The blog on this website is my account of the 2008 Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. I have read that there is no photography equipment allowed in the Qwest Center however I’m going to see what I can do to snag a few pictures.

Day 2:
In order for my body to be ready for this week’s events it is necessary for me to adjust to Omaha. Not only adjusting to the city, air quality, and general excitement of the vent, but to spend time getting away from the flight.

Slept in and ate breakfast with Ozzie (my roommate here as he was at Texas A&M University) around 9:30, then back to the hotel room for NAP TIME!!!!! We went to the Qwest Center pool around 12:00 for our first swim in the competition pool.

Picked our way through the checkpoints and multitude of swimmer bodies that were littering the warm up pool deck we strode through casually watching the prelims that were being broadcasted on the projector above the water. Then we walked out onto the competition deck. What a sight, ribbon video- boards surrounded the arena just under the upper deck seating running a continuous light show of American flags, swimmer icons, etc. There was a Jumbo-Tron video screen immediately over the pool (this arena is for basketball so just picture the same video equipment at a pro basketball game).  The prelims had just finished and we were jumping in during the time trials warm up period.

Jumping into the Competition pool felt like jumping into pool of cool serenity. Everything was calm with no real tension to speak of, just a few swimmers going back and forth in a pool where 4 world records had already been set and surely several more were on their way. 

After my little swim in the Competition pool I was off to pick up my Speedo LZR Racer Bodyskin (famous NASA Designed $550 swim suit). After picking it up I wanted to try it on to make sure it fit right, so I went to the locker room.

For those of you who have never worn a Bodyskin swim suit before, it takes 20 minutes (conservatively) to wiggle, cram, slide, and force yourself into this suit. This doesn’t even include the final ZIP stage where it puts your chest in a vice as you are “sealed” in for the race.  The final stage is normally done minutes before you step up to the block. AMAZING is what it feels like. I can feel the suit on my body like a second skin, the welded seamless fabric contouring to my body like it was made for it. Makes me feel special ;-).

I peeled off the suit, packed up and headed back to relax in my hotel room. My parents arrived later that evening and I met them in the lobby where they wanted to say hi. Poor mom, she is so nervous for me that she’s almost in tears, and my dad is just one big grin.