Day two in Eugene is in the books. After a fairly mellow day everyone is back at the Flotrack house, charging cameras, editing interviews, and preparing themselves for the chaos that is day one of the Olympic Trials. I, on the other hand, have been eating ice cream and watching the Olympic Trials for women’s synchronized diving, two of my very favorite activities. But I know that this is the calm before the storm, come tomorrow I’ll be reveling in the lazy days this pre-trials period offered.

At 9am Alex, Kevin and I took off for an easy run around town. We ran through campus and got on a pedestrian bridge that took us over a very scenic, very big, very blue river. The air still had that morning feel, and the river looked just like one my virtual frontier family probably drowned in while trying to ford the river in that beloved childhood game, Oregon Trail. The trails were soft and picturesque, but we got turned around quite a bit and eventually the only landmark we could see was the behemoth, god-like football stadium, which we decided to run to and find our bearings.

Figuring there was no way we could get lost coming back from such a god-like landmark, we marched onward with swelling confidence. Within ten minutes we were lost again, wandering in a densely wooded area, that was probably crawling with poison ivy. After a bit, Alex found a nice little foot path that led us back to civilization. We sprinted home to give the guys at the house the impression that our run was spent dashing around town at six minute pace, not trudging through mud and weeds.

We breakfasted at the Eugene City Bakery. There we bumped in to OTC’s own Steve Finley and Julia Lucas. Pleasantries were exchanged over our breakfast and then we went our separate ways. On the way home we stopped at a corner store and bought various sundries from Diego Mercado. I think the place was called Tom’s, so go bother him if you have time.

When we got back we crammed in a bit of relaxing at the Flo house before shooting Run Junkie at the Brooks Frat. After the shoot it was time to walk down to Hayward. Fenton and Alex flexed a bit of celebrity walking down the street and took pictures with adoring fans and self-proclaimed “track nerds.” The rest of the walk was filled with talk about how Alex and Ryan have finally made it big time.

I hadn’t picked up my credential yet, but I was able to get past security without one, which you definitely shouldn’t try yourself. Inside we bumped into Cas Loxsom, and hurdler Kelly Wells. Ritz walked by and waved at us, and I watched as Alex swooned like a schoolgirl. Ato Bolden was also hanging around the track, talking up a storm and hamming it up with Maurice Green. Molly Beckwith was somewhere on the backstretch doing drills and Ryan Martin was stretching with a number of other runners in front of the grandstands. There was a lot of brouhaha around the track, and all of it got me really worked up for today. After hanging around the track for about two hours everyone was getting hungry and cranky so we retreated to the Flo house for some grub.

After dinner Selby, Fenton and myself headed down to the track to film a little Alan Webb segment. We ended up on a platform which I’m sure is going to be used for big time media outlets come today, but for the time being was unoccupied. Selby just told me to pretend like I belonged and soldier on, which I gather is how to get a lot of places in life. On the track was a high school marathon relay, which we hung around for and watched the sun set over Hayward. All of us were quiet for a period of time and I’m sure we were all playing with our adolescent Olympic dreams as dusk settled onto the track.

I ended the day where I started this blog: in front of the TV watching synchronized swimming, all the Flotrack guys asserting opinions on what a good coordinated dive looks like. So for now, I’ll sign off knowing full well that today is going to be chaotic.