drleskoblog

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List of Mostly Recommended Thought-Provokers

Podcasts: -S-Town Podcast - Nitty Gritty Podcast – Tyson Henderson - Rich Roll Podcast – Ed Norton

Books: -The Witches are Coming – Lindy West -Girl, Woman, Other – Bernardine Evaristo -Say Nothing – Patrick Radden Keefe -Trick Mirror – Jia Tolentino -The Likeability Trap – Alicia Menendez -The Overstory – Richard Powers -Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg

Movies: - City Slickers (1991) - How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) -Reality Bites (1994) - Where’d You Go, Bernadette? (2019) -The Goldfinch (2019, I made myself finish the book earlier this year, so I made myself watch the movie too. Unnecessary.)

Streaming: - Man in the High Castle (final season, meh)

Articles: - Mobility, Citizenship, and “American women on the move” in the 1977 International Women’s Year torch relay – Alyssa A. Samek - The Vote Next Time – Jelani Cobb on Stacey Abrams’s Fight for a Fair Vote

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The Importance of Nothing

Do you ever feel like your brain and body are wrapped in gauze? Notice a worryingly shortened attention span and go through your days simply reacting to what is happening around you? 

I hit a bad spell in October. I couldn’t even recall the last time I hadn’t “kept up to date” on the socials and emails. Years? To make things worse, with being injured, my unplugged brain/ free association/ free-range time had been nonexistent since August when I had to stop running. I was irritable and unproductive (great combo!). 

Time for a full reboot. 

On Nov. 17th I moved my social media and email accounts to a hidden folder in my phone, put it on airplane + do not disturb mode, gave my husband the phone number of where I’d be staying, and hit the road. I drove up to Canada, took the ferry from Tsawwassen to Nanaimo, and drove over to the west coast of Vancouver Island to Tofino. I felt a little nervous, and weird. Like “who am I?” and “does my brain even work anymore” kind of weird. Like “what does living even mean?” kind of weird. 

Yep. 

I brought a bunch of books, articles, my notebook, and some downloaded movies. And experienced 5 days of near solitude. There were people around that I could see, but I interacted with other humans for maybe a cumulative time of 5 minutes over the 5 days…mostly around ordering my London Fogs. I consumed a great deal of other peoples’ brain outputs. (List in the next post)

I wrote in all the books as I read them, and made notes in my notebook with quotes as they stuck out. When Winona Ryder’s job interviewer asked her the definition of irony, I quick-paused Reality Bites and tried to write one out. Then had a short panic attack when I realized I was describing sarcasm. Which led me down a rabbit hole of definitions of irony, including reflecting how funny it was in Jagged Little Pill musical when a student interrupted that song with “but that’s not ironic!”… I finally found this gem of a definition, which I love although I disagree with the premise that Reality Bites is a “rotten film.” Oh, and I only re-watched Reality Bites because Lindy West talks about it in The Witches are Coming, chapter “How to Be a Girl.” I just let my brain flow, even when it felt like there was nothing there. I started daydreaming. Twice in restaurants, I started writing on a paper napkin at my table because I’d forgotten my notebook.  

I walked a lot, in the rainforest, on the beaches, to town, more beaches, and more beaches –12 miles one day. I read all of the signs on the nature trails (listed in English, French, and Nuu-chal-nulth, the First Nations language) and appreciated the explicit call-outs to decreasing our use of earth’s resources. I touched a 750 year old tree, then mentally constructed a screenplay outline for a 3-season streaming series of the incredible book Overstory. I read sitting on damp sand leaning up against a piece of driftwood until my butt got fully numb, in the 10 degree sunny weather (it’s Celsius, friends!) while the rhythmic and unrelenting wave whooshing drowned out the surfers intermittent shouting. I lived in my AT long jacket.

After a stunning Pacific Ocean sunset into the water each day, it got full on dark by 4:45pm, so at that point I would eat something I’d gathered earlier, get in bed, and keep reading, writing, watching movies, and staring at the ceiling. I still felt kind of disembodied.

On the last morning, when I went to step into the shower, there was a decent sized PNW spider just hanging out by the drain. I IDIDN’T EVEN REACT. I just said “oh hey there,” grabbed a whale-watching brochure, coaxed the spider onto the paper, and quickly turned and let it out the front door. This is from someone who made my boys all scared of spiders because when they were toddlers I would spider-shriek. Like I felt nothing. No creepy stomach sensation, no urge to shudder. Not a blip.

OK, I think this time did something! Although I still wasn’t sure if my brain was working.

When I got home, I started explaining to my family the things I did, how I would definitely do a week-long no electronics silent retreat, why Cate Blanchette in “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” made me gasp with recognition, how likeability as a political viability requirement is inherently anti-women.

My 16 year old, doing homework in the other room, laughed and called out, “Geez, Mom went away on vacation and came back all crazy!”

The gauze is gone. My wheels are spinning. I have ideas for 2020. Hallelujah. Now I need to figure out how to (gently or violently) re-engage. One thing is certain: I will schedule this brain-cleansing time at regular intervals.

Jia Tolentino, in one of her darker essays, posits: “The choice of this era is to be destroyed or to morally compromise ourselves in order to be functional – to be wrecked, or to be functional in ways that contribute to the wreck.” I see what she means. But I’d like to find another way.

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The Fear of Books

In honor of Banned Books Week (that was last week), I’ve been thinking about all of the “inappropriate” books I read growing up. My sister and I lived half-time with our mom, and half-time with our dad, and neither of them had a TV. So reading was definitely on the menu.

I pretty much read whatever I could get my hands on. Trashy Harlequins? Hundreds! Scientific manuals? Ok, I guess. Fantasy? Check. By the time I was in junior high—that lumpy container for tweens and angsty young teens—I was looking to push the envelope. I was in Enumclaw, WA during those early 80’s years: not exactly a high brow, liberal bastion. Think more of fertilizer-covered fields, rodeos, and generous use of a homophobic phrase as an insult for any behavior that stood out at school.

Aside from trying really hard to break 3 minutes in the 800m in 8th grade (I was unsuccessful: 3:00.8), I wanted to impress my teachers (I was pre-pubescent, there was zero shot I was impressing my classmates, so I tried to work my only angle). Book reports were a large part of my 8th grade language arts class, and the more elaborate the better. In addition to describing the book, we could get extra credit for projects. Make a collage pictorially representing the book! Create a crossword puzzle that uses plot lines from the book in the clues and answers! etc. You get the picture. So this was a big opportunity for “success.”

I went to the Enumclaw public library and chose the meatiest book I could find. This was in the era of Karen Carpenter (who died from anorexia in 1983) and we had recently studied euthanasia in social studies; I was in a pretty grim state of mind. The book I chose was:

The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer.

I was 13.

The Executioner’s Song, for those of you who may not know, is an exhaustive telling of the life and execution of murderer Gary Gilmore (by Utah firing squad in 1977). When I was reading it, I do remember thinking, “oh I wonder if I should be reading this!”. It was that provocative. Plus it had a lot of weird sex in it. At least that’s how I remember it. (I actually haven’t re-read it since 8th grade. Maybe I was just inexperienced!)

And then I made an innovatively complex (in my 13-yo opinion!) crossword puzzle with all kinds of juicy clues and answers:

2 down: “Items placed to trap the bullets used in the firing squad” key: “Sandbags”

I was super pleased to get not only an A on my paper, but the full extra credit allotment. Ha! Validation! No comments though… [Looking back, I am certain my teacher must have felt some equal parts of horror, curiosity, and confusion when he saw my work. “Better give her full credit.”]

But the beautiful (and sometimes terrible) thing about being a teenager in the 80’s is no one really paid that much attention to what we were doing. There was a lot of free-roaming, experimentation, and living/learning. My mom was too busy working and providing for my sister and I to worry about the books I read. And she didn’t believe that books were dangerous.

Neither do I.

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Days 6, 7, 8: Women’s Steeple INSANITY!!!

Well, I can’t really think of anything I did the last 3 days because that steeple just blew my mind!!! What. Just. Happened???? This is why we have races. Nothing beats witnessing a breakthrough like that. Pure joy.

Emma and Courtney: congratulations and I’m so happy I got to witness this night. 

Peace out! Gotta let this adrenaline out of my system!! 

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Days 4-5: Need more layers!

Time is starting to rip by here!

Yesterday we made a pilgrimage to “THE” British Museum. Very crowded, stuffed with tourists. Saw the Rosetta Stone…pretty mind-blowing. Left feeling super weird that all of those cultural treasures from all over the world are in London…shouldn’t I have to go to Greece to see “Iris”?

Lots of birds in hieroglyphics. 

Downtown London is so cool with its mixture of super modern (Arrival Alien podmaster, have you lost one?) with 1600s architecture.

Lovely dinner with the Grace fam and friends… Som Saa: good Thai. 

And then off to the track! Clear highlight was the women’s 1500m. Decibels galore (and felt sad for courageous Luara Muir missing out on a medal on her home turf). Jenny ran against an incredible field. She covered the move at 600m to go like a boss, and then her final stretch was just incredible. Wow! What. A. Gamer.

Today did some lazing…then went to scope out where we are relocating to tomorrow. (Hint, this is the kitchen.)

And the track tonite was super fun. We have different seats every day, so we just show up and follow our tickets. Today we were: last row at the top! Different view. But still so loud and everyone standing up for the last 100m of the races and victory laps. I give it to this crowd: they are dedicated and into it!

Sam Kendricks: nicest gold medalist ever.

Kyle Langford: British hero!

Evan Jager: Went for it, bronze reward.

Oh, and it’s pretty cold here. 58 degrees at the track, so no doubt everything 800m down is slowed by that. I packed way too many shorts, and not enough layers! Amateur hour for a Seattleite. The Aero/Vim combo has been saving me! 

Break day tomorrow (no track tix for us), so taking a train to the channel! US steeplers: make it through the rounds! 

Lesko 

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Day 3: Go Amy (+ Joe, Sandi, and Tori)!!!

Mostly pics today, I’m tired!

We decided to walk down to cheer the marathon (about 5+ miles. Lots of great street art. 

Cheered the marathon (!!!!) That was amazing!! 

Amy was guts personified. 

And then we decided to just walk back to the stadium for the evening session. I mean, why not?

Cat picture for Mel Lawrence: 

C’mon this guy is so groovy...

And what an evening! Our seats were *decent tonight. 

Joe Kovacs in men’s shot and Sandi Morris in pole vault both get the Silver, and Tori Bowie with vicious lean for the gold in the women’s 100m. It was a beautiful night.

Plus, a rousing stadium singing of “Sweet Caroline.”

Good night, all! 

*decent= on the finish line

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Day 2: Justice and Bolt

Oh man, the jet lag sledgehammer hit hard this morning. Snoozed until at least 10:30am…but hey that’s only 2:30am in Seattle!

Watched all 3 of our amazing 800m gents make it through to the semis (on TV, we didn’t have tix this am). So strong! Donavan Brazier’s running form…beautiful.

Hit up another long walk, successfully tested my dinged up achilles (I mean, at some point I’ll have to start running if I’m actually doing my first marathon in Nov?). 

And saw this ride. My idea of hell. Hard no. 

And then, to the stadium for Kara’s medal ceremony to start the evening! We were worried there wouldn’t be anyone there, but luckily they delayed the ceremony until around 6:30, and the stadium was probably half full. It was so cool to see Adam and Colt while we were waiting, they were hanging out with Jo Pavey’s husband and son, bonding over a shared history.

I wasn’t sure what to think when the medals were handed out. Bittersweet is the only way to describe it. Here is Kara with her husband and son, enjoying an amazing family experience. An experience that was happening only because someone cheated Kara out of that place 10 years prior. Complicated. But I am so grateful I got to be there to witness and cheer (and cry!).

Then we did a quick impromptu photoshoot (How Lao totally hooked us up…thank you How!), and I got to cry again. And fans stopped Kara for autographs and pics, and Colt took it all in.

Then: women’s 1500m semis! Kate was in the first heat, they went out in 2:11 then did a hard drive in from 600m out. Her body was feeling the fatigue from yesterday’s race, and it took her out of the race. Kate took a huge step this year, moving up events and getting 2nd at USA’s, and I can’t wait to see what she’ll accomplish next. FastK8 forever!!! 

And then Sara Vaughn and Jenny! They had a weird heat, yes? Great to see Jenny look so strong finishing. Finals next for her!! And I hope Sara just soaks in the rest of London with her family and celebrates her accomplishments. Mom Vaughn!! 

Women’s 10K…was proud of Molly and the Emilys, running so well off a slow start. Emily Infeld’s kick was SICK. And although the stadium was on its feet clapping, I couldn’t get excited when the winner’s 2nd 5K of the race was 14:24. Made me feel quiet and disappointed.

One overlooked highlight of the evening, USA’s Mason Finley PR’d huge in the discus to take the bronze medal!! Yep, rubbed elbows with him in Sacramento. Great dude. And now a superstar! 

And then USAIN BOLT! What a privilege to witness his last race, a gentleman and entertainer to the end. And Hassan Mead was standing behind us during the race so I got to superfan him again. He is my track crush (Bob’s ok with that). 

The mascot is a hedgehog named Hero. Here he is bowing down to Usain on Usain’s victory lap. Stadium victor as a the bronze medalist. 

Goodnight. Marathons tomorrow! 

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Day One: Mo!!!

What a day! OK, the time change is a bit rough. We got to our hotel and settled by 3pm on Thursday, had a late lunch, and then I just wanted to go to bed…struggled to keep my eyelids propped open til 7:30pm, then woke up feeling refreshed and like it was morning at 10:30pm. Whoops! Got a couple of 3-4 hour sleep blocks in over the next 12 hours. Gotta make do!

We are staying for this first bit right by the Stratford Underground, directly across from the Olympic Stadium. Super convenient. 

We took an awesome mega walk up around the stadium, through Victoria Park (has a sweet cinder dirt track that looks exactly like the Green Lake track), and on the towpath on the Hertford Union Canal…walked through a movie set on the canal. (Involved a thrift store set up on a barge deck with lots of weird instruments and stuffed animals…so keep your eye out haha!).

Got my eccentric calf raises in, and my vacation strategy of doing half of the dirty dozen each day. Today was the first half, ending with side star. I mean, 10 minutes per day. I can do it, right???

Then we booked it down to the Theater District for a matinee: The Book of Mormon. More than half the fun was the audience...so into it! 

And then, yay opening ceremony! Security lines were long, but orderly. 

Fish n chips with “mushy peas” for dinner (that’s really what you say, “Can I have a side of mushy peas?”). Our seats today were killer (hope they are that close tomorrow for Kara’s medal ceremony!) Seb Coe and Sadiq Khan spoke , and then a rousing God Save our Queen. Love it when the whole stadium sings.

And then the 1500m heats were here! K8 was in the first heat. It went out fast (64) and just kept rolling. Kate was strong, made a big move in the middle of the race to get out of a box and get in the race, and then just got gapped a touch in the last 150 to get 7th in 4:04. 

But she was the 3rd time qualifier in (right behind Sara Vaughn who looked absolutely fantastic in her 3rd heat! PR-ing at Worlds…that is all you can ask for). And Jenny auto-qualified in her 2nd heat…3 Americans through!! Semi-finals tomorrow will be smokin!

Loved bumping into Kate’s parents right after her race!

Men’s 100m heats were a trip. Fair amount of booing of Justin Gatlin, similar to Rio. And when Bolt walked onto the track for the 6th 100m heat, the place went nuts. Standing ovation, doing a warmup stride. He has done so much to make the sport of Track and Field fun and cool. Best entertainer in the biz. More Bolt-mania tomorrow!

And then, night highlight: men’s 10k final! Mo. Talk about stadium frenzy. I thought I’d heard a loud stadium at the 2008 Olympic Trials in Eugene when Nick Symmonds won, Andy Wheating closed to 2nd, and Christian Smith dove to take 3rd in the men’s 800m. But tonight was a new level of noise. The pace changes, lead changes, last lap trip-ups, and still victory for Mo.

MoBot cam. Family victory lap. Award ceremony.

And crazy cheering the whole time. London #IAAFChamps, you are off to a great start!

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London 2017: Shenanigans goes abroad (again)!

We can all admit it, 25 years of marriage is a long time! 

I mean not compared to 50 or 60 years, but we’ve seen some things. And praise hands, we still have fun together. 

Track nerd-dom is a strong binding force. So what better way to celebrate than 10 days of track and field? Hello, LONDON! 

I’ll be firing up this tumblr for snippets of reporting and the London scene, so follow along if you want! #Londonbirds  

(From here on out, no more flashback pics! Ha!) 

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It’s Over, and New Beginnings

Saturday taking the subway to train to the stadium, I was already feeling nostalgic. “This will be the last time I get to watch Kate at the Rio Olympics!” The journey was easy. Fewer people on the weekend. We got there super early, 6:30pm. Haha! Talk about committed fans. The meet didn’t start til 8:15pm. We scored a bunch of T&F pins at the stadium store, and chatted about the beer cups.

At each venue, beer was sold in one of about 40 different sports cups (everything from basketball to cycling to water polo). These are medium weight plastic BBQ cups, definitely won’t survive a trip through the dishwasher. But, they are iconic for Rio Olympics. There was an urban myth going around that complete sets of the cups were going on sale on Ebay for $30/cup (!!). A beer cost about 8R or <$3. So on the last 2 days, people were buying beer, dumping it out, and stashing the cups in their bags. We saw a few guys trying to trade sports, to complete their set. I won’t say who, but someone in our party did buy a few beers and immediately dump them, for the cups. Once we checked Ebay and saw there were no bids on any Olympic cups, the fervor quieted down. Talk about a bubble though!

Then we went inside and scoped out our seats. I sat in the general admission section which was on the curve about 150 to go, up with a good view. With Kate’s agent Josh, Patrick, Peter, Patrick’s brother Brian and 3 of his buddies, we got situated with our flags and beers. Lipstick was applied on abs to spell K-A-T-E. I got another Coke…lucky 2 nights prior, had to do it again! The stadium was filling up slowly. Slowly a roar started up and kept growing. But nothing was happening on the track or infield. The noise was raucous! Finally someone told us that Brazil had just won the gold in soccer, with Neymar scoring the final goal. It was a sweet moment for most of the people in the stadium, and the cheering was infectious.

Then all of a sudden it was time for the men’s 1500m final. What a nutty race. They went out in 2:16 for the first 800m. And then whoa once Centro got to the inside rail he stayed. And controlled the race. Every step to the finish. It seemed like slow motion. And Nick Willis won the bronze! Amazing! No time to think about that race because then Kate was coming out.

I was so proud of her when she was going to the start line. So so so proud. And then the gun; Kate in lane one had 6 women in front of her at the break. She went through the 400 in 58.2, same as the semis. And then with 300 to go I could see that her body was tired. She worked and fought all the way to line, never giving up. She finished in her 4th fastest 800m time ever, 2 days after PR-ing. Olympics Finalist in arguably the most competitive event. And I was so so so proud. I thought about every point in the last 4 1/2 years when things could have gone differently. A plantar that didn’t heal. A frustration that couldn’t be overcome. An impatience with the boredom of rehab and return from injury. A stumble in the Trials. Two-tenths slower time in the prelim. A cold at the wrong time. But none of those things happened. Kate showed us a beautiful story of hard work, stubborn tenacity, incredible bravery, patience with the minutiae of PT, unwavering self-belief, racing dominance, and also good luck. And it doesn’t get better than that. She PR’d at the Olympics. She left it all on the track. And we are all better for it.

The meet-up afterward was sweet. College friends, childhood friends, USA teammates, everyone was mingling around. There were some tears, and lots of good vibes. We made it to a restaurant and finally got to eat around 1am. We finally were able to tell her some of the funny stories from the week. And she got to absorb the love of all of us in person. 

Kate stayed over at the hotel, so on Sunday we did some quick TeamUSA sight-seeing at the P&G House and USA House. Because of her race schedule, Kate wasn’t really able to do any of the Rio or Olympics schmoozing that many athletes enjoyed. She headed back to the athlete village to prep for the Closing Ceremonies, and we had to say our goodbyes.

I’m boarding a plane right now (ATL to SEA), so I will upload pictures later.

So grateful. Excited to see my family and Oiselle family. And excited for whatever is in the next chapter. As we have seen, anything is possible.

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Tool belt roga. Who needs a fanny pack? 

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Friday and Saturday: Getting Ready for the Final!

I mean, I have a lot to do to prepare, right? Hahaha.

Yesterday Kate’s family and Peter joined me on an adventure to go watch Maria Michta’s racewalk. We checked out all the maps and finally decided to split up and take 2 Ubers instead of public transportation (one hour vs. 2 hours 15 min one way). Side note: Uber is a god-send here. Much preferred over taxis, and so easy. And not too expensive. Uber love! We drove down past Barra de Tijuca, mostly along the ocean. So beautiful! Coconut stands, gorgeous ocean, expert kite-surfers everywhere.

We ducked into a restaurant and 8 fully armed security guards were sitting at the table by us. We smiled and said hi, made us feel safe. I’m getting totally desensitized to seeing so many weapons. Typical meal: rice, beans, chicken, manioc. Did us right.

One block away, the 1K loop was laid out. Venicius (the Olympics cat mascot) was doing a samba. And then the race-walkers came out! I saw Maria right away with her 3 braids coming out the back of her visor. What a star! Maria got out well, and started moving up each lap. It was so sweet she would smile every time she heard us cheer. We were located right across from one of the judges, and tried to guess who he would yellow card each time. I’m either the best or worst judge, because I would have booted at least 20 more of those women. Maria’s form was the absolute best of the entire field. Great finish, loved watching her!

After Maria’s race was over, we walked onto the beach. It was brilliant. And the Uber ride back along the coast was stunning. Relaxing dinner, chill evening.

This morning, we jogged up to watch the women’s triathlon. What a killer race! Gwen Jorgensen absolutely slayed it. Game over. And now…leaving for track in 2 hours! This evening will be a blast regardless of outcome. I am so excited to hang out with Kate afterward and get a chance to smother her with hugs! Over and out!

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Day 5: Kate Throws Down

The night after Kate’s prelim, the squad went to such a nice dinner at Antiquarius in Leblon, a neighborhood near Ipanema. Wonderful to feel like family with the Graces, they are amazing people and they have welcomed me into their experience. Love them!  

Thursday morning was pretty chill. I walked to the mall for Sbux (I know…but it does feel like home) and to buy underwear since I didn’t pack enough. (Brazilian underwear! They do not cover my cheeks! No pics.) I sat with a coffee (which I don’t drink, but this is a special week) and wrote a little card to Kate. I wanted to capture what I was feeling right at that moment. Gratitude, excitement, and something like pride. But pride is the wrong word, feels too power-dynamic laden. More like profound understanding of what it took for her to get to where she is, and full appreciation for her effort, resolve, and focus. I am never surprised by Kate because I have 100% belief in her. But we all know outcomes are never guaranteed. To witness someone achieving is a beautiful thing. An artistic performance. A body of work, for us to marvel at and enjoy.

In the afternoon Patrick, Perrie, Brian (cuz of Patrick), Kathy, and I went for a run down Copacabana to Ipanema beach. It was perfect. The police were just clearing the triathlon course, so there was plenty of room to run. And I got to see those Grace genes in action. Kathy and Perrie have the same stride, the muscles, the legs…it is uncanny. It was like running with 2 other versions of Kate. #genetics

We got ready for the rush-hour trek to the stadium. Ugh! It was less sardine can smashed this time, but still really crowded. It’s pretty cool chatting with everyone on the journeys. I’ve been handing out FastK8 fan cards everywhere to people I talk to: cheer for our gal! Lots of chatter about Lochte and a-hole behavior. (So embarrassing for Americans here!).

The entrance to the stadium was the most packed I’ve seen it (Bolt effect), and the dozens of machine-gun guards now make me just feel reassured. Their presence definitely tamps down on any drunken rowdiness…have not really seen anything unruly this entire trip so far. Perrie and I had tickets in other spots, but we snuck in next to Kathy and Steve and hoped we wouldn’t get booted from our seats. (We didn’t!!) I did something really weird for me, and got a Coke. Full sugar, full caffeine. I think it was the first one in over 4 years. Sugar bomb!!! The evening was so special with the women’s 100mH medal ceremony, women’s LJ ceremony, and men’s 400mH ceremony. Singing the national anthem in the Olympic stadium = priceless.

The men’s 1500 heats were great as well. Except Robby (sad face!). Immediately when it happened, my heart sunk and I knew he would be DQ’d. My heart aches for him.

And then: OMG the 800’s were on! Ajée raced hard through the line for 3rd, but after the 2nd heat we knew she was out. And then Kate came out! I actually felt calm. For me, the Trials was way more stressful. Because I knew Kate should be on the team, and that if she didn’t make it, it meant something had gone wrong. But last night I was so at peace knowing that Kate would race as hard as she could. And whatever outcome that brought, all good. She got out aggressively, through the 400 perfect 58.2. Moved at 200 to go. 80m to go looked like she considered going outside, stayed inside, got a window. And went through it. With 40m to go I started crying. So much for being calm!!! The family in front of us (of 7th place US decathlete Zach Ziemek) were all jumping up and down screaming. They looked at me and they all started crying too! Emotions are truly contagious.

And after Kate’s warm down we got to spend 5 mins with her. We knew she was going to be at the meet and greet area around the time of Bolt’s race. All the athletes were running out to watch him. I just didn’t even care, and got to watch Kate walk out to see us. She’s my Bolt.

Kate does have a really funny story about her pre-race…but I have to let her tell it to you guys. She will. She sends her love to everyone and she feels the support. Who was at the Trials party? Singing right now: This Girl is On Fire!!!

And, Ryan Crouser and the incredible Crouser family were sitting in the hotel lobby when we walked in at 2am. http://www.maxpreps.com/news/13GEZ1iBEd-lugAcxJTdpg/new-generation-continues-crouser-family-throwing-tradition.htm read this. They are too awesome. And the gold medal has some serious heft.

The Coke did its job, didn’t get to sleep til well past 3am. But I feel fantastic this am after 5 hours of sleep! Haha! Off to trek to the 20K racewalk course and super-cheer Maria Michta!!! WOOT!

I’m never going to forget this experience. I love the Olympics!

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Yummy dinner with fastk8 squad! Hi Perrie!