September 29, 2000
Sydney, Olympic Village
Today's Olympic Village Headline:
It's over! I'm done! I finished!
What an amazing, exhilarating, and thouroughly
exhausting experience. I am so tired now. (Or as
they say down here in Australia, "I'm stuffed, mate!"
The Aussies are full of odd little sayings.)
I don't know where to begin telling my story of
today's 50k race. Let's see. I'll start at the end
and then jump around to the beginning and then just
try to piece together a jumbled narrative.
I finished 28th out of 56 walkers who started the
race, right in the middle of the pack. My teammates
Curt Clausen and Andrew Hermann finished 21st and 31st
respectively. My time was 4:03:10 which was the
second fastest 50K I have ever walked and the fastest
this year.
During the race, there were several disqualification
for breaking one of the two racewalking rules.
Several other athletes dropped out before the finish
because of the weather conditions. It was hot. The
sun was up early and the humidity at the start was
pretty high. By the end of the race at noon, it was
nearly 30 degrees celsius, about 90 degrees
fahrenheit.
Okay, to the beginning: I woke up this morning at 6am
(after my roommate shook me awake because I didn't
hear my alarm going off... oops, that would have been
bad). After a wake-up shower, I ate a Clif bar, a
banana and wandered over to the cafeteria for some
toast ala PB&J. At 6:30 I was on the bus to the
staging area, a training track adjacent to the Olympic
Stadium. Two of our athletic trainers were there to
help stretch out the U.S. walkers (thank you!).
Suddenly it was 7:20 and time to go through the
check-in process.
All the walkers were ushered into a tunnel that runs
from the practice track to the main stadium. Coach
gave us out last instructions and a hug. And then my
Irish racewalk friend, Pierce O'Callaghan, wished me
good luck.
When I walked into the Opening Ceremonies two weeks
ago, I had expected to be overcome by so much emotion.
I thought that all the years of work, all the painful
workouts I had endured, all the memories of training
with so many wonderful people, all the joys and
failures of my walking career would come rushing in a
torrent of emotion, tears, laughter. It happened
today when Pierce said, "There are so many people who
would kill to be in your shoes right now as you enter
that stadium. Go get 'em!" I laughed and then the
enormity of it all hit me and I had to wipe the tears
away as I walked down the long, quiet tunnel.
Once underneath the stadium, I had a few minutes to
collect my thoughts, change into my racing shoes and
uniform, and do a few warm-up strides. Then we were
introduced to the audience in the stadium. Because of
our 8am start, the place wasn't full to the gills, but
the people who were there made plenty of noise.
The three Americans were lined up on the front row.
It was a bit nerve-racking since I was ranked 55th out
of 56 starters, but hey, if I was going to be scared
it would have already happened when I entered the
Olympic Stadium.
Bang, we were off on five laps of the track inside the
stadium. The crowd cheered in a wave as we came
around and around the track. Then we walked into the
tunnel, up the ramp, and one kilometer alongside the
Stadium and SuperDome to the 2 kilometer loop where we
would spend the next three plus hours sweating it out.
My plan was to walk very steady, consistent splits for
each 2k loop and finish up in under 4 hours. After
the first 10k, I was right on target, 47:33, and had
gotten into a nice rhythm. In a 50K, it is critical
to establish a good steady pace and put your brain on
cruise control. So I was focused, relaxed and feeling
pretty good by 10k. At 20k, I was still feeling
loose, was trying to stay well-hydrated and cool. I
could tell that it was getting warmer but I tried not
to think about it too much. I put ice in my hat, ice
in my shorts (brrr!) and kept drinking my electrolyte
solution and water.
By 30k, I was getting tired (wow, big surprise!), but
I felt good, relaxed and was still clicking along at
my goal pace. People ahead of me were starting to
struggle. I caught a few people and then a few more
dropped out. The heat and an ambitious early pace
started to take its toll.
At 40k, I started to have some problems moving my legs
the way I wanted to move them. I kept saying, "Okay
legs, keep the pace, keep it moving, let's go." But
my legs had stopped listening. They had their own
ideas about what would be fun, things like stopping,
lying down, soaking in cold water. They began to
voice their opinion more and more vehemently and I
kept having to tell them to "be quiet, do your job,
walk, one foot in front of the other." I slowed down
to about 5:15-5:20 per kilometer over the last 8k and
fell off my goal time. But I was still gaining on
other people, surged up the last hill onto the road
for home, and cruised into the Stadium to the roars of
an appreciative crowd that had grown to near-capacity.
My racewalk buddy Elizabeth Paxton, a promising Junior
(under 19) girl who trains with us occasionally in San
Diego, had dared me to finish into the stadium with
little American flag deely-bops on my head (I don't
know what they are called, but they look cool). So I
wore them the last kilometer into the Stadium, just
for Elizabeth.
So that's it for now. I need to meet my family in
town and then get some rest.
Cheers to you all and thanks SOOOO much for your
emails and support.
Philip
Cheers, mates!
Philip
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