Oregon Recap

You know how, more often than not, when you go on a trip and it gets near the end that you're just ready to go home?  That wasn't the case for me in Oregon.  I left with four days left in the meet, but easily could've stayed the whole time.  (If I had stayed, I wouldn't have missed all the world records!)  The trip was that great!  (At least the Oregon portion was.  Houston, not so much!)

Once I got home and finally went thru all the pictures on both my phone and camera, I had nearly 1,000!  Don't worry.  I'll pare that down to a more reasonable number when I put them on Facebook.  And I'll only put about 15 or so here.

I also wasn't sure at first how I wanted to recap the week without making this post, which already figures to be long, even longer.  Then it dawned on me.  I was there for 10 sessions (two on each of the first four days, only night sessions on the final two).  So why not break it down session-by-session?  So, that's exactly what I'm gonna do...

Actually, I'll start before that.  I'll start at the airport in San Francisco, where I'd say 95 percent of the people on my flight to Eugene were headed there for the same reason.  That included Frank Shorter and several members of the German team.  Then, once we landed, it was clear that Oregon was ready to welcome the world.

Session 1: Friday Morning
Since this was the first session, it took me a little while to figure everything out with the bus and within the stadium.  But, as soon as I sat down, the U.S. champion in the men's hammer throw got the automatic qualifying mark.  The best part of this session, though, was the men's 100 preliminary heats.  Why?  Because only the small countries that didn't qualify compete in those preliminary heats, so I got to see athletes from places like Kiribiati, Nauru, Paraguay, Bhutan, and so many others that you only ever hear about at the Olympic Opening Ceremony.

There were a few things in addition to the competition that I wanted to make sure I saw.  One of them was the exhibit by the Museum of World Athletics in the Oregon Student Union.  It was small (only a few display cases), but worthwhile, featuring things like a Jesse Owens singlet from his Ohio State days, one of Michael Johnson's gold shoes from Atlanta and the singlet that Mike Powell wore on that memorable night in Tokyo when he set the long jump world record.

Session 2: Friday Afternoon
My ultimate goal for this trip was to get a selfie with Sandi Morris!  That's why I got a front-row seat for both nights of women's pole vault.  Well, not only did I get my selfie with Sandi, I got one with Katie Nageotte, too!  Mission accomplished!  On night one!  It was also cool to be so close for what we all thought was Allyson Felix's final race, and I had a great view of the DR holding on to win the mixed relay, as a surging Femke Bol ran out of track.

Session 3: Saturday Morning

Of all the different places I sat, this is the one that had, by far the best view.  Second level, on the first turn, just past the finish line.  It's one of the few places where you can see absolutely everything.  It's no surprise, then, that they decided to put the media right there.  This session also featured the women's 10k final, which might be the first time in my life I ever watched an entire 10k from start to finish.  And what a finish it was!  (And, yes, the Ethiopian woman who won definitely threw an elbow and should've been DQed.)

Session 4: Saturday Afternoon
A U.S. sweep in the men's 100 final.  Need I say more?  Actually, I do.  Because right before that, Chase Ealey won the women's shot put for the first American gold medal of the meet.  This was the first time the home crowd really was electric!

Session 5: Sunday Morning
After watching the men's marathon on Peacock (I made the decision to skip since the stadium session was so heavy), I got to see another American gold in the women's hammer.  It was an American 1-3 actually!  Then the men's 10,000, which wasn't as close a race as the women, but was still pretty close.  This session also included the men's 100 medals ceremony, so I got to see all three American flags on the scoreboard and sing the "Star-Spangled Banner."

Session 6: Sunday Afternoon
So, as it turns out, the front row seats for pole vault weren't as great as I thought they'd be.  Because, you see, qualifying for men's discus was right next to the pole vault runway, and those were some large men going to talk to their equally large coaches rather frequently (my view was also partially cut off by the video board with the sponsors).  Still, I can't be too upset about seeing Katie and Sandi go 1-2 and Ryan Crouser get his world championship as part of a seven-medal session (and nine-medal day) for Team USA.

Session 7: Monday Morning
Believe it or not, getting up at 5 am and walking two miles to the marathon course proved to be well worth it!  The women's marathon was awesome, with the three Americans all finishing in the top 10!  And I was able to set myself up right by the finish line!  Then, I went to Hayward for the heptathlon and got to meet Jackie Joyner-Kersee.  So, yeah, I'd say that morning session, as light as it was, was well worth it.

Session 8: Monday Afternoon
Another light session, so I swung back over to the temporary seats underneath the main scoreboard.  Watching Mutaz Essa Barshim and Yulimar Rojas do their thing was super cool though!  Anna Hall closed out her bronze in the heptathlon, too.  And I actually had a pretty good view of the men's and women's 200 heats since I was sitting right on that final turn towards the home stretch.

Session 9: Tuesday Afternoon
No day session, so I got to sleep in (which meant like 9:00 since I never fully adjusted to Pacific time).  Then, as I was coming back from getting lunch, I randomly ran into U.S. 400-meter runner Champion Allison, who was coming back from Target.  On the track, I got to see a really competitive women's high jump final and a great men's 400 hurdles final (as well as Sydney McLaughlin in the first round of the women's 400 hurdles).  The men's 1500 final was really cool, too.  It was won by Jake Wightman of Great Britain, whose dad, Jeff, was the in-stadium announcer and got to call his son's victory.

Session 10: Wednesday Afternoon

This was the last session I attended before leaving Eugene the following morning, and it featured the women's discus final.  Which was actually a phenomenal competition!  Valarie Allman, the Olympic champion from the U.S., took the lead with a really good 68-meter first throw, only to have Croatia's Sandra Perkovic respond with a throw that was about 20 centimeters further.  Then China's Feng Bin, out of nowhere, throws over 69 meters on her first attempt to go ahead of both of them!  Allman and Perkovic tried in vain to match her all night, but couldn't.

Before heading to Hayward that final time, I wanted to make sure I made a pilgrimage to Pre's Rock, the memorial to Steve Prefontaine alongside the windy road where he died in a car crash.  On the way back, I also wanted to get another look at the beautiful Willamette River, which cuts across the University of Oregon campus.

While I was out there, I did get to watch some of the TV coverage (one of the benefits of tape delays and separate West Coast feeds).  During one broadcast, Ato mentioned how he and Sanya had to budget extra time getting in and out of the stadium to take pictures with fans.  And, wouldn't you know it?  I ran into Sanya on my way out...and she stopped for a picture.  I also randomly ran into Karsten Warholm on my way back to the bus, asked him for a picture, and he agreed.  Such a great way to end the trip!

And, just to show you how awesome track & field people are, Katharine Merry, the other in-stadium announcer, saw me taking some shots around the stadium before I left that might.  She stopped what she was doing and asked me if I wanted her to take some so that I could be in them...then kept moving around to find the best angle!  I said that I, of course, also needed to take a picture with her, too.  Which she was more than happy to do!