The last few days of travelling have been hectic and very tiring but I am finally settled in. We flew into Beijing last night and were welcomed into the country by the paparazzi waiting outside of baggage claim for us!
That was crazy! It has been very warm and humid here and the air is just as bad as people are saying that it is too... its like a constant fog in the air. However, they have shut off all the factories here and there are barely any cars on the streets and the Beijing skies already looked better this morning than they did last night.
We stayed at the Olympic Village overnight (more on the village later because we weren't there for very long, but it is pretty amazing!). But here is a picture of the building that USA track is staying in in the village. Sidenote: The coolest part of the day was that they gave us these cards that you can wave in front of any vending machine and you get whatever you want... FOR FREE! haha!
After leaving the village, we got up early this morning and flew to the location of our training camp which is like an hour flight from Beijing. The USA track team is the only team training out here, to stay away from the polluted Beijing air as long as possible. From the airport, we had police escorts to the resort we are staying at and they completely shut down the streets for us so that we could get to the resort without any traffic. The residents here were all just lined up on the streets watching us drive through. They told us that our security is the same exact protocol they would use for the President!
This resort that we are staying at is absolutely beautiful! I did a workout today with the ocean on one side of me, a beautiful golf course next to me, and mountains on the other side of me! This picture is the view from my window! (It had just rained so its a little overcast).
Finally, here are some random pictures of some members of the USA track team.
Shalane Flanagan (10,000m/5,000m), Jennifer Barringer and Lindsey Anderson (steeplechasers)
Ok, so there is a 13 hour time difference between Minnesota and China. So... as you can imagine I am EXHAUSTED. So, I will catch up with you guys again tomorrow!
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