Sydney, Olympic Village

Greetings from the Village.

It's been a long day and I'm finally settled into the Village for the second time. This morning, I had my last long workout before beginning the official pre-Olympic taper. I'm down to eight days!! Yikes!

After training along the Brisbane River for the last time, I finished packing up my bags at the Marriott. Andrew, Curt and I caught a taxi to the airport and flew down to Sydney. It's been fun traveling around prior to the Games because everyone asks us about our sport and what event we will be competing in. Before dropping us at the Brisbane airport, our cab driver wanted to know all the details and then get our assurances that we would be back to visit Brisbane some day.

When I was down at the Village a week ago for the Opening Ceremony, I moved into my room and left a bunch of stuff, mostly clothes. When I got here today, I found out that my room had been taken over by two other U.S. track athletes. For whatever reason, the bed I had slept in and was returning to today had been given away to someone else. I half expected my stuff to be out in the driveway. Thankfully, one of the coaches had gathered all my stuff into a box. So now I am in a new room with new roommates. It's all a bit crazy, but I'm trying to roll with the punches.

It's getting late and I need to get some rest. Tomorrow at 12:50pm, my friends and training partners Tim and Jefferson will be racing 20K and I need to be well rested for my job as cheerleader.

Cheers, mates!

Philip