olympic heroes...

okay. something's been bothering me for the last couple weeks, and i've got to get it off my mind...

as we're all painfully aware, the olympics have been going on. no - really. the olympics! a time for world-class athletes to get together for a once-in-four-years test of skill. the grandest stage in the world. win and you're famous - at least where you live. lose and - well, lose? if you're an olympian, can you really lose?

see, my issue is this: the media have gone to great lengths in the past two weeks to tell us just how disappointing the american olympians have been. bode didn't do this, apolo didn't do that. lindsey jacobellis is a show-boater, sasha cohen fell. and that hockey team - shameful! these olympians, they done let our country down...

come on! shouldn't we be celebrating the spirit of the olympics and celebrating the effort and the sacrifice that it takes to make it to the event? it's not like these are professional athletes who's salaries we're paying for in ticket sales and who's venues we're paying for with stadium taxes. these are amateurs working their tails off for a once-in-four-years shot at gold. or silver. or even just a finish...

not only that, but this is a once-in-four-years thing. we all have our good days and our bad days, and we all know that the bad ones sometimes happen at inopportune times. world cup events are a better gauge of athletic superiority than a single event at an olympic games. sure, the olympics are the glamour "meet." but having a bad day at the olympics does not make you a disappointment. hell, i'd give about anything to have a bad day at the olympics - because i'd have made it to the freakin' olympics!

so i'm glad the games are over today. because the athletes can get back to their world cups and their day-to-day training and lose the pressure that our media heap on them to have their perfect day based on the four-year calendar. and i'll read in the back pages of the sports section about darren rahlves' quest for the world cup title or shani davis' attempt at a new world record. and i'll smile knowing that - for the next four years - we won't be so quick to label these amazing athletes disappointing...

not to mention, by the way, that the americans scored their second-most medals ever at a winter games. way to go, team...

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this weekend's runs:

saturday -
38 minutes at a consistent 7:30 pace
5.07 miles

sunday's treadmill 5k -
mile 1: 7:26
mile 2: 7:05
mile 3: 6:57
total time: 22:06