Back in my home...

Long day of traveling. Arrived close to midnight at RDU. Currently it is 2am.

Back in the States

Landed at LAX at 7am, now in DFW, arriving in RDU at 11:20pm (i hope!)

Good be be home in USA.

Swimming results, pt II

What a day at the Brisbane Aquatic Center. I am so relieved to be finished, and very content w/ my results. 100 backstroke was the big event today, and my best hope of gold, so I thought. I knew Ran, Team UK, was up for it, since he had been smoking everyone in all his races, but was unsure of the rest of the field. I was in lane 4 w/ the outer lanes my primary concern. I had a good first leg of the 50, and saw Ran in the far lane turning just ahead of me. My plan was to build up to finish hard and overtake him. I really went all out and struggled to the finish, but it was a good finish. Unfortunately, Ran was already done and standing up, having absolutely swam his personal best and setting a new world record. My time was 1.24, and was good enough for a silver. Bronze was 1.30

I was in the finals for the 50 breaststroke, but totally ran out of gas. By about the mid-point, I wanted to go home and get my "bankie." I finished for a soggy 6th place, but not disappointed. The number of competitors in the 40s age group was very , and every event was full of medal contenders. Nothing was free. I have to say that as much as I wanted to win a gold, the healthy competition and bantering about w/ guys from all over the globe was worth all the energy to get here. A historic event in my life.

Jim Gill and Kim Estep from Team NC were absolutely blazing fast, each winning multiple golds and setting world records. Our state team has much of which to be proud. The meet was full of children, youth and adults swimming for life at an international level. How? Because transplantation works, and it works amazingly well.

Give life, be an organ and tissue donor.

Finally...Swimming results

This will be short, since I am exhausted

400 free - Bronze - 6.04
50 backstroke - Silver - 37.71 (beat bronze by .01)
200 Men's Medley - Silver

I am very pleased w/ the results, and left everything I had in the pool. More details later..

Tuesday recap

Today was an emotional rollercoaster, for sure. I accompanied the cycling team to their time trial event, and boring would be the last word to describe it. at the outset, it was obvious that the local organizers were in over their heads in trying to manage the race. There were no timing chips used, and one volunteer was responsible for counting each of the 100 riders laps, then signaling to finish.

There was quite the dust-up, including someone from the judicially committee coming to try to calm the angry crowd. Protests and appeals are imminent. Many of those who were given medals were deserving, but there were definitely 2-3 riders who had no business wearing any bling! The worst example is a male who won a medal who only completed 3 of 4 laps.
I spite of the poor organization, I enjoyed myself and learned a good bit about cycling. It was hot, record Australia hot! Don't they know how much I hate the heat. It is supposed to be cool here.

Swimming starts tomorrow, 400 meters, 100 breast, 50 back and the medley relay. At this time, I am swimming the back leg in the men's A medley relay. More pics to see...

Monday PM update

Wow, the Opening Ceremonies were absolutely magnificent!! The entertainment was stunning, singers, dancers, instruments & speeches. The pre-ceremony waiting time was not so magnicifent, 2 hrs or so, first for our Team USA picture then into the ceremonies. Seeing all of the other 50 country's flags flying at the same time was inspiring.

During the waiting period, I was able to visit other countries' team members, often exchanging pins and taking pics. A memorable moment was when a 9 yr old Japanese boy approached me to swap stuff. He gave me a paper Ninja star, like an Origami-type deal. Several recipients from Team Hong Kong were delightful, especially one who was enamored w/ a super-tacky "Party-city" patriotic flashing necklace.

Tomorrow, I will cheer for our cycling team in their Time Trial race. The team is well-organized and very fast, so I am looking forward to being a spectator & helping out. Yesterday, I practiced in a 50 meter pool, focusing on freestyle for the better part of my session. Team UK was also practicing, and are a big team. It is obvious they have come to the World Games to win, and there's significant chatter about who will win the relays. Trash-talking not in the open, yet.

I've attached some pics from my visit to a wildlife sanctuary this afternoon.

Up early this am

Well, my 2nd night's sleep is following the same pattern as many others, worse than the first. Went to bed later at 11pm, then up at 4am. My roommate is the captain of the cycling team, and they were all in here last night talking about the course and strategy and the like. Cool stuff.

Itinerary for today:
Team meeting at 6am (daily)
Swim practice at 7am
Breakfast/beach fellowship at 8:30/9am
Team pics at 1:30pm
Opening Ceremonies at 2pm

Also, my alma mater, UNCW, has done an article on the Tx Games at www.uncwsports.com. Check it out.

Some pics are up. Enjoy...more to come

Day 2 update

Well, some coherence has returned to my foggy brain and tired body. I just came from the Team USA meeting, meeting over 80 transplant athletes from all over the country, their loved ones, donor families, and living donors, for a total team of 164! A very pumped up team, btw.

I was able to sleep from 9:30pm to 5:45 am today (Saturday), though staying up til nighttime was a challenge. It was recommended to me by many people to get on the OZ schedule asap, to recover well from the monster trip on a monster 747 w/ 2 levels. First class was on top, in case you are wondering.

I enjoyed some Vietnamese chicken rice noodle soup last night, eating outside w/ fellow team members. I am on the 22nd floor in a corner room, w/ a view of the ocean and the strip, including hotels, lakes, shopping centers, and a casino, all beautifully lighted up at night. Someone has to suffer in a room, like this, why not me?

Hopefully some pics will be up later tonight! Special thanks to all my supporter!

I am officially in Australia!

Well, this will be short, since I am completely incoherent, confused and out of sync after that mammoth trip. Let's just say I am safely here in the hotel in one piece. The Gold Coast is beautiful!

Currently, it is Friday at 3:30pm. More to come...