The Olympics... and beyond

Wow, that was a long day. Those are the first things that cross my mind as I climb into bed at 2 a.m. on Monday, about 3.5 hours before I have to be out of bed again to get back to the gym and back to work. The day was Sunday and it essentially lasted 38 hours. In South Korea on Sunday morning, I slept in a little bit and was off to breakfast before finishing up packing up all of my clothes and other belongings in preparation for leaving the place that I've called home for the last few weeks. At 10:40 a.m. I was on the bus to the train station in Gangneung, where we were greeted by volunteers who helped get us to the proper train platform. The train took off for the Incheon Airport and a few hours later, I was stepping off the train and into the airport. After a quick lunch, I was able to find my way to the departure area and then a very nice young woman directed me to the Air Canada desks, where I checked my bag and headed to the right gate. My Olympic credentials got me in a s...

We’re climbing past 7,000 meters, I have my headphones in listening to Rob Has a Podcast as we head out of South Korea toward Toronto. Looking at the map on the screen in front of me, it makes me realize I am a long way from home and I have been a long way from home for a long time. This is obviously the second time I’ve been away for that long, coming after Sochi four years ago. So, officially, as this gets posted, South Korea is in the rearview mirror and I’m either on my way home or already home when I post this. There were a lot of things in PyeongChang that were different than Sochi four years ago, many of them good. As I fly away, I wanted to reflect on a few of those things. One of the biggest differences was in my accommodations. In Sochi, I stayed in what was essentially a hotel, with a bed and a bathroom to myself. This time around, the accommodations were a bit different and it wasn’t really a bad thing. Looking to make the trip as least expensive as possible, I b...

Saturday was my last full day at the PyeongChang Olympics. My last blog post was written on Saturday shortly after I left the Big Air competition at Alpensia Ski Jumping Center. I am writing this one about seven hours later as I sit in my apartment waiting for the laundry to finish up. When I left the Big Air competition, my plan was to come back to the apartment, do the laundry, finish packing and then go to a curling match tonight. However, not long after I threw my laundry into the machine, I realized that the US men’s curling team was playing for the gold medal in just a few minutes and why would I not go to that? So I left straight from the laundry room, bringing only my phone and my credentials and hopped on the bus to the curling center. I got there in the second end and was able to watch an incredible match and got to see the US win its first ever gold medal in curling. It was a great atmosphere and I thought it was a pretty fitting way to end my Olympic experience this ti...

I’m sitting in the Alpensia Resort Grand Ballroom, which has doubled as the Main Press Center’s workroom for the past two weeks. I’ve spent a lot of time here over the last 15 days, but as I write this on Saturday afternoon, I will be heading out of the resort for the final time. I still have another 20 hours or so before I have to get on a bus and then a train and then a plane back to the United States. I still plan on seeing at least one more event, hopefully two if I can swing it. But those events will be down in the Gangneung Area, meaning I will leave the mountain cluster in PyeongChang for the final time when I board the TM26 bus in a short while to head back to my apartment. The PyeongChang mountain cluster was a great location for the Winter Olympics. While two of the venues, Phoenix Snow Park and Jeongseon Alpine Center, were a good distance away from the Main Press Center, most of the venues were a short bus ride away and the mountain cluster itself was a much shorter bu...