Day 1 at Nike Team Nationals

Day 1 at Nike Team National

I represent one of the 4 teams from Texas at the first ever Nike Team National event. My intent was to jot down a few items each day and send them to Alex to publish. Little did I know how hard it would be. I am sitting in my room at the Embassy Suites on Friday morning 5:15 local time not really remembering where I am or what time it is.

Our day started out in Texas yesterday with the team completing a 5 mile run at 5:00 and racing to the airport for a 9:00 flight to Portland . The airport was all abuzz with signage for this great event. We were met by Nike representatives, got our bags and were rushed off to the hotel. Inside the Embassy Suites, 41 large banners (one for each team) were draped from the rafters and boarders inside the hotel. No time to waste, the teams were driven directly to Nike World Headquarters. What a sight! Everything was in order for the athletes, a great hospitality room complete with games and activities for all. Each team was directed to the registration room where all were custom fitted for their choice of the latest footwear by Nike. Each athlete and their coach was given a duffel bag with their custom designed uniform, sweats, warm up's, socks, hats, shirts etc. From there a "team photo" and off to a tour of the campus, 4 mile run or just relaxing in the game room making new friends.

The campus is a true wonder, 19 buildings each dedicated to a world class athlete. Joan Benoit, Nolan Ryan, Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong etc. In each building there is a tribute complete with pictures, clothing, athletic gear etc recognizing there great achievements. A regulation 400M track is carved into the country side for employees or athletes to use. Each building has the state of the art in athletic equipment for the employees of Nike.

Dinner was the usual pasta followed by "team introductions" in front of all 41 teams, parents, coaches and Nike Staff. Each team was to introduce themselves in a 60 second "Gong Show" type format and be judged by legends, Bob Kennedy, Bernard Lagat and Alan Webb. As you can guess the skits were all over the board with great creativity shown by each team. The overall Girls winner was Los Alamos NM girls and Carroll Texas boys. Each will be seated at dinner tonight with the judges for an up close and personal discussion on the sport.

The evening ended with a coach's meeting where we were introduced to the latest state of the art race tracking system ever developed. Each coach will have a palm pilot with innovative software that will allow them to track not only their team and individuals but also any other team or runners that they feel are competitors. This will give coaches and athletes up to the second info on how they are doing and where the other great teams/athletes stand.

We are scheduled for breakfast this morning than off to get our first view of the Monster course that awaits on Saturday.