For
the past few weeks I have had numerous people ask me if I was excited to go to
the Olympics, of course the answer was yes, but honestly I did not feel that
much excitement while in Flagstaff. Maybe there was just too much going on with
running camps, preparing for the upcoming season and the start of a new
recruiting season. Sure I was excited, but until I touched down at London Heathrow
Airport, I was just going through the motions.
The
fact that I was attending the Olympics did not hit me until my wife (Kaci) and
I went through customs in London and the agent swiped my passport. On her
computer screen something flashed up that I was there for the Olympics in some
official capacity. I explained that I was the coach of a Mexican athlete
running the 10,000 meters. She explained that I should get my accreditation so
that I can travel around the city for free. I looked at Kaci and I was
overwhelmed with pride and excitement.
I
grew up dreaming of competing at the Olympics, but was never quite that level
of an athlete. I was fortunate enough to run competitively in college and then
post-collegiately for a few years and even ran in the 2008 Olympic Trials
marathon. But I knew there was no way I was going to ever make an Olympic team,
it just wasn’t in the cards. I owe this opportunity all to Diego Estrada for
asking the Mexican Olympic committee to bring me as his coach and for this experience
I can never thank him enough. He is a special young man that has earned every
bit of recognition he has received.
As a
coach at Northern Arizona University I have been extremely fortunate to work
with some amazing student-athletes. As we all know by now, this Olympiad will
have three NAU distance runners represented. Graduates Lopez Lomong and David
McNeill will be donning the USA and Australian uniforms, respectively. I will
be in attendance to support current student-athlete, Diego Estrada, who will be
representing Mexico. I am listed as one of their coaches and will meet with
Diego on August 3rd for final preparations before his race, which
will be on August 4th.
I
will write again soon about the preparations for Diego’s race, how he is
feeling and what the “Olympic” experience is all about.
ERIC
