I started the day trying to find food. I was directed to a tiny place around the corner…I mean like two-tables-tiny. And since neither the host nor the menus could communicate in English, I just pointed at the menu and rubbed my tummy like I was hungry. What I got for breakfast was a bowel of beef and vegetable broth with Kimchee on the side. Very tasty, but unusual. I’ll do more of the same each day. I finally figured out how everything worked in my room, and they have a computer too, hence this blog, but the OS is in Korean so I have to guess at everything.

After getting situated, I took a cab to the Athletes Village, and received my accreditation card which gives me access to almost everything except the warm up track and the dope testing area. I went into the Village and waited for Mike to surface. We had arranged to meet – it was just a matter of figuring out where. While I was waiting for Mike, I met the coach of the UK Para-Olympic Team. He was really nice and made a lot of good suggestions for me for meeting the Canadian coaches.

Once Mike showed up, we went and picked up my official backpack and the schedule for the day, and we made a plan. First we went to have lunch in the athletes Dining Room. The place was ENORMOUS with literally 1000 athletes in there eating. The food was good but very mixed up (beef stew next to kimchee next to pasta next to something that tasted good but was not recognizable). It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet, of course, and my goodness, can some of those athletes eat! We sat next to a GIANT thrower from Spain who literally ate 6 plates of piled high mixed food stuff. Impressive. While were in the lunch area, Mikes roommate, Bernard Legat, (one of the the worlds fastest 1500 m runners) came over and joined us. What a nice guy. He talked about possibly moving to Seattle, which would be ultra cool!

Mike Sayenko with Bernard Legat

After lunch we went to the USA Team sports Medicine area and treated Mikes foot and taped him up for his run. I tried a new taping idea based on his feedback. Mike went off to a meeting and then his run, so I explored the Village.

Team USA Medical Suite

I went to the practice track and watched the Hammer throwers (who had their Final in the evening) practicing. It was good to see how exactly they warmup, and I have to say it is a very impressive sport. So much torque. I also went to the track and watched the Jamaican sprinters warming up and practicing. I met one of the Jamaican sprint coaches and we talked a while about his training philosophy.

Once Mike got back from his very first pain free run (yahoo, the new taping idea worked successfully), we treated him again and headed off to the track. While he was taking a shower, I hung out with Bernard and Mikes other roommates, the rest of the Marathon team and one of our speed-walkers. All really nice guys.

The Stadium in Daegu

We caught the bus to the track and made our way through the Athletes Path to the stadium and we arrived in an amazing stadium. The Koreans have spared no expense. The meet runs like clockwork, there are an abundance of people volunteering to assist and everything is spotless. I am in awe of almost every athlete here.

Every single person here is in the best shape in the world, and they are incredibly disciplined. The track meet was really amazing…kind of like a perfect 3-ring circus…lots going on, but between announcements, on time track performances and so on, I kept pinching myself because in so many ways, its like heaven!

More tomorrow…