After all of the chaos of the last couple of weeks, I decided (well Jeremy decided) that I needed to get away for some R&R. The timing was perfect then when I got an email from USA triathlon wondering if I wanted to go to a watch party down in Colorado Springs for the US Olympic mixed relay, and take a tour of the newly opened US Olympic and paralympic museum.
The museum was incredible. They have paraphernalia from so many different games. They have all of the torches from every modern games. They also have every metal from every modern games. It was fascinating to see how both of those have evolved. They had a lot of interactive displays so that way you could pretend to be an Olympic athlete. I raced against Jesse Owens and lost in spectacular fashion. There was shooting, skeleton, and wheelchair hockey displays among others. They also showed a bunch of the paralympic technology that these athletes use. I think my favorite part, after seeing the medals and the torches, was seeing some of the athletes' Olympic gear. I saw gear for the miracle on ice hockey team, Kristie Yamagucci's ice skates, Nastia Lukin's leotard. It was just incredible to be there when emotions are running so high for the Olympics right now. More than once I got teary eyed by being inspired by it all.
After we toured the museum we went upstairs for the watch party. Olympian Andy Potts was there providing commentary for the race. It was pretty sweet to be there among all these other triathletes watching the US compete. It was also really cool hearing Andy's insights on how the athletes were doing and what to expect.
I didn't rush home right away. I decided to stay and have some more quiet time in Colorado Springs. I thought about going on some hikes, but I'm rained into my hotel for the afternoon. I've decided there are worse things than laying in bed and watching the Olympics uninterrupted all afternoon.
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