again for inviting us, and then he left and we entered our silent kid-free house. We were too gross from dried sweat and sunscreen to collapse into bed like we wanted to, so we showered and then finally stumbled into bed around 3:30am--exact times are a tad fuzzy. The sun woke us up at 6am, and we slowly peeled ourselves out of bed to go run summer training for the cross country team.

Our family was reunited once again right around 24 hours after we parted. 

What a whirlwind of a 24 hours! The long drive and dividing our children between neighbors and relatives was totally worth it to see those amazing athletic performances. I am still in awe that we were there. We had an absolutely phenomenal time at Hayward Field, surrendering to our inner running nerd and watching our country's best compete. 5 hour drive to Eugene, 5 hours at the track, 5 hour drive home: worth it.

Sweating profusely, but loving life.

Outside the stadium.

With Dan Winger out front.

That tall hall of fame tower was closed so we couldn't check out all of the memorabilia from the running greats, but it looked cool poking out of the ground on one side of the stadium.

Track vibes! The beginning of the pole vaulting prelims.

The three-lane warmup track! There was also a track underneath the main track, but that was athlete access only, so we gazed upon the outdoor warmer-uppers for a bit until it felt creepy, then continued our walk. 

Hiiii, Allyson Felix! (#4, navy blue w/white shoes, middle of my very zoomed in picture). Superstar-mom sprinter and 6 time Olympian who came back as strong as ever after giving birth to her daughter just over 2 years ago.

The start of Allyson Felix's heat of the 200m prelims (with her name on the board by lane 1). Spoiler alert: she qualified. Also, her sponsor is one of my favorite women's clothing stores: Athleta.

A heat of the men's 1500 on the straightaway. It was so much cooler on this side of the track! After we had been sitting and sweating in our sunny assigned section for around 3 hours, an official came over and started telling people they could go to the shady side and choose any empty seat on the 200 (upper) level. We snagged seats right on the finish line!

Women's steeplechase final! Highlight of the night! Emma Coburn in action is a formidable sight. Her abs alone are probably bulletproof, not to mention her game face.

Meanwhile, back in Sunnyside, the Andersons took Jay and Ian to the first swim meet of the season. We were sad to miss it, but there will be another one next week. And another, and another...

Jay and Ian, "camping out" in the backyard.

Zzzzz

One last commemorative Hayward Field selfie! I'd say this was a bucket list event, but that implies that it was a one-time thing. We'll be back someday!