So much has happened...where to start...

These are the first 3 of 5 flights of stairs leading from the lower compound where our break tent was located to the stadium and race courses. They were very steep and I didn't like them much!





Here's my best Olympic buddy at position 32. Photo by Scott Campbell.

First - some clarification - my last post was started on Feb 25th and completed on the 26th but shows the date as the 25th so I haven't missed 3 days, only 2!

Saturday was a MISERABLE day to be standing outside watching a 30 km race but it must have been even more miserable for the athletes in their thin suits that would have been soaked in no time. Kudos to the forerunners who were out throughout the race to keep the tracks clean. They were real troopers. We only had 2 racers - one finished top 20, the other....well we won't dwell on that. This was supposed to be Brittany's race but....no comment. The weather became quite nice later in the day. My gloves - for the first time in all the rainy days we had - were soaked right through and still weren't dry on Sunday morning. Fortunately, I was a Girl Guide so I was prepared with spares! After the race on Saturday, there was a bit of a reception for the volunteers and we did a group photo as well which was fun in itself (try to get some 200 people organized when you are taking them away from their beer). As a special token of appreciation we were all entitled to an Olympic race bib. These ones were pristine - never used. They ordered more than ended up being needed and since they can't be used for anything else because they don't have complete sets, they decided to give us a special memento. I also have a bib actually used in a race - from the racer who made me famous. (In case you aren't aware, at most races athletes do not keep their bibs but at World Cup and Olympic events, the athletes do not return their bibs. They are popular in Canada as fundraisers at clubs and or to frame as special gifts. Richard and I were given such a gift - an automgraphed, framed World Cup bib - by a group of skiers who stayed at our home for a week when they held a training camp two years ago.)

We went out for dinner with Jim and Diane to what had become my favourite restaurant (it was our 5th visit) but were so disappointed - they had live music which started just before our meals arrived and it totally ruined our meal. We could not have any conversation at all so we ate as quickly as we could and skedaddled to Starbucks for coffee.

It is getting late and I'm drained after an exciting race day, the hockey game and the closing ceremony so I'll post more tomorrow about today.

Our experience is almost over and it has been a fine one.

P.S. Richard's cold appears to have disappeared so perhaps it was only some allergies after all (since it was almost spring here).