Papaoutai?

Good morning camp! Time for Morning Swim followed by Arts and Crafts.  Nah I’m just kidding. Time for breakfast. I love food.  You could tell it was the last day of camp as all the food was essentially left over from the day before and there was less of it.  Oh well. Food is food.  After saying goodbye to all our new friends and having my parents sign us out from the camp counselor, we hopped in the car and headed to Hilversum. 

It was a fairly short drive(these countries are like the size of Massachusetts) with more awesome views.  I spent most of the time flipping through radio stations.  Did you know they had music in languages other than English? Well they do. In fact, a lot of the music isn’t. Where the heck is my Lady Gaga or Nickleback?!  I can’t believe I actually just said that.  Forget that ever happened. Under no circumstances will I look for Nickleback on the radio. Ever.  I actually found this Belgian artist who sings in French.  I have no idea what he is saying but it rules.  His name is Stromae.  I think he might be my new favorite. After passing the “Netherlands” sign(seriously. Are these people not happy? Actually, I’ve been to Amsterdam. They’re definitely happy), we broke up the trip by stopping at a Swedish staple for Lunch.  IKEA.  I’d never been to one before.  But let me start by saying. They are massive. Like beyond massive.  They also serve food. So you can outfit your house and stay nourished at the same time. Weird.  Martin yelled at me because I didn’t get Swedish meatballs.  What can I say. I wanted pasta. I probably should have gotten meatballs.  I then went exploring for batteries.  My camera died. Which is why I don’t have any pictures of this place.  I guess that means this portion of my trip isn’t real. No photos. No proof. Sucks to suck.  I actually got super lost.  Ikea has to be the most confusing store in the world.  Seriously.  Its like a maze and they make you look at everything trying to find the exit.  I tried acting out the scene from 500 Days of Summer in the store.  But when you’re by yourself it just looks really creepy.  Oh well.  Eventually I found the batteries on the bottom floor and after almost purchasing a new kitchen/bedroom combo set(I really felt at home in the room with a view of NYC on the wall), I made it to the register.  It only took about 8 hours to get there.  From Ikea we drove the rest of the way to the meet.

Hilversum is the European headquarters of Nike.  And the track we were running on is actually on the Nike campus.  RAD! It was real hard to find parking and we kept driving in circles round the Nike campus.  They have a building called Paula Radcliffe.  A whole building named after her! I kinda wish we could have went inside.  I still wonder what a building dedicated to her would have in it.  Probably a bunch of running stuff.  After parking we checked in at the track and I did my typical exploring.  The main thing to note about this meet was the mens 100. Jeff Demps and Marvin Bracey were running.  If you’re a Patriots fan, the name Jeff Demps might sound familiar to you.  He was actually drafted by them last year and then sat on the DL all year. So this year he was like “Yo New England, Ima still play football for you, but I wanna run track too.  And even if you say no, Ima still run track.”  I don’t actually know if they let him go or not after that, but either way he was there.  And Marvin Bracey will forever be known to me as the guy who was the heavy favorite to win indoor and then false started in the heats.  Either way. They were running. And so was I.  I was running the open 400, which turned out to be the last event.  I just sat and enjoyed the meet until then.  At this meet they had more wheelchair races.  On top of that they had paralympic athletes competing in the running and jumping events.  In fact, they were in the same heats as the able bodied athletes! It was absolutely awesome and really how it should be.  The long jumper was jumping farther than the able body jumpers! And she ran a 100 in the middle of her jumps!  In all honestly, it made me real pumped to see how inclusive the meets are over here.  The meet also had a couple youth races for the younger folk.  There were probably 20 5-10 year olds running the 600. They all were from the sponsoring club and had the same uniform on. It was really funny.  The mens 100 was pretty good.  Demps sucked. But Bracey ran a 10.18 and won.  As my favorite Boston Track Announcer would say, “That’s quick.” 

Speedsuit kind of day.

 

 

 

That’s my name in the program!

Finally it was time for my race.  I went to the opposite side of the track to warm up as this meet didn’t have a warm up area. Aha Europe. You aren’t perfect! No. I take that back. You’re still perfect.  During warm up I chatted with Marvin Bracey and his agent a bit.  Turns out he trains with Tyson Gay in Florida! Hell yea! That’s awesome!  Eventually he had to run and I had to finish warming up.  I was in the B heat again. Still keeps working for me!  I don’t have a video of this race, but it’s probably better that way.  The race was pretty bad.  I was super sore from the day before and right from the start my legs just didn’t want to move.  By 200 I just watched everyone blow by me as I struggled to keep up.  It was rough. Can’t win em all! This is the last weekend of back to back races.  I’m actually kind of happy about that.  Racing 2 days in a row is hard.  Side note.  This is the third different language I’ve heard the start commands in.  And this one by far is my favorite.  Its absolutely hilarious.  I’d type it out but I have no idea how to spell the words.  So if you see me sometime just ask and I’ll imitate it for you. Its great. End side note. At this point the meet was over so I did a little bit of a cool down physically and mentally.  Talk about an up and down weekend.  Whatever.  Belgium went well.  Hilversum was for fun.  Two more meets in Europe? Still a success in my book. 

The meet offered to pay me some money to help for gas. Rad!!!!! It took me a while, but I finally found where I could get that paper.  In the prize winning tent.  It was actually super awkward, because after handing me my envelope, they looked at the results assuming they would pay me for what I won in the race as well. I politely said that I didn’t have such a good race and they got the hint that I didn’t finish top 3. Awkward… Oh well. Still got paid! Boom! Martin and I quickly exited in hopes to leave our races far behind us(he didn’t run so well either).  From the meet we turned in the car and then we checked in to the hotel, where I got my usual Platinum upgrades.  Typical.  At this point we were super hungry so we decided to head back to Amsterdam for food.  After more struggles with train tickets(Seriously no Visa Cards?! Or Cash?! What is this shit?!), we made it to Amsterdam.  We just walked around a bunch more trying to figure out where to eat.  After like 3 hours we settled for Halal.  I’d never had it before, but it was delicious! Not sure what I ate but it was good! I also got another waffle.  It was just as good as the first one I had.  I wish I could eat one everyday(Also. Whenever I hear Belgium waffle I think of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY9iCKMMCL4 lol.). 

The next day we headed back to Sweden. Except our plane didn’t leave until 9 at night so we had the day to explore.  After having been to Amsterdam twice already we decided to hop on a train to the coast for a nice visit to Den Haag.  Den Haag was really interesting compared to all the other cities I’d been to on this trip.  It was super modern, with office buildings and sky scrappers and everything, but it still had its really old churches, streets and apartment buildings dispersed throughout.  It was really weird, but really awesome.  We spent a good portion of the day just walking around and exploring the city.  I did my best Dad on Vacation impression and took a bunch of awful pictures.  Here’s a few of them.

 

  

The outskirts of Den Haag are located on the North Sea. That can only mean one thing. Beach Season.  I’ve been prepping for this since last Beach Season.  Justin. Lets put your lifting programs to the true test.  My time to shine baby. And by shine I mean force everyone to wear sunglasses.  Let me tell you. The true measure of a man is in his watch and spike tan.  Mine is prime right now.  Not quite man status but pretty dang close.  Getting out to the beach meant taking a tram.  And that my friends, was an experience.  First off. And the most important bullet point.  Everyone and their brother’s uncle twice removed wanted to go to the beach today.  Second.  The trams themselves are pretty small.  They do come every 5-10 minutes, but they fill in about 30 seconds.  This means war.  After missing the first tram, I did everything short of hitting a baby to catch the second one.  Actually.  I just used my slim body to squeeze in between people.  But picture me fighting a war.  It sounds way cooler.  Finally I was able to just barely make it on.  I was the last one on and actually had the door close on me.  Whatever. To the beach we go! It was a really hot ride to the beach as everyone was super close together and it was hot out.  I probably got some sort of disease. Or pregnant.  Most likely a disease.  Though I’d rather not think of that.  Once we arrived at the beach we decided to get some lunch before catching some rays.  We chose this Italian restaurant with nice outdoor seating to people watch.  Semi bad choice.  The food ruled.  The server was awful.  I know I’m probably spoiled in America with service and that I sound stuck up saying that.  But this guy was just rude and not friendly.  Even Martin agreed.  Oh well.  Food is food. 

After our lunch we walked out onto the massive pier that went out into the water.  It was pretty run down and had graffiti everywhere.  But there was a tower connected to it with the most insane view of the beach and city as well as the sketchiest bungee jumping I’ve ever seen.  I’m down to bungee jump, but this thing was for sure a death trap.  I actually thought it was closed and no longer in use until later in the day I saw someone do it.  Godspeed to them.  From there we went to catch some rays out on the beach.  Well Martin did.  I forgot my SPF 85, so I left my shirt on and tried to take as much cover as possible under absolutely nothing.  I got burned.  I always get burned.  Also.  The whole topless/nude beach thing actually exists.  Its not made up in Eurotrip.  Well what happened in Eurotrip is probably made up.  But the nude beach existing part isn’t! And neither are these pictures.

 

I’m willing to bet money some high rollers hang out there.

 

Never been in a sea before. Now I have. Boom.

From the beach we began the long journey back to Sweden.  First the hour train ride back to the hotel.  Then grab our stuff.  Followed by another train to the airport.  Then through airport security(Side note. Airport security over here is super easy. You don’t even need to take your shoes off! DUDE! USA why u so strict?! End side note.) Little bit of a wait for the plane and then the 2 hour flight to Stockholm.  Ok so it wasn’t super long like my trip from the US, but I was tired and everything feels long at that point.  On the flight I sat in the emergency aisle. That only means 1 thing.  Well more than 1 thing but only 1 thing that matters.  Leg room. Lots of it.  I was pumped.  The flight attendant came up to me to give me instructions and when she asked if I was able to help in the case of an emergency I wanted to jump out of my seat and scream “Hell yeah I am! I’ll even run into a burning building to save your child, or fake being a doctor to save a dude having a heart attack if it means I get to sit with all this space!”  Instead I just sat and said yes.  They probably would have removed me from the plane and accused me of terrorism or something if I said any of that stuff.  No way I’m losing this opportunity. 

At 11 we arrived in Stockholm and headed to our hotel as our train didn’t leave until 6 AM. I’m still tired just writing about it.  Anyways.  I would call this weekend a total success.  Adventures were had.  Fast times were run. Not so fast times were forgotten. Friends were made.  Beach Season commenced.  And I’m still beyond amazed that I’m over here doing all this stuff.  Definitely rad.  So on that note.  In the words of Dwight K. Schrute “I am fast. To give you a reference point I am somewhere between a snake and a mongoose…and a panther.”  

There’s No Wifi In This Country

Yeah I know how you feel. I panicked too when I woke up and saw that. How am I supposed to get to breakfast if the only way is a trap?! Turns out that’s just the word for stairway in Dutch.  I just thought they were warning me of my immanent death.  Guess not! Luckily the elevator worked(even if it wasn’t a trap, there’s no way I’m risking that to miss breakfast) so I was able to make it down A-OK. Breakfast yet again ruled. American Holiday Inn Express breakfast’s may have bomb cinnamon buns, but the ones here totally top that with the various breads and mini Nutellas. Yeah that’s right Nutellla. I love this continent.  Also now that I’ve had milk in 3 different countries I’ll make note that it tastes different everywhere I have been.  Weird to think since I figured a cow is a cow and a chocolate milk cow is a chocolate milk cow, but no. They all taste different and the chocolate milk here is the best I’ve ever had. Sorry NYS Fair but your chocolate milk cows produce inferior milk.  Yours may be 25 cents and ice cold, but this shit rules!

After breakfast we went to go pick up the rental car which included A.) Taking the train(and the hassle of getting train tickets, which ends up being never-ending) back to the airport B.) trying to find the rental car desk (which turns out doesn’t actually exist) C.) realizing we need to call to get the shuttle D.) realizing said call won’t work because we can’t use our phones here E.) having to use a payphone F.) spending way too much money on said payphone because its like 30 sec per Euro G.) getting rental car H.) realizing because the phones don’t work we won’t be able to get directions and I.) renting a GPS to prevent any future unplanned adventures.  Needless to say it was a fiasco but finally we got the Lamborghini we rented. Worth it.

The new whip.

 

The car was a stick shift which meant that I wouldn’t be driving this adventure.  Someday I’ll learn. I mean I guess technically I know how now, but let me tell you. Unless you’re looking for an adventure(or over 40 and want to risk heart attack), you’ll probably be safer hitch hiking. The drive was like 3 hours.  And aside from the weird traffic patterns, and traffic jams, was pretty awesome.  The Netherlands countryside is really awesome.  Lots of farms and windmills. But also canals of water. Everywhere.  Like square patches of farms completely surrounded by water canals.  Really cool.  They for sure have to have flooding problems. I’m cool with the snowstorms we get back home.  They can have the floods.  Its easier to shovel snow than it is water.  Though swimming around a farm would be pretty cool. I’d also like to take this time to note how extravagant the signs are when driving into a new country here.  They aren’t. At all.  We have bigger and more exciting signs welcoming us to Phoenix, New York than they have signs welcoming you to Belgium.  They don’t even say welcome! Its just a small blue sign that says “Belgium”. What am I not welcome?! Do you not want me here?! I hope you do. Because I want to be here.  Eventually we arrived in Oordegem.  Oordegem is this little village in the country, and the track was located in this athletic complex type place.  The only thing to note about Oordegem was they had a “club” in town. Actually it wasn’t even in town. I’m pretty sure it was just this guys house.  It was called the Poco Loco Club.  Real sketchy. I fully regret not going. I bet that place is bumpin on the weekends. Probably similar to the Woosah Lounge back home.

When we got to the complex we were pretty lost and had no idea where to go.  The place itself is called Bolso.  Its like a state run athletic complex. I guess they have a few across the country.  What was cool was they had places for athletes to stay on premises and by staying you also got all your meals in a cafeteria. Kind of like a summer camp except there’s no lights out or camp songs.  The dorm Martin and I stayed in had 5 beds, but luckily we had the place to ourselves. Score! Plan for the night. Poco Loco. Plan for when Poco Loco closes. Bring the party back to the dorm! So anyways after searching a few different buildings, we found the check in and picked up our room key.  We were pretty early so no one had really checked in yet.  We decided that since we’d have a few hours to kill we’d go check out the city of Gent before coming back to do premeet and eat dinner.

Gent ended up being a lot cooler than I thought it’d be.  I’ll go ahead and confess that I know practically nothing about Europe(I’ve actually realized this a lot during my time over here. Dear US schools. Teach us more about the world. That’d be cool.).  That being said I guess Gent is one of Belgium’s larger cities.  We just spent about an hour and a half walking around and looking at buildings, shopping, checking out chicks etc. Pretty cool stuff.  All these European cities are super old and it rules.  They also seem to be way cleaner than most US cities(for the most part) which blows my mind. I’ve been in my room for like 10 years maybe and I can barely keep that thing clean. Let alone these cities which are like 8 million years old and somehow cleaner than my room. 

 

That’s a whole lot of drug deals.

After our little excursion we returned to the track to do our premeet workouts. During warmup there were a couple guys doing some drills and one had a Georgia Track and Field shirt on.  Naturally my longing for fellow Americans led me to question him and his friend.  Turns out they were from America!  He went to Georgia and the other Texas Tech.  I guess there was a whole group of them who were part of this like mission group called Athletes in Action.  They were in Belgium for a month and were just competing and doing mission stuff. USA! USA! During premeet I did some 100s around the track and while I was resting I saw a woman with a Big East Conference hoodie on. So naturally I asked what school she went to. Never in a million years did I think I’d hear the next word out of her mouth... Georgetown.  I immediately put my guard up and was ready to fight if it came down to it.  She asked where I was from so naturally I puffed out my chest and said SYRACUSE! Shit got real tense.  We had some small talk a bit and then finally I asked what event she ran…400 hurdles.  Tension broke.  We then had a good long conversation after and even joked about the Syracuse/Georgetown thing. She was really cool. I still hate Georgetown. I’ll always hate Georgetown.   

Dinner was in a cafeteria type place.  Summer camp style. I felt like I was in Middle School again.  It was actually really awesome.  After dinner I began the search for Wifi. It basically ceased to exist.  There was one picnic table where people seemed to get it, but it was spotty at best.  So I just sat and hung out with the people at the table. Foreshadowing note. The 1500 at this meet is absolutely stacked with American 1500 runners. More on that later. End foreshadowing note. They were all US 1500 runners sitting at the table. Specifically Garrett Heath, Jack Bolas and Craig Miller. RAD! I sat there like a giddy school girl. Except not. In my mind I was but on the outside I played it cool. Well kind of. I think at one point during introductions I said something along the lines of “I know” when Garrett introduced himself to me. Oops. Fan Boy central over here. After that I watched a bit of Bridesmaids with Martin in our room and then went to bed.

Saturday was finally meet day.  After having to recite everyone’s name and hometown back to the counselor at breakfast, Martin and I went in search for an ATM.  Which proved to be harder to find than wifi in this country.  After about 3 towns and 4 banks we finally found an ATM that would work in a nearby town of which I don’t remember the name of.  All I know is that it took us over an hour to find an ATM and this place had 8 of them.  Guess they just store them all in one place in Belgium. They should really just share the wealth.  After that Martin went to go get his hair cut and I hung around the track until it was time for me to run.  While I was doing my typically routine of pacing and then sitting, each for no more than a few minutes at a time, I ended up talking to another American at the meet.  He was from San Diego and was here with a few other post collegiates.  We talked about him throwing at USA Championships and what it was like competing after college.  He was a Volunteer Assistant this past year at UCSD and was able to still train while coaching and attending Law School.  Hell yeah! I also met his coach(who is the coach at UCSD) and two other female sprinters who were competing. They’d come over for 2 weeks just to compete.  His coach(Mick) and I had some awesome conversations throughout the day. Everything from training, to competing, to what I should do as someone aspiring to get into the field of coaching. He was super helpful. I’ve met a bunch of awesome people so far.

Eventually it was time for me to start warming up.  I was in the preprogram again so I raced early in the afternoon.  I’ll save all the small details and cut to the chase.  Heres my race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGFuFgTpDlI

I ended up running a seasons best of 53.05. And I finished top American in the race! Count it! To be honest, going into this race I had set my goal pretty high.  But after I finished and found out what the result was(slower than my goal) I was surprisingly happy.  In fact I was ecstatic.  All season I struggled to get down to times that were close to my PR.  So after my second hurdle race here and where we are in the training, to run 53.05, I was beyond pumped.  It definitely was a huge confidence boost for me.  And the race itself wasn’t all that great! Which makes it even better! I blame it on the fact that my number had my name on it. I’ve always wanted one of those. 

That says my name! THAT SAYS MY NAME!

 

The lean! No lean…

So for the rest of the night I got to sit and enjoy the meet. This is my kind of party.  Actually. This whole trip is my kind of party.  Martin ran real well again. 14.52 into a headwind!  They also had wheelchair races.  100 and 200.  In the main program! It was super awesome.  The winner actually crashed into the camera men at the finish and his wheelchair flipped. It was awkward to watch because he couldn’t get back over himself and no one really seemed to be helping him.  I guess it’s a good thing they wear helmets.  Kids take note.  Safety First. Protection Last. Always wear your seatbelt. Only you can prevent forest fires.  PSA end.  The other Americans I met ran pretty well. One of the girls from San Diego even won the 200! Aside from them, I got to see a new Danish record run in the 400 and the guy who won the 800 was from Senegal but wore a super retro Santa Monica Track Club speedsuit.  I didn’t even know that club still existed! This dude probably just traveled through time.  That’s the only explanation I have for that speedsuit existing. I want one.

Finally it came to the event I had been waiting for the whole day. The mens 1500. The field was stacked. Beyond stacked.  A good majority from the US. Names like: Will Leer(best stache since Prefontaine), Jordan McNamera, Andy Bayer, Ryan Hill, Andrew Bumbalough, and Alan Webb. ALAN GOSH DANG WEBB! American record holder in the mile.  American high school record holder in the mile. American’s golden boy! Granted. He hasn’t run so well in the last 5 years. But its still ALAN WEBB! Rad.  Though Webb had the fastest seed, he was put in the B heat because his times of late have not been so good.  He got crushed. Bad.  Its ok Alan Webb. You still rule.  Hill ended up winning the heat in a decent time.  Then came the A heat.  YESSS!! This race ended up incredible.  An American didn’t win it, but almost every American ran incredibly.  At that point I think only 1 USA runner had hit the World Championship A standard.  Well after that race 4 had hit it as well as 13 running sub 3:40 and almost everyone ran a PR.  +1 for USA distance running.  Can’t believe I got to witness that race.  Someone made a joke that Alan Webb had broken the American Record in the mile in a race in Belgium and that he was going to run 3:46(That’s his American record time in case you didn’t know) in this race.  He did run 3:46.  Then I realized that he tied his mile PR in a 1500. I immediately got sad.  I still love you Alan Webb. Anyways the race was unbelievable.  In case you wanted to know. Heres the results from it:

http://liveresults.be/2013/memorialbuyle/event029h02.html

That stache man!

After the race, Martin and I went in search of some wifi.  We settled for a classic Irish restaurant. Slick Don’s.  Better known as McDonald’s.  We first walked in and attempted to get wifi.  It was a no go.  So we went back in the car and typed wifi into the GPS. In case you’re wondering.  A GPS can’t take you to wifi.  What are they good for anyways.  As I sat in the car I pulled out my laptop to upload some pictures and somehow I was getting real spotty wifi. Success! Sort of. Martin still couldn’t get it.  After a while I convinced him to ask some locals if Slick Don’s actually had wifi.  Turns out they actually did and we just didn’t see it at first! I bought an ice cream and settled in a bit.  Getting the plans for tomorrows race and checking my usual running websites.  They were already talking about the 1500 I had just seen.  I mean how can you not?! It was probably the fastest and best overall 1500 ever run by Americans.  Too bad they all have to come to Europe in the summer to do it. USATF. SERIOUSLY! After the wifi extravaganza, we headed back to the track. Along the way there was a windmill(they’re everywhere!) and a cool sunset and a hot air balloon.  Sup artsy photo op! I’m not artsy. In fact. I take pretty bad photos. I’m going to be the best Dad on Vacation when I’m older.

 

That’s real.

We got back and the after program was still going on.  What’s super cool about all these meets is they have a golf course like club house at them.  Which has a bar in it.  So after the meets everyone just hangs out and socializes.  Celebrating good races or forgetting bad ones. USATF!!!! Dude that’s what we need.  A way for your average Joe to get off his ass and come watch some races after a football game on Sunday.  Bars at meets.  That’ll do it.  I hung out with Garrett and Jack and Craig for a while chatting while they celebrated their massive PRs. Yeah we’re on a first name basis. No were not.  We just talked about life as a pro runner, various stories about collegiate running and where they were going to be the rest of the summer.  It was super awesome.  I guess they might be at a few of my meets coming up. RAD! By then my fan boyness will probably be long gone. Who am I kidding. No it won’t.  Every sport needs fans right? That’s what I’ll keep telling myself anyways.  I had to race again the following day so I turned in early.  Gotta get those ZZZ’s yanno?  I’ll leave this entry with two pictures.  One is the trashcan in our dorm and the second is a new gym I just bought a membership to.  Belgium you rule.

Plastics of Mass Destruction. Belgium takes National Security real seriously.

 

I wonder if they have Meat Heads similar to Gold’s Gym?