I officially have Olympic tickets {cue happy dance}.
Well, I guess they are not officially in my hands, but I won the lottery. No, not the one where you win millions of dollars. The one where you win a chance to watch your husband, the love of your life, live out his dreams. I'd say that's better than a million dollars (though if someone wants to give us a million dollars I wouldn't turn them away).
Olympic tickets are hard to come by. I wrote about it here. And here.
But, I won. Mark did not. Weird, huh? My mother won (some, but not all tickets) and Mark's mom also won (some, but not all tickets). I was the big winner of the family. I won (the chance to buy, for a handsome sum of money I might add) tickets to prelims, semi's, and finals of the 100m breaststroke for prelims and finals of the 4x100m medley relay. When I was practically turning cartwheels as I told Mark he looked at me and said, "Now I've just got to make it."
While this is the truth (and honestly the pressure sucks), all Mark really has to do now is enjoy the journey... everything else will fall into place. Actually, I take that back. Things don't just fall into place. Our everyday Olympian will work his tail off, give it everything he's got, get beat sometimes, but win others, he'll hurt, he'll push it, and then when he thinks he's done, he'll push harder. That is when things "fall" into place. And, when they do, I'll be there with tickets in hand {again with the dance}.
This weekend Mark will be in Tifton, GA for a clinic and later this summer he'll be in Paris, Australia, Shanghai, and California. Quite a journey he's got in front of him--and I'm just talking through August.
Stay tuned... tomorrow I'll tell you about when Mark cried at swim camp.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Ahhhhh... the Queen City
Annabelle sitting in the stands at the Charlotte UltraSwimWe visited the Queen City (Charlotte, NC) last weekend. We used to live there. We loved it there and love getting the chance to visit when we can. Last weekend was the perfect excuse. For Mark it was a working weekend full of appearances, races, and clinics. For Annabelle and I it was a chance to hang out with Mark, revisit our fav Charlotte restaurant, and see old friends.
Mark's weekend actually started on Wednesday when he visited the BMW plant in South Carolina. BMW and USA Swimming are now partners (as of July 2010), so USA Swimming sent Mark to take a little tour. When Mark heard their request, he said, "Uh... yes, please!" I get a kick out of thinking of Mark driving up to the fancy shmancy BMW plant in his old Dodge Intrepid that squeaks and has no air conditioning (it also has rips in the seats and sometimes the power windows poop out... but who's keeping count?).
After his appearance he made his way to Charlotte. Annabelle and I met him Friday night. He had qualified for the finals of the 100m breaststroke, so we quickly made our way to the pool. Waiting quietly, still, and in anticipation... oh wait, we weren't sitting quietly or still. I took an 18-month old to the swim meet. I was wrestling, chasing, and promising, "Just a little bit longer then I will give you another cookie." Finally, Mark swam. He was not entirely pleased. Now, I'm no expert (at least not an expert coach... I do consider myself an expert swim-wife), but he looked a little sluggish. He got third place and a full second slower than he raced earlier this year. Not satisfactory according to his standards. We didn't talk much about it.
Saturday we took our time in the morning as Mark wasn't slated to swim until 11-something. He swam the 200m breaststroke. He qualified for finals, however I could see it in his face, that he was hoping that he'd feel a little better that night. After prelims, and maybe the highlight of the trip (no offense to Mark's swimming, this is more about how absolutely perfect the chicken tacos are) we went to our old favorite restaurant, Cabo Fish Taco. Evidently this little hole in the wall was featured on some TV show, so they've had to expand since we last visited, but it still tastes like perfection with just enough kick, just enough stickiness on the table, and just enough loud music and tattooed servers.
Outside of our favorite restaurant, Cabo Fish TacoAfter lunch, while Mark napped, I took Annabelle to run a few errands. We met up with old friends and neighbors. It was wonderful.
Saturday night we headed back to the pool. Annabelle, with two long, hot, sessions already under her belt, was a pro spectator. We sat with our dear friend, Janet (Eric Shanteau's mother). She helped me wrangle the baby as we caught a race here and there, but mostly talked (a lot about the upcoming wedding--Eric and one of my very best friends in the world, Jeri, are getting married this week. Mark is a groomsmen, I am a bridesmaid, and Annabelle is the flower girl--this is why I love our swimming family).
Mark raced. Again, from a wife's perspective, he looked a little tired. He went almost 5 seconds slower than he had gone earlier this spring. When he touched the wall and I saw his face, I could definitely tell that he was tired. Bummer. The Charlotte Ultraswim is hit or miss for our everyday Olympian. Sometimes he is right on best times, other years he is in the middle of getting his booty kicked in practice at home and misses the mark. What do I do in this situation? I watch. I cheer. I still give him the 'air-clap' when he looks over. And, then, like usual, I resume whatever conversation I was in and life goes on.
Honestly, we were all a little bit tiredAfter dinner, we stayed up late talking with our dear friends who were nice enough to invite us to stay at their home all weekend (thank you Frank, Janis, and the rest of the fam!). We talked about recruiting and why each of us chose the schools we chose (one of my favorite conversations--it is so telling about someone's character). We talked about Olympic trials (our friend is also an Olympian--just a different year). We talked about kids and family. We talked a lot about perspective. It was nice.
Laying in bed I asked Mark about his races. He said, "I'm tired and I'm a little disappointed-of course I wanted to swim faster. But, I still believe in the plan."
So, there you have it folks. A less than perfect moment in the life of our everyday Olympian and in that of a nervous swim-wife who is always afraid to say the wrong thing. I despise vulnerability, but in a moment (or weekend) where things are less than perfect, I have to embrace it--it is what it is.
Sunday, Mark flew to Greenville, NC for a couple of clinics with Christine Magnasun (what a nice girl!), then Monday he got to do this.... lucky guy.
Mark is not that famous... so, when someone asks for his autograph, I feel the need to document it. Many apologies for the blurriness--I was juggling a baby, the cookies I was bribing her with, a diaper bag, and a camera.Wednesday, December 15, 2010
It's the name of the game
Tough. Challenging. Hard. It's the name of the game for a professional athlete (and his wife!).
Mark swam the 100m breaststroke today at the Short Course World Championships. He had a good morning swim (58.2). I set my alarm for 1:45 to see it online (though I didn't need an alarm. Annabelle was up all night with an ear infection and respiratory funk). I felt good. Confident. It looked like he did, too. I saw his name next to "4th." I thought this meant that he was fourth going into finals.
He was not.
Mark was 4th going into semi-finals. Semi-finals?! I didn't even think this meet had semi-finals. Bad swim wife. Bad.
So, after a quick trip to the pediatrician and a swift internal conversation with myself in which I questioned going into my office to watch the race versus staying at home with Turtle-my mother-and Annabelle, I sat in the living room with my girls to watch our everyday Olympian swim. Just as he was getting on the block to start, Brett, Mark's coach, called me. We watched the race together over the phone and live streaming.
He swam.
Not as fast as he had hoped. He added a little time. 58.4. This is where my heart breaks for him. 2 tenths of a second is nothing, right? Well, in this game it is and was enough to keep him from moving onto the finals.
No, this is actually not that big of a deal. It was not a great swim, but this meet (in a weird way) doesn't mean as much as others. However, it doesn't matter to me or my heart whether it is a friendly race in a backyard pool or the Olympic games, it hurts when Mark doesn't not swim the way he wants to swim. So, a million, ga-zillion, miles and a 10 hour time difference away, I sat on my living room floor to watch Mark swim to an 11th place finish. He did not make the finals. I was sad for him.
Though it was a disappointing race, I still got the chance to chuckle a little bit. I watched the race via live streaming from a German website, so I got to hear "Gangloff" repeated over and over in native tongue. For some reason this was quite amusing. It was like the mother ship calling back her Gangloff.
After a little sadness following Mark's race I picked myself up, loaded up my computer bag, and headed to Panera to work (nothing like crunching data that just doesn't want to work with me to get my mind off of swimming). I got an email from Mark. It read, "Are you by your computer?' Yep. So I logged into Skype (did we tell you that we got it working?!).
There I sat, at Panera, talking to my computer like some crazy lady. Mark was fine. Disappointed, but fine. I was happy to get to talk to him, even though I looked like a complete loon with voices in her head. I just wanted to make an announcement to everyone drinking their coffees and eating their Gingerbread bagels, "My husband is an Olympian. He is in Dubai. He just swam. I haven't gotten to talk to him in days, so I am talking to him via Skype. Yes, I realize that I am in public, but please stop staring--turn around and get back to applying your utterly delicious Honey Walnut cream cheese to the bagel that is nothing more than a cookie!"
Mark swam the 100m breaststroke today at the Short Course World Championships. He had a good morning swim (58.2). I set my alarm for 1:45 to see it online (though I didn't need an alarm. Annabelle was up all night with an ear infection and respiratory funk). I felt good. Confident. It looked like he did, too. I saw his name next to "4th." I thought this meant that he was fourth going into finals.
He was not.
Mark was 4th going into semi-finals. Semi-finals?! I didn't even think this meet had semi-finals. Bad swim wife. Bad.
So, after a quick trip to the pediatrician and a swift internal conversation with myself in which I questioned going into my office to watch the race versus staying at home with Turtle-my mother-and Annabelle, I sat in the living room with my girls to watch our everyday Olympian swim. Just as he was getting on the block to start, Brett, Mark's coach, called me. We watched the race together over the phone and live streaming.
He swam.
Not as fast as he had hoped. He added a little time. 58.4. This is where my heart breaks for him. 2 tenths of a second is nothing, right? Well, in this game it is and was enough to keep him from moving onto the finals.
No, this is actually not that big of a deal. It was not a great swim, but this meet (in a weird way) doesn't mean as much as others. However, it doesn't matter to me or my heart whether it is a friendly race in a backyard pool or the Olympic games, it hurts when Mark doesn't not swim the way he wants to swim. So, a million, ga-zillion, miles and a 10 hour time difference away, I sat on my living room floor to watch Mark swim to an 11th place finish. He did not make the finals. I was sad for him.
Though it was a disappointing race, I still got the chance to chuckle a little bit. I watched the race via live streaming from a German website, so I got to hear "Gangloff" repeated over and over in native tongue. For some reason this was quite amusing. It was like the mother ship calling back her Gangloff.
After a little sadness following Mark's race I picked myself up, loaded up my computer bag, and headed to Panera to work (nothing like crunching data that just doesn't want to work with me to get my mind off of swimming). I got an email from Mark. It read, "Are you by your computer?' Yep. So I logged into Skype (did we tell you that we got it working?!).
There I sat, at Panera, talking to my computer like some crazy lady. Mark was fine. Disappointed, but fine. I was happy to get to talk to him, even though I looked like a complete loon with voices in her head. I just wanted to make an announcement to everyone drinking their coffees and eating their Gingerbread bagels, "My husband is an Olympian. He is in Dubai. He just swam. I haven't gotten to talk to him in days, so I am talking to him via Skype. Yes, I realize that I am in public, but please stop staring--turn around and get back to applying your utterly delicious Honey Walnut cream cheese to the bagel that is nothing more than a cookie!"
Monday, December 13, 2010
No skype, but plenty of sand
Mark is officially in the UAE. I received an email at 10:15 last night and then again at 2:07 this morning. Yes, I woke up to check. Well, technically I sleep with my blackberry under my pillow (I know this is weird, but it is a habit I picked up somewhere), so I didn't have to really wake up, just barely pry open my sleepy eyes. Mark, who does know me better than anyone, wrote this last sentence in his email at 2:07: "Stop checking your messages in bed, it will wake your mom up."
Turtle (my mother) is staying with me while Mark is away.
Mark's first email was short, yet still captured Mark's dry sense of humor as he was making fun of me. The first bit of the email recapped the fact that for some reason Skype is banned from the UAE (this was a minor crisis in our household when we found out last week) and that his phone (which we just paid an extra $64 this month to have the international plan) was also not working. The second bit of the email went like this: "The flight wasn't too bad, I slept for about 8 hours. Eric is my roomie so we are happy to be bffs again."
This is a lot of information from Mark (who is typically like the super hero of silence). That last sentence, if you didn't pick up on it, was Mark mocking me. Well, Mr. Olympian, I am happy that you are back with your BFF. The wives (Eric will be marrying my best friend in less than six months!) have already been talking. We're happy that you're roomies again, too. Don't stay up too late telling ghost stories or playing "light as a feather stiff as a board." This is serious business.
Mark's second email talked about how amazing the pool is. He said it is one of the best (if not THE best) venue he has ever seen. That is pretty impressive considering some of the venues in which Mark has swam. "It is a huge stadium in the middle of the desert." Cool. I'd tell him to take a lot of pictures, but I kept the camera because I couldn't not take pictures of Annabelle this week.
If you'd like to send Mark well wishes and "good lucks" you are welcome to include them as a comment on the blog or you can email them to everydayolympian@gmail.com.
You can follow the meet and results here. Mark will swim both the 50 and 100 meter breaststroke on the 15th, so I expect a lot of positive energy, crossing of the fingers, and little prayers on that day. Our everyday Olympian will have a full day of racing and will need all of the support we can give him.
Turtle (my mother) is staying with me while Mark is away.
Mark's first email was short, yet still captured Mark's dry sense of humor as he was making fun of me. The first bit of the email recapped the fact that for some reason Skype is banned from the UAE (this was a minor crisis in our household when we found out last week) and that his phone (which we just paid an extra $64 this month to have the international plan) was also not working. The second bit of the email went like this: "The flight wasn't too bad, I slept for about 8 hours. Eric is my roomie so we are happy to be bffs again."
This is a lot of information from Mark (who is typically like the super hero of silence). That last sentence, if you didn't pick up on it, was Mark mocking me. Well, Mr. Olympian, I am happy that you are back with your BFF. The wives (Eric will be marrying my best friend in less than six months!) have already been talking. We're happy that you're roomies again, too. Don't stay up too late telling ghost stories or playing "light as a feather stiff as a board." This is serious business.
Mark's second email talked about how amazing the pool is. He said it is one of the best (if not THE best) venue he has ever seen. That is pretty impressive considering some of the venues in which Mark has swam. "It is a huge stadium in the middle of the desert." Cool. I'd tell him to take a lot of pictures, but I kept the camera because I couldn't not take pictures of Annabelle this week.
If you'd like to send Mark well wishes and "good lucks" you are welcome to include them as a comment on the blog or you can email them to everydayolympian@gmail.com.
You can follow the meet and results here. Mark will swim both the 50 and 100 meter breaststroke on the 15th, so I expect a lot of positive energy, crossing of the fingers, and little prayers on that day. Our everyday Olympian will have a full day of racing and will need all of the support we can give him.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Taper Time... again
Well, it is that time of season again. Taper time, to be exact. Mark, in between other 'gigs' this fall has been training hard to get ready for the Short Course World Championships which will be held in Dubai in about 15 days. For a long time this meet seemed to far into the future. Then, last week, Mark came home and said, "Starting Monday it is time for me to take it easy." Take it easy? For what? "Taper." Huh? Is is already December?!?!
Last year at this time (I think exactly to the day, in fact) we were bringing Annabelle home from the hospital. Then, 2 weeks later, Mark left for the Dual in the Pool in London. This was only to be a short 4 day trip, until D.C. decided to get dumped on by the North Pole and shut down all airports due to weather. Mark got stuck. In London. For 3 extra days. I was home. Alone. With a new born. Ugh. He made it home (on December 23) just in time for Christmas.
This year he'll be flying to the middle east for 10 days to, once again, represent the U.S. He'll be swimming the 100 meter breaststroke and the 50 meter breaststroke.
So that I am not alone this year, I will have visitors while he is away. Phew. Fingers crossed that travel home for Mark is safe and swift as to not put a wrinkle in our fun holiday plans.
With his big meet just 10 days, Mark is in full resting mode. Tonight at dinner (I made his favorite: meatloaf) Mark said, "I'm starting to feel like a good swimmer again." Good. So practice went well? What did you do at practice? Any fun sets? Did you go fast? {Insert about ten more questions here}.
"Yep," he said. And that was that.
On the schedule for this evening? Renting a movie via Netflix--it's taper time, we're pretty much required to lounge on the sofa.
Are you doing any online holiday shopping tonight? Looking for the perfect gift for the swimmer in your life? Click here to purchase our book! Mark will even include a personalized message and an autograph.
Last year at this time (I think exactly to the day, in fact) we were bringing Annabelle home from the hospital. Then, 2 weeks later, Mark left for the Dual in the Pool in London. This was only to be a short 4 day trip, until D.C. decided to get dumped on by the North Pole and shut down all airports due to weather. Mark got stuck. In London. For 3 extra days. I was home. Alone. With a new born. Ugh. He made it home (on December 23) just in time for Christmas.
This year he'll be flying to the middle east for 10 days to, once again, represent the U.S. He'll be swimming the 100 meter breaststroke and the 50 meter breaststroke.
So that I am not alone this year, I will have visitors while he is away. Phew. Fingers crossed that travel home for Mark is safe and swift as to not put a wrinkle in our fun holiday plans.
With his big meet just 10 days, Mark is in full resting mode. Tonight at dinner (I made his favorite: meatloaf) Mark said, "I'm starting to feel like a good swimmer again." Good. So practice went well? What did you do at practice? Any fun sets? Did you go fast? {Insert about ten more questions here}.
"Yep," he said. And that was that.
On the schedule for this evening? Renting a movie via Netflix--it's taper time, we're pretty much required to lounge on the sofa.
Are you doing any online holiday shopping tonight? Looking for the perfect gift for the swimmer in your life? Click here to purchase our book! Mark will even include a personalized message and an autograph.Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Trading in a dress for a pair of sweats
It’s been slow. Not in the Gangloff household or in the water, but certainly on the blog. Without much time to even say “hello,” “goodbye,” and “goodnight,” Mark, Annabelle, and I have been working, swimming, hosting out of towners, tailgating (WAR EAGLE!), cooking, cleaning, researching, walking, taking statistics exams, teething, running, lifting weights, traveling, etc. (try to figure out who was doing which activities…). With the laundry list (oh yeah, we’ve done laundry,too) of things that have taken our time in the last week or so, the blog has taken a backseat. But now, I’ve returned.
The Golden Goggle awards will be held next Monday night in NYC. We’re not going. I’m sad about it. We are not going for a number of reasons: (a) We don’t have a sitter for Annabelle, (b) we don’t want to spend the money (yes, USA Swimming pays for the athletes to attend, but not for spouses, not for food for the entire trip, not for parking at the airport, not for boarding the dog at the kennel, etc.), (c) we will be pooped out after hosting Annabelle’s first birthday party this weekend (yay!), and (d) Mark’s gotta train. So, in sum, we’re not going to Golden Goggles this year.
I do have a request of all you readers, however. The Golden Goggles is ultimately to celebrate great swimmers and swims throughout the year. There are a few categories such as Best Male and Female Athletes, Best Race, Best Coach, etc. The category that I am interested in this year is the Perseverance Award. A handful of athletes are up for the award. I just voted for Amanda Beard.
A few weeks ago she posted on Facebook that she was up for the award. I then sent her this comment:
“Congrats on the nomination! When Mark watched you swim this summer he said to me, "Man, I remember what bad shape you were in after Annabelle was born, can you believe Amanda is already swimming fast?!" Thanks a lot, Mark. Anyway... quite impressive. You definitely have my vote! :)”
This was her response:
“Thanks for all your sweet words. Being a mom takes a toll on your body but also makes you have a different outlook on life itself. While I love swimming my family comes first. I think that makes it easier to just swim bc it's fun. Anyways, I love your blogs! So fun to read. Have fun with your cheeseburger. Blaise is going to be an ewok! Haha. So fun!!!”
Have you voted yet? Click here to vote for this year’s Golden Goggle Awards.
The Golden Goggle Awards brings back great memories of times with friends (Jeri, Eric, Davo, Demerae, Bryce, David, Jimi, Rob, Dave and all the rest whom we’ve spent time with—thanks!). My favorite memory, however is from Golden Goggles 2006. Actually it was the morning before Golden Goggles. Mark and I were poor (as in dirt poor). We were engaged to get married. I was in graduate school (the first time). We decided to go to breakfast at this hole in the wall joint (it was in LA that year) because we couldn’t afford the breakfast buffet at the nice hotel where we were staying (not on our own dime). I’m not sure why this breakfast stands out in my memory, but to this day, it was the best breakfast I have ever had. Good conversation. Great French toast. Love of my life (Mark, not the French toast).
So, this Monday night, instead of jet setting (I make this sound much cooler than it is) to NYC, we will be curled up on the sofa reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See to Annabelle, ordering Moe’s to go, and making to-do lists for our first family Thanksgiving at home (our home).
Good luck to Amanda and the rest. We’ll be thinking of you while we veg out in our sweat pants.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Home Sweet Home
We are home this weekend. All of us. I could not be more thrilled.
Since May our little family has been on the go. Not that pre-May was much easier given that in the last 12 months I have a) uprooted my home, my job and my family to moved into a new home in a new town (revisited) with a new job, b) started a PhD program, c) been pregnant and d) had a baby. Pre-May was challenging, but since May my head has actually been spinning.
But, this weekend, no one is traveling. No one is driving an hour and half back and forth to the airport. No one has any layovers in random cities. No one has to worry about lost baggage (except Mark, whose bag from Pan Pacs is still missing--yep, the one that had his medals in it). No one has to worry about time changes. No one has to be stressed about returning home on a Sunday with no time to prepare for the following week.
Can you tell that I am excited about this weekend?
Things that I would like to accomplsih this weekend include (not necessarily in this order, but this is the way it is coming to me)...
Since May our little family has been on the go. Not that pre-May was much easier given that in the last 12 months I have a) uprooted my home, my job and my family to moved into a new home in a new town (revisited) with a new job, b) started a PhD program, c) been pregnant and d) had a baby. Pre-May was challenging, but since May my head has actually been spinning.
But, this weekend, no one is traveling. No one is driving an hour and half back and forth to the airport. No one has any layovers in random cities. No one has to worry about lost baggage (except Mark, whose bag from Pan Pacs is still missing--yep, the one that had his medals in it). No one has to worry about time changes. No one has to be stressed about returning home on a Sunday with no time to prepare for the following week.
Can you tell that I am excited about this weekend?
Things that I would like to accomplsih this weekend include (not necessarily in this order, but this is the way it is coming to me)...
- Laying in bed (all of us--Mark, Annabelle, Daisy-the dog-, and me) as long as humanly possible on Sunday morning
- Going to church as a family
- Actually getting laundry done and put away (we are the type of family that leaves the clean laundry in the basket until it sits long enough that we can't remember if it is clean or dirty and end up washing it for a second time)
- Tailgating for the big home game with friends without concern about schedules, commitments, or obligations
- Organizing my dayplanner (I used to be a highlighter, color-coder, type of gal, but in the last few months I have thrown away my highlighter and have turned into a girl that is just trying to survive the next activity)
- I think I'll pick up a craft project, too (I am a former art student turned business PhD student--I know, quirky, but that's me. Sometimes, I just need me a little Hobby Lobby to bring me back to center)
Mark will also get in a full week's worth of training, which is something that hasn't happened since this summer. In the last few years (this is now Mark's sixth year as a professional swimmer), Mark has learned how to plan his year as to optimize working, training, and racing. In the fall Mark sacrafices a ton of training in order to travel and work. Then, about November, Mark's work schedule slows so that he can return to full time training. Don't worry, he's still working hard in the pool now, but traveling often disrupts a training week causing him to miss 1, 2, 3, sometimes even 4 training sessions a week.
But, this weekend we are home. Home, sweet home.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Memory lane to Beijing
I received a phone call from a dear friend last week to let me know that she and her family are heaed to China later this month. She was hoping for a little advice about China travel (good restaurants, fun sites to see, places to explore, etc.), but I couldn't hardly remember a thing... so I took a little trip down memory lane. Mark kept a blog leading up to the Olympics in the summer of 2008, which I took over during the Olympics when all of the athletes were banned from blogging during competion (we also had to change the name of the blog from Markgangloffolympicexperience.blogspot.com to markgangloffbeijingexperience.blogspot.com after the IOC-International Olympic Committee-came down hard on the rights to the word 'Olympic'). Wow. What a trip!
If you'd like to take a trip down our memory lane, you are welcome to visit www.markgangloffbeijingexperience.blogspot.com. The blog is still acceessible, though we really only contributed for about two months (shortly after the Olympic trials until right after the Olympic Games--sort of like this blog we thought it would be good for friends and family, but we quickly realized that a lot of people were quite interested in Mark's (our) experiences that summer).
If you'd like to take a trip down our memory lane, you are welcome to visit www.markgangloffbeijingexperience.blogspot.com. The blog is still acceessible, though we really only contributed for about two months (shortly after the Olympic trials until right after the Olympic Games--sort of like this blog we thought it would be good for friends and family, but we quickly realized that a lot of people were quite interested in Mark's (our) experiences that summer).
Monday, September 6, 2010
Vacation... for real this time...
We had the opportunity to visit The Cliffs Communities this weekend. Can you say, fabulous?
No need to explain it again, but our dear friend set us up with what has been one of our most favorite weekend vacations ever.
One of Mark's best friend in the world, a fellow Olympian (2000 breaststroker and fellow Auburn Tiger, Pat Calhoun) happens to be his favorite golf buddy. So, when we heard that we would have the chance to visit The Cliffs, which is known for its golf, we knew that Pat and his wife had to come. So, the four of us, Annabelle (our baby girl) and Amy (a dear friend and #1 babysitter) loaded up the car and drove to the Mountains on Friday (Daisy, the dog, was boarded at the vet, but I'm sure had a lovely weekend, too).
The weekend was perfect. Full of golf, food and a ton of fun. Because I am a nagging wife I couldn't let Mark just golf all weekend, so being the planner I am, I planned for horseback riding, pool time and a trip to Greenville, SC.
Mark had never ridden a horse until Saturday. So, we took advantage of The Cliffs horseback riding experts and took a trail ride through the South Carolina mountains. Mark's horse's name was Hollywood (go figure) and my horse's name was Butter (if you say that this is fitting, you may be banned from the blog). Matt, our guide, led us (Mark, Hollywood, Butter and I) through a beautiful trail for about an hour... we're both still walking funny. Mark said his hips and knees were also sore because his big ol' flippers (size 13 feet!) weren't fitting in the stirrups correctly.
Mark and Hollywood
Ashley and Butter
This is the Gangloff version of riding off into the sunset--okay, fine... there was a guide and it was 9 am.
The boys also joined us ladies at the pool one afternoon, and, as you may have guessed, a nice leisurely afternoon at the pool turned into racing... down the water slides. I, being the seriously athlete I am, decided to up the ante and went head first. Yes, I managed to injure myself (I have a small cut--I like to say it is my stab wound--on my hip). Darn the Gangloff competitive streak.
Mark said that he won, but I think this might be the winning pass--check out that streamline.
Finally, our trip to Greenville, SC gave us some time to be a family with our friends. Mark adores Annabelle, our baby girl. I love to watch him play, interact and learn with her. He is unwilling to think that she will be anything but a water baby.
Thank you, The Cliffs Communities. All in all, our vacation was a huge success. There were no missed flights, no tears (except Annabelle, who is teething), and no cursing (well, maybe on the golf course). There was a lot of fun, a lot of love, and a lot of relaxation before Mark hits the pool (the real one--not the kind with slides) this week.
Mark, Ashley and Annabelle Gangloff and Pat and Anna Calhoun; The Cliffs Communities
Tomorrow officially marks the beginning of Mark's training for the short course world championships which will be held in December.
No need to explain it again, but our dear friend set us up with what has been one of our most favorite weekend vacations ever.
One of Mark's best friend in the world, a fellow Olympian (2000 breaststroker and fellow Auburn Tiger, Pat Calhoun) happens to be his favorite golf buddy. So, when we heard that we would have the chance to visit The Cliffs, which is known for its golf, we knew that Pat and his wife had to come. So, the four of us, Annabelle (our baby girl) and Amy (a dear friend and #1 babysitter) loaded up the car and drove to the Mountains on Friday (Daisy, the dog, was boarded at the vet, but I'm sure had a lovely weekend, too).
The weekend was perfect. Full of golf, food and a ton of fun. Because I am a nagging wife I couldn't let Mark just golf all weekend, so being the planner I am, I planned for horseback riding, pool time and a trip to Greenville, SC.
Mark had never ridden a horse until Saturday. So, we took advantage of The Cliffs horseback riding experts and took a trail ride through the South Carolina mountains. Mark's horse's name was Hollywood (go figure) and my horse's name was Butter (if you say that this is fitting, you may be banned from the blog). Matt, our guide, led us (Mark, Hollywood, Butter and I) through a beautiful trail for about an hour... we're both still walking funny. Mark said his hips and knees were also sore because his big ol' flippers (size 13 feet!) weren't fitting in the stirrups correctly.
Mark and Hollywood
Ashley and Butter
This is the Gangloff version of riding off into the sunset--okay, fine... there was a guide and it was 9 am. 
Mark said that he won, but I think this might be the winning pass--check out that streamline. Finally, our trip to Greenville, SC gave us some time to be a family with our friends. Mark adores Annabelle, our baby girl. I love to watch him play, interact and learn with her. He is unwilling to think that she will be anything but a water baby.
Thank you, The Cliffs Communities. All in all, our vacation was a huge success. There were no missed flights, no tears (except Annabelle, who is teething), and no cursing (well, maybe on the golf course). There was a lot of fun, a lot of love, and a lot of relaxation before Mark hits the pool (the real one--not the kind with slides) this week.
Mark, Ashley and Annabelle Gangloff and Pat and Anna Calhoun; The Cliffs CommunitiesTomorrow officially marks the beginning of Mark's training for the short course world championships which will be held in December.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Super hero capes and Yorkie-Poos
As I am filling out the Gangloff Family's handy dandy google calendar I am starting to sweat. Why, you ask. Well, quite frankly, because I'm not sure how we're going to swing it this fall.
Here's the count (from now until Christmas):
mini-vacay=1
Mark clinics=8
Gangloff Family participation in Eric's open water swim=1 (yes, I am planning on swimming, too)
Ashley work/school conference=2
Mark international competition=1
1st Birthday party=1
Baptism=1
Family weekend visits=3
Not to mention the daily responsibilities of training, teaching, studying, raising a child, blah, blah, blah...
Now, I'm not complaining. I'm just reminding myself that I need to pull the super hero capes out of the closet because the accomplishment of this list will be an amazing feat that requires super human strength, tolerance and coordination.
Have I told you about Daisy, the dog, yet? Well, our travel is extremely upsetting for your average, everyday, Yorkie-Poo (even when one of us is staying at home). When Mark pulls out the suitcase, Daisy hides behind the sofa.
So, Daisy, you better reserve your spot under the sofa for Sept., Oct. and Nov. because I'm not sure if the suitcase will ever make it back into the closet.
Here's the count (from now until Christmas):
mini-vacay=1
Mark clinics=8
Gangloff Family participation in Eric's open water swim=1 (yes, I am planning on swimming, too)
Ashley work/school conference=2
Mark international competition=1
1st Birthday party=1
Baptism=1
Family weekend visits=3
Not to mention the daily responsibilities of training, teaching, studying, raising a child, blah, blah, blah...
Now, I'm not complaining. I'm just reminding myself that I need to pull the super hero capes out of the closet because the accomplishment of this list will be an amazing feat that requires super human strength, tolerance and coordination.
Have I told you about Daisy, the dog, yet? Well, our travel is extremely upsetting for your average, everyday, Yorkie-Poo (even when one of us is staying at home). When Mark pulls out the suitcase, Daisy hides behind the sofa.
So, Daisy, you better reserve your spot under the sofa for Sept., Oct. and Nov. because I'm not sure if the suitcase will ever make it back into the closet.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Here we come, Tiger
Remember that little trip to France that I didn't go on this summer? Well to make up for lost berets and croissants, Mark has planned a great weekend trip to The Cliffs in North Carolina. I know what your thinkin'... "you missed a trip to France and a measly trip to the mountains is supposed to make up for it?!" Yep. I'll take what I can get.
Mark's job includes working with sports psychologist, biomechanists, exercise physiologists, strength coaches, etc. What I am getting at is that it takes a village...
Anyway, one of Mark's former sports psychologists works with a resort called The Cliffs. Sounds familiar, right? The Cliffs includes multiple golf courses (hence why our everyday Olympian is so pumped about our trip) endorsed by good ole' Tiger... Woods, that is. Our friend, Mark's former sports psychologist, works with the resort to ensure that top notch wellness centers, professionals and activities are available to visitors and homeowners.
Anyway, our lovely and fascinating sport psychologist friend has arranged for Mark and I and our dear friends (another Olympic family) to visit The Cliffs for one weekend this month.
Now, again, don't get the wrong idea. We are not divas, nor do we typically visit such resorts, however we do get to know and befriend some pretty fantastic people who are extremely smart, talented and successful--they are experts in their fields. Consider this a consolation prize for the finger-biting anxiety.
While I'd like to say that this mini vacay will be a perfect opportunity for Mark and I to spend some quality time together after a crazy summer, it is more accurate to say that Mark will be spending some quality time with the golf course and I will be spending some quality time with an outside rocking chair and a yoga mat. Don't pity us. Believe me, I think we're both excited about the arrangement.
Our trip won't be all play, however. Each night Mark and our dear friend, and fellow Olympian, will be meeting with life coaches, psychologist and The Cliffs professionals to talk about things like motivation, determination, psychology and wellness--a small price to pay for a beautiful cottage in the mountains for three days.
So, this week I will be working my tail off (remember I am a PhD student and the semester began last week, therefore i am reading and writing until my eyeballs fall out) in order to skip town and enjoy the mountains. I can hear my yoga mat whispering to me from the closet, "put down that journal article and statistics book... let's go to the mountains already!" In due time my dear mat.
Here we come, Tiger... are you ready for us?
Mark's job includes working with sports psychologist, biomechanists, exercise physiologists, strength coaches, etc. What I am getting at is that it takes a village...
Anyway, one of Mark's former sports psychologists works with a resort called The Cliffs. Sounds familiar, right? The Cliffs includes multiple golf courses (hence why our everyday Olympian is so pumped about our trip) endorsed by good ole' Tiger... Woods, that is. Our friend, Mark's former sports psychologist, works with the resort to ensure that top notch wellness centers, professionals and activities are available to visitors and homeowners.
Anyway, our lovely and fascinating sport psychologist friend has arranged for Mark and I and our dear friends (another Olympic family) to visit The Cliffs for one weekend this month.
Now, again, don't get the wrong idea. We are not divas, nor do we typically visit such resorts, however we do get to know and befriend some pretty fantastic people who are extremely smart, talented and successful--they are experts in their fields. Consider this a consolation prize for the finger-biting anxiety.
While I'd like to say that this mini vacay will be a perfect opportunity for Mark and I to spend some quality time together after a crazy summer, it is more accurate to say that Mark will be spending some quality time with the golf course and I will be spending some quality time with an outside rocking chair and a yoga mat. Don't pity us. Believe me, I think we're both excited about the arrangement.
Our trip won't be all play, however. Each night Mark and our dear friend, and fellow Olympian, will be meeting with life coaches, psychologist and The Cliffs professionals to talk about things like motivation, determination, psychology and wellness--a small price to pay for a beautiful cottage in the mountains for three days.
So, this week I will be working my tail off (remember I am a PhD student and the semester began last week, therefore i am reading and writing until my eyeballs fall out) in order to skip town and enjoy the mountains. I can hear my yoga mat whispering to me from the closet, "put down that journal article and statistics book... let's go to the mountains already!" In due time my dear mat.
Here we come, Tiger... are you ready for us?
Thursday, August 12, 2010
BBM/UPS/FRA to USA
Sounds like a bunch of jibberish, huh? Well this is what I have been doing this morning. First, I get a BBM (blackberry messenger) from our dear friend who is in France. She is trying to ship a swim suit to Mark (who is in Newport Beach, CA). This suit is the suit that Mark has chosen to race in next week. The manufacturer is actually in Japan... Are you following me? Okay, here it is more simply:
Mark's friend is sponsored by a Japanese company. Mark borrowed this friend's suit a few weeks ago and LOVED racing in it. So, he asked his friend to borrow one. This friend is currently racing at a different meet in Europe right now, so it is up to us wives and girlfriends to get the job done. The suit was shipped from Japan to France and now we (the wife and the girlfriend) are trying to get it from France to California as to not burden the boys with the task while they are focusing on fast swimming. What would they do without us?!
So I get a BBM from our friend (the girlfriend) in France. She asks me to set up a UPS account so that she can ship the suit to Mark. I do so and send the UPS account info to her. She tries to set up the shipment but has trouble. Technical error. Ugh x a million. I hate technology and evidently this hatred is a worldwide phenonmenon because our friend BBMs me to tell me that the computer is 'killing' her. After a phone call to UPS (USA) and a retreival of the phone number for UPS (France) she is able to use our newly created UPS account to set up a shipment for Mark's suit.
We BBM back and forth a while longer to confirm phone numbers, zip codes and account numbers. All for a tiny little suit.
I cannot express how thankful I am for all of our friends around the world that have a hand in Mark's career. I told our friend that Mark should definitely dedicate his swims next week to her and her family.
So, when you watch Mark's races on the computer next week (I know all of you will be glued to results just like me, right?), notice the little suit that he is wearing. It is a special suit that will have experienced quit a journey just to land on his rear end for less than a minute (fingers crossed for a sub-1-minute race) of swimming.
And you thought a suit was just a suit...
Mark's friend is sponsored by a Japanese company. Mark borrowed this friend's suit a few weeks ago and LOVED racing in it. So, he asked his friend to borrow one. This friend is currently racing at a different meet in Europe right now, so it is up to us wives and girlfriends to get the job done. The suit was shipped from Japan to France and now we (the wife and the girlfriend) are trying to get it from France to California as to not burden the boys with the task while they are focusing on fast swimming. What would they do without us?!
So I get a BBM from our friend (the girlfriend) in France. She asks me to set up a UPS account so that she can ship the suit to Mark. I do so and send the UPS account info to her. She tries to set up the shipment but has trouble. Technical error. Ugh x a million. I hate technology and evidently this hatred is a worldwide phenonmenon because our friend BBMs me to tell me that the computer is 'killing' her. After a phone call to UPS (USA) and a retreival of the phone number for UPS (France) she is able to use our newly created UPS account to set up a shipment for Mark's suit.
We BBM back and forth a while longer to confirm phone numbers, zip codes and account numbers. All for a tiny little suit.
I cannot express how thankful I am for all of our friends around the world that have a hand in Mark's career. I told our friend that Mark should definitely dedicate his swims next week to her and her family.
So, when you watch Mark's races on the computer next week (I know all of you will be glued to results just like me, right?), notice the little suit that he is wearing. It is a special suit that will have experienced quit a journey just to land on his rear end for less than a minute (fingers crossed for a sub-1-minute race) of swimming.
And you thought a suit was just a suit...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Beijing arrest? No thank you.
I am trying to figure out exactly what baby 'gear' I should be taking with me to California and to the meet. Should I plan on being allowed to bring the stroller in? Should I ditch the stroller and just plan on using a sling? Baby Bjorn? Moby wrap? Should I attempt to pack our homemade baby food or just bite the bullet and buy baby food there? How should I prepare Annabelle for the time change? I think the hospital forgot to give us the baby manual. Can I borrow yours?
My other minor concern is event tickets for the Pan Pacific Games (Pan Pacs). I just bought my all-session pass for $106 assuming that Annabelle will not need her own ticket. Fair assumption? Fingers crossed. If she does need a ticket, this meet (not including travel expenses) will cost us $212... for a swim meet!
The cost of this trip is slowly but surely creeping up (and up, and up, and up). I thought "Yippee a big international meet right in our own backyard... this is going to be great... and cheap!" Yeah right. Thankfully (kind of), because I never took my trip to France I used my Delta credit to buy my plane ticket to California. Not a bad deal, though I was really hoping to wear a beret this summer. Don't tell me that I could still wear a beret... that's just ridiculous.
I received a question a couple of weeks ago regarding tickets. "Don't athletes' families get free event tickets?" Nope (hence the $106 charge on my credit card). This is not usually an issue; tickets are usually only $10 or $15 a day at most (not cheap, but doesn't totally break the bank) until it comes to the Olympics. USA Swimming reserves 2 tickets per athlete for each day that he or she competes (which we totally appreciate), however, there are a few things about this arrangement that make things difficult. First, the only day athletes are garaunteed to swim are prelims. Then you have to retrieve new tickets for the days of semi-finals and finals. Luckily this has been a problem---in other words, at both Olympic Games Mark has qualified for semi-finals and finals. The second issue occurs when you have so many family members willing to travel around the world to watch you swim (yes, I traveled to China and back--even threw up in the Olympic bushes but that is a whole different story--to watch Mark swim for a total of 3 minutes). In 2008 Mark's mother, father and sister traveled to Beijing as well as my mother and I. One of Mark's dear friends from high school (Go Firestone) and his wife also came to cheer for Mark. Let's do the math... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... less the 2 free tickets. That leaves us with 5. 5 tickets short. Ugh.
We searched ebay, ticket websites (some scams), ticketmaster and other organizations selling tickets. It was a nightmare. Yes, there was an $800 ticket. Yes, we bought it. Before the Beijing Games there was a big scare that there would be no scalping tickets and anyone seen buying or selling tickets outside of the venues would be arrested. I certainly did not want to get arrested in Beijing. This is what led us to our crazy ticket-searching project.
See, in Athens in 2004 you could pretty much find a ticket 10 minutes before just about any event at any venue. Piece of cake. But almost a full year out from the Beijing Games I let people get to me and I let myself get nervous (imagine that).
The reports of ticket scalper arrests scared the mess out of us and scared us into $800 ebay tickets. Of course, once in Beijing we saw plenty of tickets being bought and sold and no arrests. Ugh. Also, dissappointingly, there were empty seats at every venue we visited. They actually had "seat fillers" to make each venue look more crowded for tv.
Note to self: DO NOT BUY EXPENSIVE EVENT TICKETS BEFORE THE NEXT OLYMPICS.
Anyway, Annabelle and I are hanging in there without Mark. Mark, on the other hand, is really seeming to miss us (oh, who am I kidding... he is really missing Annabelle... I guess he is missing me a little bit, too). He says that training camp has been "pretty good." Whatever that means. He got a massage today and said that he certainly enjoyed his 'recovery' day (easy training days that follow a day or two of difficult trianing days to allow your body to recover) today.
When I asked, "Are you getting excited about the meet?!" He said, "Not yet."
This is equivilant to me asking, "How was practice?"
"Fine."
Huh?
Well, we are getting excited.
Please comment to tell Mark good luck and share your support. You are also welcome to email him at everydayolympian@gmail.com.
My other minor concern is event tickets for the Pan Pacific Games (Pan Pacs). I just bought my all-session pass for $106 assuming that Annabelle will not need her own ticket. Fair assumption? Fingers crossed. If she does need a ticket, this meet (not including travel expenses) will cost us $212... for a swim meet!
The cost of this trip is slowly but surely creeping up (and up, and up, and up). I thought "Yippee a big international meet right in our own backyard... this is going to be great... and cheap!" Yeah right. Thankfully (kind of), because I never took my trip to France I used my Delta credit to buy my plane ticket to California. Not a bad deal, though I was really hoping to wear a beret this summer. Don't tell me that I could still wear a beret... that's just ridiculous.
I received a question a couple of weeks ago regarding tickets. "Don't athletes' families get free event tickets?" Nope (hence the $106 charge on my credit card). This is not usually an issue; tickets are usually only $10 or $15 a day at most (not cheap, but doesn't totally break the bank) until it comes to the Olympics. USA Swimming reserves 2 tickets per athlete for each day that he or she competes (which we totally appreciate), however, there are a few things about this arrangement that make things difficult. First, the only day athletes are garaunteed to swim are prelims. Then you have to retrieve new tickets for the days of semi-finals and finals. Luckily this has been a problem---in other words, at both Olympic Games Mark has qualified for semi-finals and finals. The second issue occurs when you have so many family members willing to travel around the world to watch you swim (yes, I traveled to China and back--even threw up in the Olympic bushes but that is a whole different story--to watch Mark swim for a total of 3 minutes). In 2008 Mark's mother, father and sister traveled to Beijing as well as my mother and I. One of Mark's dear friends from high school (Go Firestone) and his wife also came to cheer for Mark. Let's do the math... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... less the 2 free tickets. That leaves us with 5. 5 tickets short. Ugh.
We searched ebay, ticket websites (some scams), ticketmaster and other organizations selling tickets. It was a nightmare. Yes, there was an $800 ticket. Yes, we bought it. Before the Beijing Games there was a big scare that there would be no scalping tickets and anyone seen buying or selling tickets outside of the venues would be arrested. I certainly did not want to get arrested in Beijing. This is what led us to our crazy ticket-searching project.
See, in Athens in 2004 you could pretty much find a ticket 10 minutes before just about any event at any venue. Piece of cake. But almost a full year out from the Beijing Games I let people get to me and I let myself get nervous (imagine that).
The reports of ticket scalper arrests scared the mess out of us and scared us into $800 ebay tickets. Of course, once in Beijing we saw plenty of tickets being bought and sold and no arrests. Ugh. Also, dissappointingly, there were empty seats at every venue we visited. They actually had "seat fillers" to make each venue look more crowded for tv.
Note to self: DO NOT BUY EXPENSIVE EVENT TICKETS BEFORE THE NEXT OLYMPICS.
Anyway, Annabelle and I are hanging in there without Mark. Mark, on the other hand, is really seeming to miss us (oh, who am I kidding... he is really missing Annabelle... I guess he is missing me a little bit, too). He says that training camp has been "pretty good." Whatever that means. He got a massage today and said that he certainly enjoyed his 'recovery' day (easy training days that follow a day or two of difficult trianing days to allow your body to recover) today.
When I asked, "Are you getting excited about the meet?!" He said, "Not yet."
This is equivilant to me asking, "How was practice?"
"Fine."
Huh?
Well, we are getting excited.
Please comment to tell Mark good luck and share your support. You are also welcome to email him at everydayolympian@gmail.com.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Travel almost killed this swim wife today
I left Irvine today to head home to the real world. I was supposed to leave from SNA (Orange County Airport) at 1:30pm and arrive in ATL (Atlanta Airport) at 8:50pm. My flight was cancelled and I was notified via text message from Delta this morning at 8am (Pacific). I immediately called Delta and was rerouted from LAX (Los Angelos Airport) slated to leave at 1pm and arrive in ATL at 8:32. I took a shuttle from SNA to LAX (got stuck in traffic... of course) and arrived at LAX at 11:30. I went to 3 different ticket counters to retrieve my alleged confirmed 1pm flight (for which I received a confirmation email, confirmation number and ticket number). However this alleged confirmed ticket was never entered into the system. I then learned that I would be flying stand by (I was only really confirmed on a 6:05pm flight to Salt Lake City). I moped to and through the security line. I did get to watch a traveling New Yorker get restrained by security because she was threatening to attack the airport security check-in staff. So, at least I wasn't bored.
I made my way to the gate where I was surrounded by, what seemed like, a million angry travelers (I wonder if their mornings were anything like mine). I waited anxiously and by some grace I got onto the flight scheduled for a 1pm departure. Thank goodness, because this traveling swim wife was one traveling snaffoo and a single $4.00 bag of sweedish fish from the airport Newstand away from totally losing my cool.
The flight was fine until we encountered some sort of holding pattern above the Atlanta airport. So, my 4 hour flight from Orange County to Atlanta turned into a two hour shuttle ride through Southern California and a 5 hour flight (one of which was spent circling the airport) from LAX to ATL.
The worst is that I could not get live results from the meet. I, since, have talked with Mark who is so proud of his former Swim MAC teammates and his current Auburn teammates (way to go Tyler and Micah!). Though I didn't get to watch the meet (or even the results), I did get to watch almost 5 hours worth of the Real Housewives of New Jersey via satelite tv from the plane. Oh how I love those crazy wives.
Now, it is time for bed. Tomorrow will start my long distance relationship with Mark via Skype and my mad dash to finalize plans for my trip to the Pan Pacific Games.
I made my way to the gate where I was surrounded by, what seemed like, a million angry travelers (I wonder if their mornings were anything like mine). I waited anxiously and by some grace I got onto the flight scheduled for a 1pm departure. Thank goodness, because this traveling swim wife was one traveling snaffoo and a single $4.00 bag of sweedish fish from the airport Newstand away from totally losing my cool.
The flight was fine until we encountered some sort of holding pattern above the Atlanta airport. So, my 4 hour flight from Orange County to Atlanta turned into a two hour shuttle ride through Southern California and a 5 hour flight (one of which was spent circling the airport) from LAX to ATL.
The worst is that I could not get live results from the meet. I, since, have talked with Mark who is so proud of his former Swim MAC teammates and his current Auburn teammates (way to go Tyler and Micah!). Though I didn't get to watch the meet (or even the results), I did get to watch almost 5 hours worth of the Real Housewives of New Jersey via satelite tv from the plane. Oh how I love those crazy wives.
Now, it is time for bed. Tomorrow will start my long distance relationship with Mark via Skype and my mad dash to finalize plans for my trip to the Pan Pacific Games.
Monday, July 26, 2010
The traveling swim wife... assuming I make my flight
So, it is that time again. I leave for the USA Swimming Nationals in one week.
While Mark is tapering, I am coordinating my trip to California (where the Nationals will be held). Nationals is my time to shine as a nervous swim wife. I will sit in the stands, talk with the other swimming wives, parents, brothers and sisters, chit chat with sponsors and agents (all of this sounds much more glamourous than it actually is), and pretend like I am cool, calm and collected.
I have booked flights, hired a babysitter (really it is just my mother, Turtle) to stay home with the babe, and I am in the process of planning when, where and how I'll get to meet up with old friends living in the area.
I never really knew if Mark cared that I was at his meets until last summer. Last summer was probably the most nervous either of us (Mark or I) had ever been. There were a lot of things going on (i.e. a new coach, new training arrangement, I had just quit my job in anticipation of going back to school and we were pregnant... talk about pressure!). Last summer was also the summer of the suits.
Last July, as usual, I traveled to Indy to watch Mark race. Mark's races were great (more than great as he set the American record in the 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke). Typically I can hope that fast swims are a result of my positive energy and loud cheering, but last summer I feel directly responsible for Mark's swims. Okay, not really. But I do feel ownership in the fact that Mark was able to wear a dry suit during the meet.
My job last summer was to serve as the Official Suit Dryer for the Gangloff family and other Auburn folks that might have needed a dry suit, too. In between prelims and finals I sat in a chair for an hour+ with a tech suit in one hand and a hair dryer in the other. Those things take FOREVER to dry on their own and we just didn't have that kind of time. So, I not only dried Mark's suit, but I also dried a suit for one of his teammates.
This summer, I do not envision myself drying any suits (not that there would be that much to dry anymore), so I expect to take my normal position in the stands.
Since I didn't get to go to France this summer as planned and read a just-for-fun fiction novel (thanks for all of the recommendations!), I will take my book with me on the plane to Cali. I am also contemplating learning to knit. Can you tell that I use my nervous energy on projects?
While Mark is tapering, I am coordinating my trip to California (where the Nationals will be held). Nationals is my time to shine as a nervous swim wife. I will sit in the stands, talk with the other swimming wives, parents, brothers and sisters, chit chat with sponsors and agents (all of this sounds much more glamourous than it actually is), and pretend like I am cool, calm and collected.
I have booked flights, hired a babysitter (really it is just my mother, Turtle) to stay home with the babe, and I am in the process of planning when, where and how I'll get to meet up with old friends living in the area.
I never really knew if Mark cared that I was at his meets until last summer. Last summer was probably the most nervous either of us (Mark or I) had ever been. There were a lot of things going on (i.e. a new coach, new training arrangement, I had just quit my job in anticipation of going back to school and we were pregnant... talk about pressure!). Last summer was also the summer of the suits.
Last July, as usual, I traveled to Indy to watch Mark race. Mark's races were great (more than great as he set the American record in the 100m breaststroke and 50m breaststroke). Typically I can hope that fast swims are a result of my positive energy and loud cheering, but last summer I feel directly responsible for Mark's swims. Okay, not really. But I do feel ownership in the fact that Mark was able to wear a dry suit during the meet.
My job last summer was to serve as the Official Suit Dryer for the Gangloff family and other Auburn folks that might have needed a dry suit, too. In between prelims and finals I sat in a chair for an hour+ with a tech suit in one hand and a hair dryer in the other. Those things take FOREVER to dry on their own and we just didn't have that kind of time. So, I not only dried Mark's suit, but I also dried a suit for one of his teammates.
This summer, I do not envision myself drying any suits (not that there would be that much to dry anymore), so I expect to take my normal position in the stands.
Since I didn't get to go to France this summer as planned and read a just-for-fun fiction novel (thanks for all of the recommendations!), I will take my book with me on the plane to Cali. I am also contemplating learning to knit. Can you tell that I use my nervous energy on projects?
Here is the round up:
Plane ticket... roughly $300
Event tickets... $45
Box of Austin Peanut Butter Crackers... $2.99
Book from the library... free
Getting to sit in the bleechers while your dear husband races for a spot on the Short Course World Championship team, the Long Course World Championship Team and the Pan Pacific Games team... PRICELESS.
If you are wondering about Mark's week-before-the-big-race routine it goes something like this...
Eat, Sleep, Swim, Massage, Rest, watch an entire season of Mad Men and repeat.
If you'd like to send him a good luck note or a few words of wisdom for this traveling swim wife as we head into this year's big meet, feel free to leave a comment or email us at everydayolympian@gmail.com.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Knock on wood
Every summer I either (a) pay way to much for last minute travel arrangements or (b) miss out on the best trips. Why, you ask. Well, I am a bit superstitious.
It stems from my own childhood and athletic career. Now, remember, I was a diver. I was pretty darn good, too. Well, I was pretty darn good at the end of my career I should say. Early in my career I was perpetually the girl that didn't qualify. See, in the diving world you qualify for each meet (Zones, Nationals and international competition) by earning a very specific place at qualifying meets. For example, in my day (I'm not that old, but diving has changed a lot), to qualify for zones you had to earn a 12th place finish or better at Regionals. Typically, if you had to get 12th, I got 13th and when you had to get 5th, I got 6th--do you see the trend? Qualifying meets usually took place a week or two before the next meet. So, parents would either go ahead and make travel plans under the assumption that their child will qualify or they would wait and pay an arm and a leg for last minute flights, hotel rooms, etc.
This past full of qualifying meet disappointment has created a superstition that I just can't shake. I never (with the exception of Beijing) have made travel arrangements to go watch Mark at a meet until after he qualifies. I know, I know, Mark typically qualifies (knock on wood), but I truly believe this is partially because I have NOT purchased plane tickets yet. Stupid? Maybe.
So, here is my dilemma. Mark will be swimming at Nationals in Irvine, CA this summer (two weeks from today to be exact--ugh, I have the sudden urge to bit my finger nails). This summer's Nationals serves as the qualifying meet for the Pan Pacific Games (double ugh... now I have a belly ache). The Pan Pacific Games will be held in late August in Irvine as well. This is huge. Typically Mark is flying half way around the world a few days after Nationals to attend Pan Pacs and this year they are not only in the same location as Nationals, but in this country and easy to attend!
This doesn't really sound like a dilemma, huh? Sounds perfect, right? It is, or, I guess, will be as soon as he qualifies. But until then I am just sitting here twiddling my thumbs not making travel arrangements.
I have friends who will be attending Pan Pacs; I get calls and emails asking what my plans are. I DON'T HAVE PLANS YET. I can't bring myself to buy a ticket (yet). I am paralyzed by my superstition.
This nervous paralysis has cost me a lot of fantastic trips. Last year I didn't make plans to attend the World Championship in Rome (you heard me... ROME!). And, once Mark qualified, tickets were too expensive.
So, here I am. Surfing the internet for great airline deals only to not buy one. I can't. I would love to go to Pan Pacs, but Mark has to qualify first. Honestly, I can't even believe I am talking about this. Now, I have to go knock on every piece of wood in the house. Let's just pretend I didn't even bring it up.
It stems from my own childhood and athletic career. Now, remember, I was a diver. I was pretty darn good, too. Well, I was pretty darn good at the end of my career I should say. Early in my career I was perpetually the girl that didn't qualify. See, in the diving world you qualify for each meet (Zones, Nationals and international competition) by earning a very specific place at qualifying meets. For example, in my day (I'm not that old, but diving has changed a lot), to qualify for zones you had to earn a 12th place finish or better at Regionals. Typically, if you had to get 12th, I got 13th and when you had to get 5th, I got 6th--do you see the trend? Qualifying meets usually took place a week or two before the next meet. So, parents would either go ahead and make travel plans under the assumption that their child will qualify or they would wait and pay an arm and a leg for last minute flights, hotel rooms, etc.
This past full of qualifying meet disappointment has created a superstition that I just can't shake. I never (with the exception of Beijing) have made travel arrangements to go watch Mark at a meet until after he qualifies. I know, I know, Mark typically qualifies (knock on wood), but I truly believe this is partially because I have NOT purchased plane tickets yet. Stupid? Maybe.
So, here is my dilemma. Mark will be swimming at Nationals in Irvine, CA this summer (two weeks from today to be exact--ugh, I have the sudden urge to bit my finger nails). This summer's Nationals serves as the qualifying meet for the Pan Pacific Games (double ugh... now I have a belly ache). The Pan Pacific Games will be held in late August in Irvine as well. This is huge. Typically Mark is flying half way around the world a few days after Nationals to attend Pan Pacs and this year they are not only in the same location as Nationals, but in this country and easy to attend!
This doesn't really sound like a dilemma, huh? Sounds perfect, right? It is, or, I guess, will be as soon as he qualifies. But until then I am just sitting here twiddling my thumbs not making travel arrangements.
I have friends who will be attending Pan Pacs; I get calls and emails asking what my plans are. I DON'T HAVE PLANS YET. I can't bring myself to buy a ticket (yet). I am paralyzed by my superstition.
This nervous paralysis has cost me a lot of fantastic trips. Last year I didn't make plans to attend the World Championship in Rome (you heard me... ROME!). And, once Mark qualified, tickets were too expensive.
So, here I am. Surfing the internet for great airline deals only to not buy one. I can't. I would love to go to Pan Pacs, but Mark has to qualify first. Honestly, I can't even believe I am talking about this. Now, I have to go knock on every piece of wood in the house. Let's just pretend I didn't even bring it up.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Paris Open: A BIG Success
Phew. Nail biting can officially cease.
Mark swam GREAT at the Paris Open. He swam the 200m breaststroke (got 9th and did not advance to the finals), the 50 breaststroke (which he won-Yay!) and the 100m breaststroke (which he also won-Buya!). The 100m breaststroke was by far his most successful race. His time moved him to 8th in the world. The best news is that he beat some big names in the field, one of which being an Olympic medalist, and was pretty unrested (he may not be happy that I am sharing this, but he has actually been getting his butt kicked by his coaches lately. He has even been too tired to walk the baby and the dog at night... wimp).
This type of swim is a huge confidence builder for our humble average, everyday, Olympian.
I was at a friend's house for brunch this morning and was not glued to my computer for results-so unlike me, especially considering I was checking prelims results this morning at 3am. My mother called to tell me that Swiminfo.com mentioned Mark-we still get excited when we see Mark's name in print. I could have sworn that she said that he went a "1:01.7." This would have been a just-ok-swim and I was sure Mark would be disappointed with it, so I wasn't that thrilled.
About 10 minutes later I get a call from David Arluck, Mark's agent. He was totally fired up. I kept thinking to myself, "He is this excited about a 1:01?" Well, he wasn't. He was that excited about a 1:00. I immediately went into panic (excited panic) mode and had to look at the results myself. After talking with Dave (wasn't that extremely thoughtful of him to call?!) and analyzing just how fast Mark will go this year I ran inside to figure out how to translate the Paris Open website into English.
1:00.71
Six years ago Mark made his first U.S. Olympic team with a 1:00.8.
I knew Mark was getting faster, but the whole suit drama really has had me confused all year. I didn't know what to expect, what times to hope for or what results Mark would be satisfied with.
If you haven't been consumed in the suit drama like I have been here is a brief video from last year. Long story short, "super suits" are now banned and swimmers are wearing suits that haven't been worn for more than 5 years.
I called Mark The Silver Bullet all summer after he wore the suit in this video.
Anyway, wow, great job, Marky. Needless to say that the decision to get Mark to France no matter the cost or stress was the right decision. If you haven't read about our travel calamity, click here for the recap.
Mark swam GREAT at the Paris Open. He swam the 200m breaststroke (got 9th and did not advance to the finals), the 50 breaststroke (which he won-Yay!) and the 100m breaststroke (which he also won-Buya!). The 100m breaststroke was by far his most successful race. His time moved him to 8th in the world. The best news is that he beat some big names in the field, one of which being an Olympic medalist, and was pretty unrested (he may not be happy that I am sharing this, but he has actually been getting his butt kicked by his coaches lately. He has even been too tired to walk the baby and the dog at night... wimp).
This type of swim is a huge confidence builder for our humble average, everyday, Olympian.
I was at a friend's house for brunch this morning and was not glued to my computer for results-so unlike me, especially considering I was checking prelims results this morning at 3am. My mother called to tell me that Swiminfo.com mentioned Mark-we still get excited when we see Mark's name in print. I could have sworn that she said that he went a "1:01.7." This would have been a just-ok-swim and I was sure Mark would be disappointed with it, so I wasn't that thrilled.
About 10 minutes later I get a call from David Arluck, Mark's agent. He was totally fired up. I kept thinking to myself, "He is this excited about a 1:01?" Well, he wasn't. He was that excited about a 1:00. I immediately went into panic (excited panic) mode and had to look at the results myself. After talking with Dave (wasn't that extremely thoughtful of him to call?!) and analyzing just how fast Mark will go this year I ran inside to figure out how to translate the Paris Open website into English.
1:00.71
Six years ago Mark made his first U.S. Olympic team with a 1:00.8.
I knew Mark was getting faster, but the whole suit drama really has had me confused all year. I didn't know what to expect, what times to hope for or what results Mark would be satisfied with.
If you haven't been consumed in the suit drama like I have been here is a brief video from last year. Long story short, "super suits" are now banned and swimmers are wearing suits that haven't been worn for more than 5 years.
I called Mark The Silver Bullet all summer after he wore the suit in this video.
Anyway, wow, great job, Marky. Needless to say that the decision to get Mark to France no matter the cost or stress was the right decision. If you haven't read about our travel calamity, click here for the recap.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Show some love
Mark is swimming in the Paris Open today. Let him know that you're behind him by leaving a comment or emailing us at everydayolympian@gmail.com.
My fingers are crossed for a good swim... are yours?
My fingers are crossed for a good swim... are yours?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
My hero, SKYPE
A lot of our lives have played out over Skype.
As I have said before, Mark and I have lived apart for a few months here and there due to work, training, school, etc. Not only have we spent a few months apart here and there, but often times Mark travels for weeks at a time for meets. For example, this summer Mark will leave for Nationals in Irvine, CA on July 29. He will compete August 3-8 at the USA Swimming Nationals. If he is one of the top two in either of his events (100m and 200m breaststroke) he will stay in California with the rest of the National team (yes, Michael Phelps will probably be there) until the Pan Pacific Games starts on August 18th. The Pan Pacific Games will run through August 21 and Mark will return on August 22.
I am sure you are doing the math in your head, but if you are struggling I will help... this summer (which is even considered an "off" summer) Mark will potentially be away for more than three weeks in August (not to mention the 10 days that he is away now. Mark's away days certainly add up.
Furthermore, Mark is not good at talking on the phone. You didn't know that talking on the phone was a skill? Well it is, and it is one of the few skills Mark is not good at. This used to create issues. I am a chatterbox (if you couldn't tell), but I got sick of talking at Mark while he sat on the other end of the line... silent.
So, needless to say, Skype has become a dear friend of the Gangloff family. Even when Mark is away for only a few days at a time, we Skype.
This morning I put Annabelle on the floor in front of the computer while video calling with Mark. He just watched her play.
Yes, traveling is difficult (on all of us... even Daisy, the dog), but Skype makes it a million times easier-it makes a demanding travel schedule manageable.
So, I'll repeat myself. A lot of our lives have played out over Skype.
Have I told you about the time we found out that I was pregnant with Annabelle, yet? Let's just say that Skype was part of that moment, too.
Do you use Skype, yet? If not, I highly recommend it.
As I have said before, Mark and I have lived apart for a few months here and there due to work, training, school, etc. Not only have we spent a few months apart here and there, but often times Mark travels for weeks at a time for meets. For example, this summer Mark will leave for Nationals in Irvine, CA on July 29. He will compete August 3-8 at the USA Swimming Nationals. If he is one of the top two in either of his events (100m and 200m breaststroke) he will stay in California with the rest of the National team (yes, Michael Phelps will probably be there) until the Pan Pacific Games starts on August 18th. The Pan Pacific Games will run through August 21 and Mark will return on August 22.
I am sure you are doing the math in your head, but if you are struggling I will help... this summer (which is even considered an "off" summer) Mark will potentially be away for more than three weeks in August (not to mention the 10 days that he is away now. Mark's away days certainly add up.
Furthermore, Mark is not good at talking on the phone. You didn't know that talking on the phone was a skill? Well it is, and it is one of the few skills Mark is not good at. This used to create issues. I am a chatterbox (if you couldn't tell), but I got sick of talking at Mark while he sat on the other end of the line... silent.
So, needless to say, Skype has become a dear friend of the Gangloff family. Even when Mark is away for only a few days at a time, we Skype.
This morning I put Annabelle on the floor in front of the computer while video calling with Mark. He just watched her play.
Yes, traveling is difficult (on all of us... even Daisy, the dog), but Skype makes it a million times easier-it makes a demanding travel schedule manageable.
So, I'll repeat myself. A lot of our lives have played out over Skype.
Have I told you about the time we found out that I was pregnant with Annabelle, yet? Let's just say that Skype was part of that moment, too.
Do you use Skype, yet? If not, I highly recommend it.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Have you sent me your travel tip yet?
If not, you better get on it. It has been four days since I first told you about this "Best Travel Tip Ever Contest" for the chance to win a Speedo travel bag and I do not want to add you to my list of people to nag (this is about the time that Mark would start rolling his eyes at me).
Click here for contest details.
Click here for contest details.
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