Sean Down Unda - Sydney Day 5

Eli, Justen and I got up early to head out to Olympic Stadium to watch the morning 'athletics' (we call it track and field). It took us almost two hours to get there! But it was well worth it. This was my first visit out to the Olympic Park (aka Homebush). The entire park is huge and it was pretty breathtaking to walk up to Olympic Stadium after I'd seen so much of it on TV. And the day was beautiful after we had such lousy weather last night. Eli and Justen had seats way up in the bleachers which they had bought on the street the day before. I lucked out...the ticket I bought later the same day for less money was 23 rows up from the field right by the decathlon long jump. Pretty cool, I got some really great pictures of the men's 200, the decathlon long jump and various other events going on.

I had to leave the park early to catch a modern dance matinee at the Opera house. The route back to the trains that go to the city is about a mile walk. I got back to the new balance center just in time to have lunch and find out that we had been moved out of our cozy apartment right on Coogie Beach. I guess someone more important wanted. Bummer, but we're now right across the street in the Holiday Inn.

The matinee at the opera house was incredible. The performance was called "Skin" and included two individual dance pieces, the second included several artists that were in the opening night ceremonies. The first was nice, but didn't engage me. It was a troop of women dancing to half aborigine, half modern jazz music. The seconds was a troop of men and a small boy. It started with a native aborigine hanging himself then shifted in to dance and some singing dealing with some of the issues natives in Australia and New Zealand are dealing with today. The set was only a burned out car shell that was moved to many different positions for different acts. The final scenes were of one of the older performers sitting down and singing songs to his guitar. The last song was about how for a time, native children were taken from their real parents to be raised by white parents in hopes of civilizing them. Once again, I teared up at the end.

Then...back to the New Balance center for dinner. After that, I caught up with the cousins of one of my best friends Peter Barnes in Seattle. We went to the Lord Nelson pub in an area of town called The Rocks, the pub was just under the Sydney Harbor bridge. We had a great time and it was fun to be in a local pub when the Aussies cheer on their team.

More Howie and a late swim

Turns out that Howie hadn't left the barn yet for his new home in CA so I got another chance to ride everybody's favorite horse. Had the usual little problems with Howie, but overall it was a really good ride. Talked to Laura about doing a shoe lease on one of the horses to start getting more time in as well as if I'll be ready to jump/compete next spring. Looking good so far.

Because of traffic coming back from the barn on the east side, I didn't make my 4:30 swim time. This gave me a chance to grab a bite to eat, take a nap and head back to the pool for the 7:30 swim. The late swim didn't feel much different than the other times of the day that I swim. Maybe a little more energy, but my arms felt a little heavy, due to - I believe - an arm weight workout I did the last time. I did take a few more seconds off my 100m time, but I wasn't really trying too hard. I did another mini flipturn practice at the end of my workout. I did pretty well, got most of the turns just fine. I still have to take the turns pretty slow though for it to work out right.

I found out last night through my friend Peter that another friend of ours, Batina, is quite the shooter. I had no idea, so I'll try catching up with her to find out where she is shooting. Its in Bellevue, so it will be easier than Kenmore for quick shooting trips. Also found out that Peter has some relatives in Sydney that I will be able to catch up with.