Day 13-End of Phase 2, Olympic Trials & Oregon

Alex trying out javelin

I can't believe we are heading into week 3, which won't actually be a full week, but still!  We headed back to the Olympic Trials today, Alex still riding high from meeting Emma Coburn and getting her autograph.  After a quick brunch stop, we made it into Eugene well before the Trials started, but the fan fest had opened up. This time, DJ accompanied us as Alex showed off his skills in high jump, long jump, sprints, hurdles (sort of), shot put and javelin.

Jen Suhr, leading American pole vaulter,
warming up.

Naturally, DJ instantly became engaged in a conversation with a pole vaulting coach who works closely with Stacy Dragila. Olympic gold medalist in that event.  Their goal is to introduce kids to pole vault in a safe and healthy way,  free of charge to schools.  Being both a teacher and a coach, DJ was fully on board. It also turns out that the star pole vaulter for Massachusetts high school, who is a North Andover resident, has also trained in this same program.  Small world, as always!  When we did head into the stadium, we had a fantastic view of the women's pole vault which was incredibly surreal to watch. How they launch themselves is beyond me!  Some of their coaches sat right in front of us, and those exchanges were fun to watch as well.

400m Hurdle semi-finals were
contested in a light rain

As the Trials were in the Pacific Northwest, the fact that it rained came to no surprise to anyone in the area. However, the rain got so bad that they actually had to postpone high jump and pole vault for the safety of the athletes, the distance races and discus continued though.

Women's 1500m semis were held in a downpour
Go Mary (Cain) GO!

Kristi Castlin

After a bit, Alex and I took another lap around the fanfest, just to discover that the kids area had closed. He did get more buttons though, and a reward sticker for finishing the kid's events.  Go Alex!

The last few events of the day were men's steeplechase finals and women's 100m hurdles, plus the semi finals for the men's 200m.  We saw 2 high schoolers have amazing performances, beating Justin Gatlin and Tyson Gay in those rounds-can you even imagine? Oh, and we saw Allyson Felix in the prelims, she's just superhuman. Seriously.  Alex again went down to the coaches area and managed to snag 2 of the 3 women who will represent in Rio for 100m hurdles and get their autographs, including Nia Ali, who was carrying her infant son around.  Again, just superhuman.

Nia Ali

After the conclusion of the Trials for the day, we had an unexpected surprise! My sister and brother-in-law who live in Oregon but were in New York and Connecticut for the past few weeks flew back to Oregon and made the trek to Eugene to treat us to dinner.  Sis had found the Oregon Electric Station restaurant and given the family traditions, thought it would be fitting.  The main eating areas in this restaurant are in 3 refurbished passenger cars from an earlier time.  That part of the restaurant was really cool-the food though, totally over hyped. Oh well, the good conversation and catching up with more important anyways.  Alex loves his Aunt A and Uncle D, and DJ and D had a fantastic time discussing the ins and outs of the sports they coach and referee.  A and I rediscovered that we are in fact related, as judged by our inability to calculate tips, our fascination with trip advisor and our freakishly long lived flexibility, as we compared which side splits were stronger for each of us.  (Yes, I'm in my 30s and she is...older than that. :) ) A and Alex also had a fine time discussing each of their martial arts in detail, as A is a black belt in Taekwondo and also does MMA, while Alex very much enjoys karate.  A also bequeathed to Alex a pair of kid's boxing gloves to practice with, which made his entire life thus far.

Good company, good decor. Food-eh.

Overall, a very very LONG day, but a wonderful conclusion to Phase 2 of our trip; finishing off with some overdue family time. PS-thanks A and D for following DJ to the airport the return Van Dodge the rental van, even though we could have returned in in the morning.

Fare thee well Van Dodge, you did good.

A very tired Alex wearing his pins and autographs