BLOG FROM BEIJING

2008 Summer Olympics

Games of the XXIX Olympiad

Beijing, China

August 8-24, 2008

by Mitchell E. Garner

Central Region Director – Road Runners Club of America

Vice-President – Ann Arbor Track Club

Entry #1 – Beginning the Journey

Entry #2 – Best Laid Plans

August 7, 2008
Tokyo-Narita Airport
Tokyo, Japan

The great Scottish poet, Robert Burns, once said, "The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." This saying has special meaning for air travel these days. When I arrived at Detroit Metro Airport yesterday to catch my flight to Washington Dulles Airport and then to Beijing, I was informed that my flight had been delayed and that, as a result, I would not make my connection to Beijing. The only option was to rebook on another airline.

Luckily for my traveling partner Gary Morgan and me, when we rebooked, we were upgraded to business class. As we were rebooking, we were apprised of an additional development. The Chinese Government had arbitrarily decided to close the Beijing Airport in preparation for the opening ceremonies on Friday, August 8. Another plan gone astray.

We asked ourselves, "Why would the Chinese Government close the Beijing Airport during the peak pre-Olympic arrival period?" There was no good answer to this question, but that is the adventure of travel these days, and with adventure comes opportunity to experience new things.

As I write this next edition of my blog, I am sitting in the Northwest Airlines business class lounge. It's 4:30 P.M. local time, but 3:30 A.M. Eastern time. I always was an early morning person! My flight to Beijing leaves in about 90 minutes. I have never been to Japan. From the air, I could see a lot of rice fields and golf courses. Maybe an enterprising golf course designer could combine the two concepts! I made a quick stop at a little airport store to buy some souvenirs for my wife and daughter and to prove that I really was in Japan, if only for a few hours.

Prior to yesterday, I had never flown business class. The closest I ever came was in July 2004, when I was returning from the United States Olympic track and field trials in Sacramento, California. I was bumped from my Northwest flight and offered a free round-trip and a business class upgrade on the next flight out. When the agent was issuing the first class upgrades I noticed two newlyweds on their honeymoon who were also supposed to be upgraded, but for lack of first class seats, only one could go business class. Seizing the moment, I did the chivalrous thing and gave my business class seat to the deprived spouse. Later, as we were disembarking, they thanked me profusely. They felt very lucky to be able to sit together in business class on their honeymoon.

Yesterday I was the lucky beneficiary of a business class upgrade. The flight was fabulous! I was pampered like a king: champagne, hot towels, a roomy seat with lots of room, seared tuna with ginger, fancy nuts, beef tenderloin, Bailey's Irish Cream, even slippers and a personal toiletries case. Gary and I met several people who are also going to Beijing for the Olympics, including renowned author and columnist Mitch Albom. Everyone is feeling a pre-Olympic buzz. This is heady stuff for a Polish boy from the northwest side of Chicago. I could easily get accustomed to this kind of treatment!

Life is full of surprises. Having to fly to China through Japan was not part of my plan, but in the spirit of adventure, I am enjoying it. It is a good lesson in life.

Today is Valentine's Day in China. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone back in the USA! More adventure awaits me in China, I am sure. The Opening Ceremonies are tomorrow. I was not planning to attend, but maybe I'll find a ticket at the last minute. Life should not be overplanned.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #3 – Eights are Wild

August 9, 2008
Beijing, China

In the Chinese culture, the number eight is very lucky. For that reason, the Chinese Olympic Committee decided to stage the Opening Ceremonies at 8:00 P.M. on August 8, 2008. Some Chinese people we met told us that over 20,000 Chinese couples were supposed to tie the know

Gary and I arrived in Beijing weary and sleep-deprived on Thursday evening. Upon our arrival, signs of the Olympics greeted us everywhere. There were Olympic banners and signs and greeters at every turn. At the airport were young Chinese men and women chomping at the bit to practice their English on us, and we were appreciative of their efforts. Security was very tight upon our arrival. Our luggage had to go through security after we retrieved it to catch a taxi.

Exhausted, we arrived at our home for the next 19 days, the Nine Dragons Hostel, located in central Beijing not far from the Forbidden City. I think there used to be ten dragons, but one of them wanted to get away from the city life and return to the country!

Our room at the hostel is very simple: just two twin beds and a private bathroom and shower. The bathroom is somewhat unusual because there is no separation between the toilet and the shower. The shower is completely open.

My shower yesterday morning was complicated by the shower drain, which was not working very well. There are some other deviations from American customs here in Beijing. Toilet tissue must be deposited in a waste basket next to toilet, not in the toilet itself. Enough said.

After a brief sleep, Gary and I went out for a morning walk to get our bearings. The Chinese Government had declared Friday a national holiday, and people were in a festive mood.

Right now, Beijing is extremely hot and humid. The city is definitely one big Chinese laundry. The air is heavy with a somewhat foul-smelling haze. The smell reminds me of the smell that surrounds garbage dumps in the United States.

The city is laid out in a grid. The major arteries are 8-10 lanes wide, with many bicyclists. The interior streets, where people live, are like alleys in the United States, barely wide enough for one car. Our hostel is located on one of those alleys, very close to a subway stop. No one has air conditioning, and so people sit outside their homes and fan themselves to keep cool. A number of women were washing laundry by hand as we passed.

Public toilets are another usual thing. You see them every few blocks, right next to stores.

The police and security forces are ubiquitous. They are at every corner on foot, and the streets are heavily patroled by police vehicles with their flashing lights.

For my part, I am happy to finally be in a place where I can feel tall. For my entire life, I have been vertically challenged. Here in China, no one mistakes me for Yao Ming, but I am definitely having a heady experience as a not-so-short person in this country.

Gary, of course, is a giant here. People seemed mystified at my Ann Arbor Track Club running shirt and Yale shorts and his triathlon shirt.

We took the subway to ProSport to get our Olympic tickets. Like everything else, the subway is under tight security. All bags must pass through a metal detector before you enter the subway system. The subway itself is very clean and efficient. We seemed to be the only Westerners adventurous enough to get around town by subway. A ticket costs 2 yuan, which is about $.28 American. It's very inexpensive.

When we emerged from the subway, we were in an upscale part of Beijing, with many high end stores like Cartier and Polo. Even Armani is here. I was thinking that Armani might want to try marketing its own version of Chairman Mao suits here! An Armani-made Chairman Mao suit. That would be sweet!

We did not attend the Opening Ceremonies. We watched them from USA House, which is the home away from home for American Olympians. I was Gary's guest.

More on that later.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #4 – Pedestrians and Progress

August 10, 2008
Beijing, China

The Opening Ceremonies from the Bird's Nest on Friday evening were nothing short of spectacular. There was overwhelming consensus that they were the best ever. They were a showcase for China's rich cultural history and its amazing economic progress.

Gary and I did not have tickets for the Opening Ceremonies. There were rumors that tickets were passing hands for amounts well into the four figures. Instead of attending the Opening Ceremonies, we did the next best thing. We went to a place called "USA House" to watch them with other Americans attending the Olympics.

USA House is a meeting place for American Olympic athletes wherever the Olympics are held. To gain entry, you must be an Olympic athlete and a guest of an Olympic athlete. I was Gary's guest. Once inside, we were treated to free food, free drinks, free massages, and all kinds of free goodies. I have never felt so pampered. Everywhere you turned there were Olympians from past Olympics from all different sports. I even met a woman who was a pairs figure skater from in a past winter Olympics. I had to pinch myself to make sure it was not a dream.

USA House in Beijing is situated in a park adjacent to the Workers' Stadium, which will host a number of soccer matches, in the Chaoyang District in central Beijing. Basically, the United States Olympic Committee remodeled a Chinese restaurant called the Jasmine Restaurant and transformed it into an American-style bar/restaurant. The refurbished restaurant is very comfortable, and the best part is that it is air-conditioned and away from the crowds. You can really unwind and feel at home there. Thanks to Gary, I will be able to go there for the rest of the Olympics and get free food. It doesn't get any better than this for the Polish boy from Chicago.

Everyone at USA House on Friday evening was glued to the supersized TVs watching the Opening Ceremonies and patiently waiting for the American team to enter National Stadium. In addition to the former Olympic athletes, I met Diane Simpson, a woman from Northbrook, Illinois and a 1988 Olympian in rhythmic gymnastics. Diane works for the Chicago 2016 Committee as an Olympic athlete coordinator. She is here in Beijing to promote Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. Chicago's competition in this quest comes from Madrid, Tokyo, and Rio. Being a native Chicagoan, I am so excited that Chicago is in the running and has a one in four chance at this point. The International Olympic Committee will announce the winner in October 2009. Keep your fingers crossed and say some prayers for Chicago!

For the Chinese, the Opening Ceremonies were an outpouring of fervent national pride. Everyone was carrying and displaying Chinese flags, both the national flag and the Beijing Olympics flag. There was an incredible buzz in Beijing during the hours leading up to the Opening Ceremonies. When Gary and I got lost at one point, some Chinese people came up to us and asked us if we needed help. They were very friendly and spoke enough English to give us proper directions. They insisted on flagging a cab for us and giving instructions to the taxi driver, in Chinese of course. You could tell how proud they are of their country and their country's hosting of the Summer Olympics. It is a good reminder to us in our daily lives that we are all ambassadors of good will, no more so than when helping someone who is in a foreign city and is lost.

Taxi cabs are a major presence in Beijing. They are an inexpensive way to get around the city, though more expensive than the subway. Pedestrians must beware of the taxi cabs, however. They do not stop for pedestrians in the crosswalks. In fact, it's just the opposite. If you are crossing a street at an intersection, you must yield to the taxi cabs turning at the intersection. I learned this lesson the hard way. I almost got hit by a cab on Saturday.

The Chinese do not seem to mind this crosswalk protocol. They acquiesce to the cabs with singular passiveness. It struck me that this willingness to sacrifice individual rights for a higher power separates Chinese society from American society. China's precipitous and relentless economic advance could not have been possible without the willingness of its citizens to subordinate their rights to the authority of the Chinese Government. There is no ACLU in China. Pedestrians must yield to progress.

Yesterday Gary and I went to our first Olympic event, some preliminary boxing matches. The hometown crowd went wild when the lone Chinese boxer in the matches won his match.

Today Gary and I are splitting up. He is going to women's beach volleyball, and I am going to rowing. I think Gary wants to go to the volleyball matches for things beyond athletic competition. You can tell who is single and who is married!

My attendance of the rowing events this afternoon was a product of my attendance of a party last night (Saturday night) at the Bank of America house adjacent to Workers' Stadium. Through Gary's friend, we received free day passes for the festivities on Saturday evening. Once again, we received free food, free drinks, free everything. The Polish boy from Chicago has really hit the jackpot!

At the party, I met some family members of a rower on the USA men's eight, and I immediately made a connection. They invited me to watch their son Wyatt, from Virginia, row in the preliminary men's heats. Their son was on the men's eight that won the gold in Athens four years ago. For the last four years, he has been training at the USA rowing center in Princeton, New Jersey. Wyatt's mother and father describe their son as a perfectionist, never satisfied with giving anything less than is best. As the great runner, Steve Prefontaine once said, "To give anything less than your best is to waste the gift." I live by that motto. Wyatt had to compete fiercely for his spot in the men's eight. He did not know that he had made the team until a few weeks ago. His family was on pins and needles until then.

As some of you may know, in my younger days I was the coxswain for the Yale heavyweight crew during my college days. In those days, I was very light: 5'7" and 113 1/2 pounds. The only reason I was recruited to be coxswain was my diminutive stature. I had no prior experience. In those days, the shells were made of wood, and the coxswain used a megaphone to yell out commands. Today the shells are made of fiberglass, and the coxswain uses a microphone. Being a coxswain is a thankless job. It you lose, the rowers say it was bad steering that caused the loss. If you win, they throw you in the water!

Yale crew has had a rich Olympic history. The Yale men's heavyweight eight represented the United States in the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics and the 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics. Renowned child expert Dr. Benjamin Spock rowed on the 1924 team. The 1956 team's victory is reputed to be one of the greatest upsets in American Olympic history. The USA crew was knocked out in the preliminaries and had to make it back to the finals through what is called "repechage," sort of a second chance for teams that lose in the preliminaries to make it to the finals. In the finals, the coxswain from Yale, Bill Becklin (whom I met a few years ago at an alumni event at Yale), called a power 10 and exhorted the rowers to take up the stroke count in order to make ground on the crew from Australia. The Yale rowers responded and began rowing at a faster pace than they had ever practiced and got even with the Australians and then passed them. In the final few meters of the race, he shouted, "You're going to win! You're going to win!" And they did. In my office is a picture of them after they crossed the finish line, slumped and exhausted and spent in the boat. That picture inspires me to go beyond what I think is possible and strive for the highest goals.

And so today I am proudly wearing my Yale crew shirt and my Yale crew pin in honor of the Yale 1956 crew. I am excited to be attending the rowing competitions today and will report back later this week. The Americans have a chance to medal in some of the rowing events. I have heard that that four years ago, the Chinese, who are intent on having the most medals at the Beijing Olympics, targeted rowing as a sport to develop because there are so many medals. They started with nothing and are now recognized as one of the world's rowing powerhouses.

In closing, I want to say that I am having a fantastic time here. I have met so many wonderful people from all over the world, and I still have two weeks left. I urge anyone reading my blog to consider attending the Olympics someday. The experience will far surpass anything you have ever experienced. You will not be disappointed.

There are more parties at the USA House tonight. My Olympic experience is making wonderful progress!

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #5 – Medal Hauling

August 11, 2008
Beijing, China

One of the interesting things about being in Beijing to attend the Olympics is the press coverage. The stories are mostly about the Chinese athletes. Yesterday, after the USA-China basketball game (which was one of the hottest tickets at the Olympics), Chinese basketball superstar Yao Ming, who plays for the Houston Rockets in the USA, was interviewed. It was interesting to hear him respond to questions from the Chinese press in Chinese instead of English. I am so accustomed to hearing him speak English.

Ming is definitely a sports icon here. People love basketball and revere him. There is a new Ming dynasty!

The press coverage focuses to a great extent on China's medal count. I can tell that the Chinese are intent on having the most medals. It is definitely a priority for them.

At the rowing competition yesterday, the Chinese rowers all did well. Clearly the Chinese recognize that rowing is a sport in which they can improve their medal count over their medal count in Athens and gain an advantage over the Americans.

The rowing events are held at the Shunyi Rowing Park. It took me about two hours to get there by subway and then bus. I was the only Westerner on the bus. Most Westerners are content to take a taxi, but I preferred to be adventurous.

The ride to the rowing center was very interesting. There was almost no traffic on the roads, and absolutely no billboards except Olympics-oriented ones. As we were driving, you could catch a glimpse into some of the neighborhoods where people live in very modest, sometimes rundown, dwellings, but you could tell that the Chinese Government did not want you to see inside the neighborhoods. The houses were very carefully camouflaged by landscaping and walls.

Once seated in the stands, I noticed a man who was dressed up like Mr. China, draped in a large Chinese flag and waiving another large Chinese flag. Around his head was a bright red band with Chinese writing on it. He was very enthusiastic! He reminded me of the Michigan State mascot Sparty. He became the crowd cheerleader. Whenever a Chinese shell came by in one of the heats, he would rev up the crowd by waving the Chinese flag and organizing cheers. The ushers tried to restrain him, but he was undaunted. He got into a shouting match with the usher trying to restrain him, and the man sitting next to him physially tried to get him to stop arguing with the usher. Ultimately, they just let him do his thing. It was interesting to see this conflict between the usher's attempt to maintain order in the traditional Chinese way and Mr. China's desire to express himself as a sports fan in the modern tradition.

After the rowing events, I went to the USA House in Beijing. There I met the three American Olympians who had swept the sabre fencing event held at the Fencing Hall of National Convention Center on Saturday, August 9, 2008: Mariel Zagunis (gold), Sada Jacobson (silver), and Becca Ward (bronze). Everyone at USA House was congratulating them, and there was a little ceremony to honor them and their coaches. Apparently, it is one of the few times that one country has ever swept all the medals in a fencing event. All three of these remarkable young women signed my USA Olympic flag. This flag is going to be a great souvenir for me!

I especially enjoyed meeting Sada Jacobson and her fiance Brendan. Sada and her father David are Yale graduates, and so we made an instant connection. David is Class of '74. I am Class of '71. There were at least three Yalies at USA House!

I cannot say enough about Sada as an athlete and a person. She has accomplished so much in her short life. She is very gracious and humble about all her accomplishments in fencing. She won the bronze medal in the same event at the Athens Olympics. I just missed getting to meet her there after she received her medal. It took me four years and a trip to Beijing to finally get to meet her!

As it turns out, Sada and Brendan are leaving the Olympics early to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I live. This fall, Sada will be attending the University of Michigan Law School, and Brendan the University of Michigan Business School. We also discovered that Brendan grew up in Wilmette, Illinois, where my wife grew up and where we lived during the first 15 years of our marriage. It's a small world.

I talked to Sada and Brendan about Ann Arbor and the wonderful things that Ann Arbor has to offer. We made arrangements to get together on Saturday, August 30, upon my return from Beijing, when Michigan plays its first football game of the season against the University of Utah. On football Saturdays, my running group, the Nasty Boys, does a ceremonial run to Michigan Stadium. The University of Michigan security officials view us a sort of a good luck charm and allow us to go through the tunnel leading into the stadium and onto the field about four hours before the actual game. No one else gets to do this. When I invited Sada to join the Nasty Boys in our ceremonial run on August 30, she responded, "I'm there!"

This is not the first time that an Olympic medalist has run with the Nasty Boys. In 2002, Frank Shorter (Yale '69) came to Ann Arbor and ran with us. We are going to have to be on good behavior when we run with Sada and Brendan. The topic of conversation during our morning runs can sometimes take unexpected turns.

The Olympics continue today. Ultimately, the Olympics are not about medal counts, but about the experience of competing and doing your best. Sada and the other American fencers are doing that in exemplary fashion. They compete again on Thursday, August 14, in the team saber competition, and I hope to be there to cheer Sada and her teammates on.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #6 – Forbidden Shopping and Harmony

August 13, 2008
Beijing, China

Part of the adventure of traveling is finding a treasure from the place you are visiting and bringing it home. On Monday, I went to a quasi-flea market to get the experience of fighting off merchants who want to sell you what appear to be designer items but are really knock-offs. The Chinese seem content with not enforcing trademark laws in order to let their knock-off industry flourish.

Haggling over prices is the major part of the knock-off buying experience. You should never pay the opening price. You always pay at least 50% less. More often, you should aim to pay 30-40% of the original price.

And so on Monday I haggled over the price of a one-of-a-kind item here in China, a Chairman Mao watch. The watch features a face with Chairman Mao's picture, a sweep second hand with a red star at the end, and a waving arm attached to Chairman Mao. The arm waves up and down every second. He must be very tired by the end of the day! The opening price was 100 yuan (about $14.00), and I bargained the merchant down to 30 yuan (about $4.00). Great fun!

Of course, they sell all kinds of knock-off designer watches, from Rolex to Omega. I was thinking that the ultimate knock-off would be a fake Chairman Mao Rolex. Sweet!

Later on Monday I toured the Forbidden City, which is the royal palace located in Central Beijing just north of Tiananmen Square. The Forbidden City is an amazingly complex labyrinth of temples and rooms and gardens and courtyards. With 9,999 rooms, the cleaning staff must have been very busy dusting and sweeping everyday. It dwarfs Buckingham Palace and Versaille. If you ever come to Beijing, the Forbidden City should be on your not-to-miss list.

The emperors were obsessed with harmony. Inside the Forbidden City is a progressive series of harmony temples, starting with the Temple of Lower Harmony and progressing through the Temple of Middle Harmony, the Temple of High Harmony, and the Temple of Supreme Harmony. All of the temples are all magnificently adorned and beautifully restored to their original grandeur. I suppose that if the emperor did not achieve harmony by the time he got to the Temple of Supreme Harmony, it wasn't going to happen.

At the Forbidden City, we also learned about an Empress who was quite persnickety about her hosiery. The Empress insisted on wearing a new pair of hosiery daily, regardless of its condition. Used was no good. Each set of hosiery was handmade from silk. One skilled weaver had to work eight days full-time to make just one pair of hosiery. You can do the math. This Imelda Marcos of hosiery probably needed about 3,000 full-time workers each year just for her foot-threads. She must have had a massive sock drawer!

On Monday evening, I splurged and went with a friend, Judy Calibuso, to Made in China, a splendorous restaurant in the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Beijing, and ordered Peking Duck. While waiting for the duck, I ordered the Chinese version of a margarita, called a "Maogarita." It was a little different from the typical margarita, but was wonderful and brought me some needed harmony after a long day of battling crowds in the heat. Mao must have known a lot about harmonious cocktails!

The restaurant was very interesting. It was designed as an open concept kitchen. You could see the chefs preparing different courses. We sat in front of a chef who was making dumplings by hand. It took him about a minute to make each dumpling. Talk about a labor of love!

The Peking Duck was singularly delicious. The chef came to our table and carved the bird like a skilled surgeon into about 100 small pieces. The best part of the duck is the skin. When you eat the duck, you take a few small pieces and place them in a little crepe-like pancake with some sauce and onions and garlic. Fabulous!

Yesterday I did the Olympic trifecta: men's volleyball in the morning, judo in the early afternoon, and rowing in the late afternoon. That was fun! The first two events were held at universities in Beijing, and most of the volunteers were students. They were so enthusiastic! Their sense of pride was palpable. Again, whenever Chinese athletes were competing, the house went wild. In rowing, I was cheering wildly when the American men's eight captured first in the repechage race. The men will now move on to the finals in a few days. Remember that the United States won gold in the men's eight just four years ago in Athens.

Upon my return to downtown Beijing from the rowing venue, I walked to USA House from the subway. There the United States Olympic Committee was hosting a party for members of the International Olympic Committee who will be voting on the host city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It was a beautiful party. Let's hope that this hospitality pays dividends in October 2009, when the votes are cast. If the votes come through in true Chicago tradition, Chicago is going to win by at least 100,000 votes!

Later in the evening, the United States men's gymnastics team, which had just won the bronze medal in the men's team competition, made an appearance. Everyone was congratulating them and taking pictures. Of course, I did the same, and each member of the team signed my Olympic flag. These are extraordinary young men who have sacrificed so much for this moment. We should all be proud of them. They are not done, however. Some of them will be competing in individual events later in the week.

To top off the evening, I met Bart Connor, the famous American gymnast who won gold at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. Bart is a great guy. He lives in Oklahoma now and promotes gymnastics through his gymnastics school there and his color commentary. I believe that he is NBC's expert commentator for the Beijing Olympics. Again, I had a Kodak moment with him, and he signed my Olympic flag. My flag is becoming a treasury of Olympic athletes' autographs!

As I close, I am feeling very harmonious. It is so wonderful to be here. I am grateful to my colleagues at my law firm, Allotta, Farley and Widman, who are taking care of my legal matters during my absence. When you are an attorney, you are never really on vacation. You need a good support staff to make things like this possible. As they say, "The law is a jealous mistress."

I am also grateful to my wife Ellen and my daughter Kasia, who patiently endure my fanaticism about running and the Olympics. Again, this would not be possible without their support.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

P.S. I found a Coldstone Ice Cream store here. More harmony!

Entry #7 – Time and Space

August 15, 2008
Beijing, China

Life is a journey through time and space. Reflecting on this concept, the great American poet T.S. Elliot wrote:

If time and space as sages say are things that cannot be,
The fly that lives a single day has lived as long as we.
So let us live while yet we may, while love and live are free,
For time is time and runs away, though sages disagree.
Here in China, time has run a lengthy course. It is a country that is long in the tooth. The Chinese civilization is among the world's oldest civilizations.

Space is a different matter. It is in short supply here. Wherever you go, there are people competing for space. The most mundane experience of walking down a street involves constant negotiation of one's course and speed so as to avoid physical contact with others. At least, that is the Western perspective.

Having grown up in Chicago, a big city, I am accustomed to big city life. Chicago has crowded spaces. Beijing takes my city experience to a decidedly higher level.

Two days ago, I took a crowded bus from the Olympic Green to the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. The bus ride takes about 75 minutes. I was seated on the aisle, and for the entire ride, a Chinese woman was leaning on my left shoulder and head, closest to the aisle. It is not just a light touching. She was leaning with her full body. She seemed oblivious to the discomfort that she was causing me by leaning on me with all her weight.

The competition for space reaches new heights when you line up for things. The concept of queuing is very different here. You have to protect your space in line. If you don't, someone behind you will immediately fill it, regardless of his or her position in the line. The vacuum fills immediately. It is survival of the fittest.

The Chinese do not seem to mind this competition for space. For them, line-cutting is a way of life, and no one calls out another person for jumping spots. I suppose that it is a symptom of overpopulation.

Waiting in line involves a great deal of physical contact. In the United States, we are accustomed to having our physical space while we wait in line. We don't touch others as we are waiting. In China, it is just the opposite. People physically press you on all sides. They don't seem to mind pressing you and breathing on you as you are waiting. There are times when I feel like extending my elbows and wildly swinging them and saying, "Hey, buddy, back off. You're invading my space!"

To protect my space, I have resorted to using my camera case and my little USA Olympic bag as buffers. These buffer devices provide some relief, but the pressure is relentless. Ultimately, I have adopted the Chinese ways. I aggressively block people who are trying to cut in line ahead of me and gently push back those who invade my space. You do what you have to do to survive.

Yesterday I went to the Fencing Hall of the National Convention Center on the Olympic Green, the main Olympic campus. I had never seen a fencing competion event before. The American women's team of Mariel Zagunis, Becca Ward, and fellow Yalie Sada Jacobson was competing in the women's team saber event. There was also a Chinese team. Once again, the house went wild when the Chinese athletes were competing. At the end of the day, the team from Ukraine won gold, China silver, and USA bronze. Way to go USA! This was Sada's final Olympic competition. She leaves for Ann Arbor today to start her first year at the University of Michigan Law School.

Last night I returned to USA house to attend a reception for an American Greco-Roman wrestler who had won a bronze medal. He was a happy dude!

There I also met Pam Stuper, the current Yale women's field hockey coach, and some other people from Yale. Pam is here in Beijing to watch the field hockey competition. The American team has a chance to medal. It was fun to meet some more Yalies. We're everywhere!

Today is the first day of track and field and my first opportunity to see National Stadium and the Olympic torch. I cannot wait to see these competitions in time and space.

I am having a great time here and am meeting all kinds of interesting people. Basically, every day is a nonstop party. Everyone should do this!

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #8 – The Running Connection

August 15, 2008
Beijing, China

Today is the start of track and field events at the Bird's Nest, National Stadium. For me, track and field is like the main course of a meal. I came to Beijing to see track and field. The other sports are merely a prelude to the main course.

I arrived in Beijing a week ago. The time has passed so quickly. It has been filled with a wide array of interesting experiences, including my daily morning run. Running is my passion, and so wherever I go, I try to do some training runs. Here in Beijing I have been fairly diligent about training. However, the many late night parties at USA House have caused me to stay up much later (and perhaps have a few more libations) than normal, and so getting out of bed has occasionally been a challenge.

I have not seen many runners here in Beijing. The few I have seen run in a park about a mile north of the place where Gary Morgan and I are staying. To get to the park, I have to run on sidewalks and negotiate my way through people and cars and bicycles. I dare not run on the street. I would end up as one of those thin pancakes that you use when you eat Peking duck.

Once inside the park, I can feel the pulse of Beijing. The sun rises early here in Beijing, and the natives take advantage of the early morning sun to engage in their morning ritual. Many people form groups to do tai chi. Others do strange things like walking backwards and shouting and slapping one arm against the other. Still others are in groups kicking an object that looks like a badmitten bird back and forth. The ping pong pit is a lively place, with young and old alike battling in killer ping pong.

And then there are the joggers. There are some, but certainly not as many as in Ann Arbor. I have not found anyone who runs as fast as I do. I'm always passing them. Either I run faster than the average Beijing runner or they run slower than an old runner like me. I think it's the latter. No one seems to want to run fast in the oppressive heat and humidity.

Last week I passed a guy who was ready to challenge me. After I passed him, he picked up the pace and passed me briefly. As he passed me, he looked at me, as if to say, "Eat my dust." He seemed very intent on showing me that he could run faster than I, even though I was running a very plebian pace. Ultimately, he was a one-block wonder. After passing me, he turned, and I never saw him again. Truth be told, I think I could take him one-on-one in a 5K.

The park itself is laid out in a grid of paved sidewalks that feature little displays on various cultural topics, including the Olympics. There are some stalls where vendors sell things during the day. Being the only Westerner in the park, I definitely stand out. The omnipresent security personnel have become familiar with me, and they shout out, "Hello" when I pass. I feel connected to the people when I am running in the park. People smile at me and say (and this is phonetic spelling), "Mi Hao," which is Chinese for hello. I reciprocate.

It would be nice to find a 5K race while I am in Beijing. I wonder if the Chinese road races have age group awards as in the United States. What kind of prizes would they give to the age group winners? Perhaps a Chairman Mao clock. That would be so sweet!

For me, running is a universal sport. It is a wonderful way for us to connect with our inner selves and with each other. Here it is my Beijing connection.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.

Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #9 – Smile Diplomacy

August 18, 2008
Beijing, China

When I was growing up in the 1950s, the Cold War was at its peak. The United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a ferocious battle of international diplomacy pitting capitalism against communism. China was also part of the equation. It was a militant communist country with an isolationist foreign policy. Chairman Mao routinely launched into diatribes against the imperialist forces, including the United States. The China we know today was called "Red China." There was even a saying, "Better dead than red."

In the early 1960s, a popular song called "The Eve of Destruction" decried China's xenophobia with these words, "Think of all the hate there is in Red China." The nuclear arms race was at its peak. At my grammar school, we routinely had nuclear bomb drills designed to prepare us for a sudden nuclear attack from the Soviet Union or China.

Times have changed. The Soviet Union has fallen and become a loose and sometimes disharmonious Russian federation, and China, following President Nixon's visit to Beijing and meeting with Chairman Mao in 1972, has gradually opened itself to Westerners. Still, a certain separation between West and East remains.

The Beijing Olympics present an opportunity for the gap between West and East here in China to be bridged. For many of the Chinese people, this will be their first opportunity to meet Westerners.

One of my heroes is Mother Teresa. Her life demonstrates how one person can change the world. She was loved by everyone, and she viewed life through a prism of simplicity and spirituality. When asked about world peace, she once said, "Peace begins with a smile."

Smiles were abundant among the members of the American track and field team at the Bird's Nest on Friday night. Adam Cantrell won silver in the men's shot put, and Shalane Flanagan did likewise in the women's 10,000 meters.

Being a distance runner who frequently runs 10,000 meter races, mostly on the roads, I was very interested in the women's 10,000 meters race. I watched each of the American runners, Shalane, Kara Goucher, and Amy Bagley-Yoder, as they eased through the early laps. As the race wore on, the field started to string out, but Shalane hung with the leaders. In the last 1500 meters, Shalane seemed to gather strength and started passing runners ahead of her. You could see that her leg turnover was getting faster as the race wore on. With about two laps to go, she passed the #3 runner, and the bronze medal was in her reach. She finished strong and smiled glowingly as she took her victory lap around the stadium. It was great to be an American in the stadium as she proudly waved the American flag. I was waving my own American flag as she did the tour. This is a great moment for America's distance running program. Shalane is only the second American runner to medal in the women's 10,000 meters since it became an Olympic event.

On Saturday morning I returned to the Bird's Nest for the men's 20K walk final and some preliminary events. Gary Morgan was very excited because he competed at the Seoul Summer Olympics in the 20K walk and knows a lot about the event. In fact, Gary is a hero to Kevin Easterly, the only American who competed for the USA in the men's 20K walk. One of the endearing aspects of this event is that Kevin's father Jim was manning (to be politically correct, I suppose that "manning" should be "personing") the water station on the course and was passing water to his son as his son completed laps near National Stadium. I have a priceless picture of Jim handing water to Kevin with a little American flag displayed above the water table. This was Kevin's final competitive race as a race walker. After many years of sacrifice, he is retiring. Because of injury, he did not do as well as he would have liked, but he gave his all, and that's what you do in the Olympics when you are representing your country. Jim was very proud of his son Kevin. I took a picture of Jim at the water table, and he was all smiles.

Some years ago, my wife Ellen bought a Tommy Hilfiger polo shirt for me. She thought it would be nice to wear this shirt on the 4th of July. The shirt is a like a huge American flag, except that the flag runs vertically instead of horizontally. That shirt has proved to be a cultural magnet here at the Olympics. Many Chinese people have accosted me and asked to take a picture with me because they like my flag shirt. Among those drawn to my shirt was an elderly Chinese man who was seated next to Gary Morgan and me in National Stadium on Saturday morning. He could not speak English, but he smiled and waved at me, and I smiled and waved back. Through his hand signals, he pointed to my shirt and indicated that he wanted to take a picture with me. I nodded my head, and we proceeded to take a battery of pictures involving every possible permutation of flags and hats and backgrounds. At one point, we exchanged flags, and I held the Chinese flag and he the American flag. I could tell that this was a special moment for him. Undoubtedly I was the first American he had ever met, and I recognized that this was an opportunity for me to establish goodwill on a very personal level. After our photo session, I gave him my business card and a Chicago Olympic 2016 pin. He was very moved. He immediately attached the pin to his shirt, and wrote something in Chinese on the back of my business card. I don't know what he wrote, but I did recognize the date, 8-16-08. He clearly wanted to remember this proud day in his life when he was watching track and field events in National Stadium at the Beijing Olympics and first met an American person.

My Beijing Olympic experience has included many memorable moments, but perhaps none as poignant as this. For a moment, East and West were one, not because of diplomacy between high ranking ambassadors, but because of a flag shirt and a smile and a shared desire for goodwill between people of two diverse cultures. In a sense, we are all ambassadors of peace in our daily lives, whether we are in China, as I am today, or back in the United States. Every day provides us with an opportunity to reach out and touch someone.

Peace begins with a smile.
Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #10 – Olympic Competition

August 20, 2008
Beijing, China

The Beijing Olympic Games are speedily taking their course. After today, only four days of competition remain.

Last Sunday, Gary Morgan and I awoke very early to take the subway to Tiananmen Square and watch the start of the women's marathon. The race started at 7:30 A.M., and there was a good crowd at the start.

The running gods were kind to the marathoners. It was a cool, overcast morning, the kind of conditions about which marathoners dream. We had great hopes that an American runner would reach the podium, as in Athens four years ago, when Deena Kastor came from behind in the oppressive heat to win bronze. Her bronze medal in Athens has given rise to a distance running resurgence in the United States and success in the Beijing Olympics. Shalane Flanagan captured the bronze medal in the women's 10,000 meter race on August 15, and three female American runners, Kara Goucher, Jen Rhines, and Shalane Flanagan, have qualified for the final of the women's 5,000 meter race later this week. These are incredible accomplishments for women's distance running.

Prior to the Beijing Olympics, Deena made clear her intentions to medal again in Beijing, but with a different color medal. For the last four years, she has focused on winning the women's marathon in Beijing. On Sunday, all her training and preparation and sacrifices were brought to bear on the women's Olympic marathon.

Gary and I arrived about 30 minutes before the race started and situated ourselves on the south side of the expansive east-west 12-lane boulevard that fronts the Forbidden City. There we were greeted by some Chinese women who were performing traditional Chinese dances to wish the marathoners good luck. We could clearly see the azure blue line that marks the 26.2 mile marathon course. What was surprising is that the course was not cleared until about 10 minutes before the start. In the United States, the course would have been cleared several hours before the start.

Gary had his video equipment with him, and I helped him file a report for Michigan Runner. It was fun doing the report. Seeing that we were Americans, some locals approached us and asked to take pictures with us.

When the runners passed, we saw Deena in her trademark running hat. She looked great.

Immediately after the runners passed, we went to the subway and advanced to a point farther down the course, around the 7-mile mark. When the runners passed us again, we saw the other American runners, Blake Russell and Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, but not Deena. "Maybe we missed her as she passed by," we thought.

After the runners passed, we made a mad dash to the subway to another point farther down the course. I miscalculated the subway route, and as a result, we missed most of the runners at the next point. From there, we again caught the subway to go to the finish at National Stadium, the so-called Bird's Nest. When we emerged from the subway near the south gate of the Olympic Green, we saw all the runners pass, including Blake and Magdalena, but no Deena.

Later we learned that Deena had dropped out at the 3-mile mark on account of a stress fracture in her leg. In her post-race comments, she said that running has ups and downs, and her injury during the Olympic marathon is one of the downs.

We also learned that Magdalena was suffering from a freak knee injury unrelated to running. She bumped her knee as she was alighting from a bus prior to the Olympics.

That same day, United States phenom Michael Phelps received his eighth gold medal in swimming. Everywhere there are pictures of him with his cluster of gold medals. It is ironic that he won 8 gold medals in the Olympics whose Opening Ceremonies started at 8 seconds after 8:08 P.M. on August 8, 2008.

Only a small fraction of the athletes who compete in the Beijing Olympics will receive medals. My guess is that the medal winners are less that 1% of the total number of athletes. This statistic causes me to reflect on the mindset of the 99% who did not win medals and the nature of competition.

The English word competition comes from the Latin word competere, which means "to seek together." When we think about athletic competition, we usually think about beating our competitors in order to finish first. According to this philosophy of competition, winning is the only thing that counts. However, the true nature of athletic competition is not to beat one's opponent, but rather to seek together, with other athletes, to perform to the fullest of one's ability. In other words, a true competitor is one who seeks together with others to do his or her best.

Deena, Blake, and Magdalena did not win any medals for the United States on Sunday. However, they are true competitors because they went out on the course and, with the other marathoners, sought to do their best. They just came up a little short on Sunday.

In my life, I have run a fair number of marathons. The marathon is the most difficult of all the races in which I compete and, in my view, the most unpredictable of all the Olympic running events. Performance is based in great measure on the so-called "X factor," how you feel on the day of the race. The X factor can account for as much as 10% of your performance, better or worse, in the marathon. My friend, Olympic marathon champion Frank Shorter, has told me that he was fortunate to win the marathon at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Yes, he was well trained and well fueled and well prepared for the race, and he had a good race plan. In the final analysis, he just happened to be the best in the world on that particular day in September 1972. The result might have been different for him on another day.

It is said that the marathon is a metaphor for life. You start out energetic and with fresh legs, and you finish fatigued and with gumby legs. You are likely to encounter rough patches in the race when your will and your pain tolerance are tested. I like to think that in life, just as in the marathon, victory comes as much from overcoming the obstacles and vanquishing the challenges you face in running the race as it does from finishing the race. Crossing the finish line is merely the sign that you have survived journey.

And so, for Deena, Blake, and Magdalena, their Beijing Olympic journey is over, but we Americans should be very proud of them. Life will go on for them, and they will hopefully run more races in the future. The result here in Beijing might have been different for them on another day. Still, they sought together to represent their country and to do their best. They are the true embodiment of Olympic competition.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #11 – Climbing the Great Wall

August 21, 2008
Beijing, China

Yesterday I journeyed to see one of the Wonders of the World, the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall is a symbol of the dauntless and indomitable Chinese spirit and an icon for the wisdom and ingenuity of the Chinese people. It stretches for over 3,500 miles from east to west in north China like a serpent wriggling its way across deserts, plains, and mountains. The oldest part of the Wall dates back to 700 B.C., but a large portion of the Wall was built during the Ming Dynasty.

To see the Wall, you must venture outside Beijing. The tours take you to different areas of the Wall. I chose a tour of the Wall at Simatei, which is about three hours north of Beijing by bus. The Simatei Wall tour is a very physically challenging tour because it involves a 6.2 mile walk over portions of the wall that have not been rebuilt. It is not recommended for individuals over 50. Despite this warning and my advanced age (58), I signed up because others told me how non-touristy the tour would be, and I felt confident in my physical ability to ascend and descend steep terrain.

They were right. After about a half-mile of easy climbing, you start going up and down steep stone stairs, many of which are in need of repair. The stairs are like narrow, gap-toothed planks that take you from one tower to the next. There are no guard rails and a paucity of warning signs. There were times when I forced myself to go sideways and lean into the stairs for extra caution. The potential for injury is great on the Simatei Wall. This situation would be a potential bonanza for an American personal injury attorney.

The Simatei Wall tour takes you to the top of little mountains and across a rickety bridge at the end. If you have acrophobia or gephyrophobia, this is not the tour for you. I saw a young woman from Great Britain who was so petrified about the steepness of the descent from one tower that she was crying. To manage her fear, she had to slide down on her derriere for about 50 yards until she came to a less steep section.

My first vision of the Great Wall left me breathless. It is a majestic sight. For my vantage point, I could see this marvel of Chinese engineering going up and down over the steep, foliage-encrusted mountains. The Wall follows the terrain, going from crest to crest of each little mountain. I said to myself, "This terrain is already so rugged. Why did the Chinese need to add a wall to prevent foreigners from entering their country?" The construction of the Wall must have been very dangerous, but it probably gave full-time employment to thousands of Chinese.

I do not have a good history with stairs. In September 2002, I fell down the stairs of our home in Ann Arbor and broke several ribs about three weeks before the Marine Corps Marathon Despite the injury, I ran the marathon with my Ann Arbor running group, the Nasty Boys, against medical and spousal advice (the latter a more difficult proposition) and still ran a Boston qualifier. This feat was the genesis of my nickname, "Iron Bulldog." People have asked me if it hurt to run a marathon with broken ribs, and my response has always been, "No, except when I had to breathe."

In July 2006, I again fell down the stairs of our home after hearing our cat Frankie crying out in the middle of the night. I missed the first step and fell down 12 stairs, tearing the meniscus in my left knee. The injury resulted in surgery in May 2007. Thankfully, I am back to running without pain despite the removal of part of my left meniscus.

With these two incidents in mind, I exerted extreme caution during my hike. I did not want to have a Great Fall on the Great Wall. As I passed through each tower, I was approached by locals who wanted to sell me cold drinks and a book about the Great Wall. I was wearing a shirt with "USA" on front. I think they perceived the "USA" as "U$A." Ultimately, one woman prevailed on me, and I bought the book from her. She helped me to negotiate my way up and down the stairs for the first half of the walk. She even fanned me when I started perspiring. It was over the top for me, but I was happy to oblige her and support the local economy.

Toward the end of the tour, you had a choice: continue hiking along the Wall (the long way), or take a zip-line chair ride across a steep gorge (the short way). I chose the latter. I paid 30 yuan (a little over $4) and entrusted my life to the Chinese woman who strapped me into a body harness that would take me across the gorge. She sensed that I was slightly nervous and assured me that the harness was safe. My momentary confidence was shattered when a young Englishman who was after me on the zip-line ride shouted to me as I was launched, "It's been nice knowing you, Mitch." Fortunately, we both made it across without incident, but I must confess that as I was hanging from a thin cable and saw how high I was above the gorge, I questioned by own judgment. By then, it was too late to turn back.

Soon after my arrival on the other side of the gorge, the tour ended, and I had lunch with others in my group. I met a rower from New Zealand, Nicky Cole, and her boyfriend, Rob Simons. Nicky rowed women's pairs in Beijing and made it to the finals. She retired from competitive rowing after the race. The Beijing Olympics were her last rowing hurrah. She told stories about her rowing career and all the sacrifices she has made to get to this point. Now she is ready for a change, but she is not sure what she wants to do. Here in Beijing, I have encountered many athletes like that. They want to retire, but they are not sure what they want to do next.

On the way back from the Wall, our guide, who spoke rather poor English, asked me to make an announcement to our group. If people were willing to pony up 3 yuan per person (about $.51), we could take the toll road and get back to Beijing in two hours instead of three. Having presided over many meetings of the Ann Arbor Track Club's Board of Directors, I called the question and took a vote. The ayes had it. We took the toll road. It was strange to take a democratic vote in a communist country. The guide did not seem to understand what I was doing.

After my return, I went to the Bird's Nest for evening track and field events and a party at USA House. More on that later. Life is good here in Beijing!

Keep climbing that mountain (and the Great Wall of China that goes across it) and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #12 – Olympic Partying

Beijing, China
August 22, 2008

There is an old adage: If you want to play, you have to pay. Right now, I am dragging a little from all the Olympic events, especially the parties, that I have attended while in Beijing. Life for Gary Morgan and me has settled into a routine. Each night this week we have gone to National Stadium on the Olympic Green for track and field events. On some days, we have done double duty, attending both the morning and evening sessions. After the evening session, we take the subway to USA House, where American Olympic athletes, past and present, can hang out and socialize with their teammates and friends.

We usually arrive at USA House around 11:00 P.M. By then, USA House is rocking. Two nights ago, actor Vince Gaughn made a surprise appearance. Everyone mobbed him to take pictures and shake his hand.

Last night (Friday), there was a rooftop party that featured a Blues Brothers theme. Olympic athletes were everywhere, and believe me when I say that they were PARTYING. Everyone was wearing the brimmed black hats featured in the now famous movie about Chicago, Blues Brothers. The live band was composed entirely of Chinese musicians, but the lead singer spoke perfect English. In support of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics, he proclaimed Chicago as "the greatest city in the world." The band just kept playing one blues song hit after another. For a moment I thought that I was back in my hometown, Chicago. Then I looked up at the sky and the buildings and the cars below and reminded myself, "Holy cow! I'm in Beijing, China at USA House with all these Olympic athletes. This is incredible!"

USA House should change its name to "USA Party House." Each night, the teams that have finished their competitions have their team parties there. Over the course of the last week, the fencing team, rowing team, field hockey team, swimming team, wrestling team, shooting team, softball team, and women's soccer team have all had parties there. These parties are typically raucous affairs, with speeches and cheers and congratulatory hugs. These athletes, who have sacrificed so much to get to this point in their athletic careers, are ready to let their hair hang down and party, and deservedly so.

The rowers get the "Frequent Party People" award. Their team party was earlier in the week, but they have returned to the scene of the crime each evening thereafter. I have met many of them. They are typically very tall and gangly. My biggest thrill was meeting the two coxswains, Marcus McElhenney of the men's eight (bronze medal) and Mary Whipple of the women's eight (gold medal). When we saw each other at USA House, we immediately bonded. We were the only small people in the room. I took a picture with each coxswain. Marcus even let me wear his bronze medal for the picture. Sweet! Marcus, a Temple grad, will be starting medical school after the Olympics. Mary is returning to her hometown, Seattle, to start a new life. She is not sure what she wants to do post-Olympics. She now has a silver medal from the Athens Olympics and a gold medal from the Beijing Olympics. I told her that she needs to win bronze at the London 2012 Olympics and complete the set. She said that bronze would be nice, but she prefers gold!

USA House usually closes at 1:00 A.M. By then, the parties are winding down, and the crowd is thinning. I usually call it a day and go back to the 9 Dragons House for some needed rest. Gary "Where's the Party" Morgan, however, has different ideas. He likes to do housecalls here in Beijing, as in Budweiser House and Heineken House. I have heard that the parties at these brewery houses are wild and crazy. Gary showed me a picture of some young people dancing on tables at Heineken House. As Gary's elder and self-appointed chaperone, I like to watch out for him. He has violated the 4:00 A.M. curfew a few times. I am thinking about grounding him, but not until our return to the USA.

If I am not attending any Olympic events during the day, I sometimes go to Bank of America House, which is just about a block away from USA House, and socialize with more American Olympians and their families. Bank of America House is more subdued than USA House. It is open from 11:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. Yesterday (Friday) I had lunch with David Neville, Jr., who won bronze in the men's 400 meters race on Thursday evening, and his wife and parents. The Nevilles are a wonderful family. I can tell that they are very spiritual and faith-connected. David was wearing his bronze medal. He was smiling, and his family was very proud of him. I took a picture of David with his wife and parents, and then a picture with him. He signed my Olympic flag.

Keith and Doris Lee, the parents of American sprinter Muna Lee (5th in the women's 100 meters race and 4th in the women's 200), have also been frequent visitors to Bank of America House. I met them in Athens at the Olympic Stadium following Muna's last race there. My daughter Kasia and I took a picture with them, and after the Olympics I sent it to them. They liked the picture so much that they had it framed and hung it in a place of honor in their home. Keith and Doris saw Muna immediately after the 200 finals on Thursday evening, and Muna was ecstatic. She ran her personal best in the finals. Like the Nevilles, the Lees are an exemplary American family. They are very proud of Muna, and rightfully so.

On Thursday at lunch, I met the parents of Cat Osterman, the famous American softball pitcher. Cat stands about 6'2" and is a southpaw. She is an imposing presence on the mound. At the Athens Olympics, it was Cat who tossed a softball from the American team's bullpen to the crowd around the bullpen, and the Australian man to whom I was talking caught the ball and give it to my daughter Kasia. Kasia later had the ball signed by the entire women's softball team after their appearance on The Today Show. That autographed softball is our most prized souvenir from the Athens Olympics.

Cat's parents confided that for the first time in her softball career, Cat's confidence in her abilities has been challenged, and she has been trying to stay mentally strong. She was worried about the gold medal game against Japan, even though the USA had beaten Japan twice before during early round action in Beijing. It is difficult to beat an opponent three times successively in a tournament like the Olympics. Unfortunately, Cat and the American team came up a little short and lost to Japan in the gold medal game on Thursday evening. Still, silver is sensational. Congratulations to the ladies on the American softball team. They have admirably represented our country.

At lunch on Thursday, I met the parents of Laura Wilkinson, the female American diver who won the gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. They spoke about their daughter's journey over the last eight years and all the things she has sacrificed to continue her diving career. She is sponsored by Speedo, but sometimes there are conflicts. Here in Beijing, she can wear a Speedo swimsuit for diving, but the official Team USA clothing sponsors are Nike and Ralph Lauren, and she must wear Nike and Polo at other times.

One of the last items I packed in my suitcase before leaving Ann Arbor was an American Olympic flag, with the Olympic rings and "USA" in red on a white background. That flag has proved to be a godsend. As of today, it has been signed by about 60 Olympic athletes, past and present, from a multitude of sports. There is not much space left for autographs. This flag will be my most cherised souvenir from the Beijing Olympics, the Chairman Mao watch notwithstanding, and I hope to have it framed when I return to Tree Town (that's Ann Arbor's nickname).

Tonight is the final night of track and field events at the Bird's Nest. The USA has a good shot for gold in the men's 4 x 400 relay. At the end of the evening, Gary and I will once again make our way to USA House for more parties with American Olympic athletes and more free food and drinks. I have to pinch myself to make sure that this is not a dream.

I hope that everyone who has accessed the Road Runners Club of America website has enjoyed reading this blog. Many thanks to Jean Knaack, the RRCA's Executive Director, for allowing me to do this blog and give those reading it an insight into the Olympic experience from the perspective of an over-the-hill coxswain/runner. Also, many thanks to my wife and better half Ellen, who has served and my editor and caught more than a few typos and made my writing look somewhat polished.

Tomorrow is the men's marathon, the very last event of the Beijing Olympics. I will report on that tomorrow.

Keep climbing that mountain (and partying while you are climbing).
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #13 – Go China!

August 23, 2008
Beijing, China

The Chinese spirit pervades the Beijing Olympics. Whenever a Chinese athlete is competing, the crowd launches into a chant for its hometown hero. The chant is, "Chungwa Gaio," which translates literally as "China Go!"

People have asked me to compare the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics to the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. In a nutshell, the Beijing Olympics are grander and more high tech. The Athens Olympics sought to highlight the traditions of the Greek people and the first modern Olympic Games. By contrast, the Beijing Olympics are a coming out party for the Chinese and a showcasing of their meteoric leap into the 21st century. There are remnants of the past, but the emphasis is on the future.

The Beijing Olympics are also much more crowded than the Athens Olympics. Everywhere you go there are crowds. If you have agoraphobia, you are going to have problems.

Nowhere is the notion of modernity more vividly demonstrated than on the Olympic Green. Two of the Olympic venues, the National Aquatics Center and National Stadium, stand out. The National Aquatics Center, also known as the "Water Cube," is a blue crystal palace with the appearance of light blue bubbles on its exterior. Here Michael Phelps won eight gold medals during the Beijing Olympics. The Water Cube is the world's only enclosed public construction covered entirely with a membrane-like material. This material is very thin but very strong.

At night, the Water Cube is illuminated from within like a giant stained glass lamp. The colors change from azure blue to violet to red to a multicolored array of these colors. To watch the colors change is a mesmerizing experience. People in the 1960s took a lot of drugs to have this kind of psychedelic vision!

While the Water Cube is changing colors, giant lights project upward from buildings behind it. Slightly to the south are office buildings with huge flat screen televisions mounted near the top. The screens carry live scenes from Olympic competitions involving Chinese athletes.

Each evening, the Chinese people flock to the Olympic Green with their families to watch the light show and take pictures. For them, the Beijing Olympics are a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and they want to capture this Kodak moment on their digital cameras. They are always seeking the perfect camera shot. They take one shot, check it, then another, and then check that one. After achieving perfection on the initial shot, they progress to group pictures, with various combinations of family members and poses from different angles. Again, no shot is complete until it is perfect. On occasion, I have volunteered to take a picture of the entire family. It's the "no family member left out" philosophy. The Chinese are always grateful, but they seem reticent about approaching a stranger, especially an American, to do this favor.

National Stadium, also known as the "Bird's Nest," is an equally impressive edifice. It is the site of the Opening Ceremony, all track and field events, the men's soccer final, and the Closing Ceremony. The Bird's Nest looks like a nest from the outside, symbolizing a cradle that holds the hopes for future mankind. It holds 92,000 spectators and is the iconic structure of the Beijing Olympics. At night, it is illuminated from within in a soft orange-red light. People like to take pictures with their hands positioned as if they are holding the giant torch on the north end of the stadium.

All of the seats inside the stadium are covered by an overhanging roof. If it rains, the spectators stay dry. The roof prevents spectators at the upper levels from seeing the giant torch. The torch, which extends high above the stadium roof, has a red stripe that circles around it from bottom to top like an ice cream cone covered with a diagonal strip of chocolate.

Quite honestly, the food at the concessions stands inside the stadium is poor. There is a very limited choice, and the lines are long. One time, I waited in line 35 minutes to get to the counter and finally gave up the ghost because I was missing too many things. I'm not sure why the Chinese officials do not recognize the need for more concessions stations, but the Chinese people seem content to wait patiently in line. I am always careful to guard my spot, lest someone try to cut ahead of me.

The food that is sold at the concessions stands is very reasonably priced. You can buy a beer for 8 yuan, which is about $1.35. Anyone who has attended an American professional athletic event will attest that you can't get bottled water, let alone beer, for that price in the United States.

The Olympic medal ceremonies are very moving. The medalists are accompanied on the field by Olympic officials and young, elegantly dressed Chinese women carrying trays. On the trays are the medals and bouquets of roses. Most of the athletes are very emotional after they receive their medal, and I have seen several gold medalists cry while their country's national anthem is being played. For me, it is always moving to see the American flag being raised, and if an American has won the gold medal, I sing the words of our national anthem as it is being played and display my American flag. I cry too.

Tonight's events at the Bird's Nest will feature some events in which Americans have a chance to win the gold medal. It would be nice to be able to sing our national anthem a few more times and cry. "USA Gaio!"

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #14 – Amazing Has Happened!

August 24, 2008
Beijing, China

Today is the final day of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. My time here has passed so quickly. I have had an amazing experience.

The sun has set, and the night has inked the sky in darkness over Beijing. The Closing Ceremonies have just concluded, and the Olympic flame has been extinguished until the athletes of the world reconvene in London, England in 2012. As in the Opening Ceremonies, I was blown away by the amazing display of power and movement and artistry and lights in the Closing Ceremonies. The Chinese left it all on the field in National Stadium for the world to see.

Since my last blog, Gary Morgan and I have been attending track and field events at National Stadium. Thursday evening's session was highlighted by Bryan Clay's gold medal in the men's decathlon. Bryan can now call himself the world's greatest male athlete. He did a remarkable job over the grueling two days of decathlon events. Way to go, Bryan!

On Friday afternoon, before the track and field events, I went to the afternoon session of the women's modern pentathlon, where Michigander Sheila Tourmina was competing in the equestrian portion of her event. I became acquainted with Sheila a few years ago, when she was the celebrity runner for the Burns Park Run, an Ann Arbor road race in which I have been involved as a committee member for many years. Sheila's story has been overshadowed to some extent by the accomplishments of some of our other American Olympians. At 39 years old, she is the first woman in Olympic history to compete in three Olympic sports: swimming (Atlanta 1996), triathlon (Sydney 2000), and modern pentathlon (Beijing 2008).

The modern pentathlon requires an athlete to engage in five separate and very different skills competitions: shooting, fencing, equestrian, running, and swimming. The event requires an athlete to show prowess in the skills that a soldier would need to survive if he or she were stranded behind enemy lines.

Sheila was one of a handful of athletes to complete the equestrian competition on Friday without any faults. Her performance is all the more remarkable when one recognizes that she was not riding her own horse. She must ride a horse that is randomly assigned to her from a pool of horses.

Despite her great success in the equestrian portion of her event, Sheila did not fare so well in her fencing competition, and she did not have enough points to get to the medal podium. However, we are very proud of her. She has made great sacrifices since her last Olympics in 2000, and we are thankful.

On Friday evening, I was hoping that our American women might medal in the women's 5,000 meters race. Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan, and Jen Rhines all ran valiantly and gave their finest effort (Jen with an injury), but were not able to stay with the Kenyans and Ethiopians near the end of the race. They left it all on the track, and having three runners in the finals of the women's 5,000 meters at the Olympics is a major accomplishment for American women's distance running.

On Saturday evening, Gary and I returned to National Stadium for the last night of track and field. It was a glorious night for the American track program, with the USA winning both the women's and men's 4 x 400 relays. The women's relay victory was particularly exciting. Gary and I were jumping out of our seats over the final lap. The USA edged out Russia over the final meters on the home stretch. It was a deeply emotional and tearful experience for me to see the American flag being raised and the national anthem being played during the medal ceremonies for each event. I was especially happy for David Neville, whom I had met at lunch earlier in the week. This success could not happen to a nicer young man.

After the evening's events, Gary and I returned to USA House, where I joined some of the distance runners, including Shalane Flanagan (and her husband Steve), Shannon Rowbury, Matt Tegenkamp, and Erin Donahue, on the rooftop. All of them were finished with their events, and this was their chance to relax and enjoy themselves. We could see lightning in the distance, but it never rained. It was interesting to hear some of their stories about their Olympic experience. They all signed my Olympic flag, and I took pictures with them. It was an incredible experience to meet all of these accomplished runners in person. Congratulations to all of them for representing the USA so well!

The American diving team was also at USA House on Saturday evening for its team party. At the party I met renowned Olympic gold medalist Dr. Sammy Lee, who later coached American diving legend and multiple gold medalist Greg Louganis. Sammy is 88 years old and looks great. I also met American diver and Sydney gold medalist Laura Wilkinson, whose parents I had met at lunch the day before. Laura said that she is retiring. She has no cartilage left in her wrists. Both Laura and Sammy signed my flag, and we took some pictures. I felt very honored to meet them.

On Sunday morning, Gary and I rose very early to go to the start of the men's marathon. Unfortunately, the subway station at Tiananmen Square was closed, and we had to navigate our way through some side streets to get close enough to see the runners. We were baffled because the same subway station had been open a week ago for the women's marathon. This is life in China! The conditions for the men's marathon today were much more difficult than they were for the women's marathon last Sunday. We saw all three American runners, Dathan Ritzenheim, Ryan Hall, and Brian Sell, pass, and then, unlike last week, we went directly to the Olympic Green to see the finish. We situated ourselves at a point about 100 meters from National Stadium where the runners must make a 180-degree turn to enter the stadium. We had a fabulous vantage point. Some technical support guys from USA Today joined us, and one of them was able to give us updates from his Blackberry. After the first few runners passed, we saw Dathan, then Ryan, and then Brian. Dathan and Ryan finished in the top 10, and Brian was not far behind. We shouted loudly for them as they passed, and I took some great pictures. I am finally learning how to use my digital camera's sports action mode! Congratulations to all of them for representing the United States so wonderfully in this most difficult Olympic event. American distance running is on the rise. Watch out world!

After the marathon, Gary and I stayed on the Olympic Green to attend a men's team handball match between Poland and Russia. I had never seen team handball before. It is sort of a combination of basketball, with dribbling, and hockey, with a goal. Naturally, I was cheering for my Polish countrymen, but in Chinese style. Through the match I chanted, "Polska Gaio!" Poland won, which warmed the heart of this Polish boy from Chicago.

USA House hosted a grand party for Closing Ceremonies. The food was fabulous. I feasted on tenderloin of beef and salad and grilled vegetables. For dessert I had flaming peaches in brandy over cake and ice cream. Life at USA House in Beijing is tough!

After dinner, I spent the evening watching the Closing Ceremonies with Al Monaco, the outgoing president of the United States Volleyball Association, and Fred Newhouse, Olympic gold medalist in the men's 4 x 400 relay at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. The men's volleyball team, which had beat Brazil in the gold medal match earlier Sunday afternoon, was having its team party, and thanks to Al, I was able to meet some of the members of the team. They were definitely PARTYING. Wow! They are all like huge sequoia trees! They signed my flag, and I took pictures with them. In the pictures, I look like a midget standing next to giants.

Fred Newhouse and his wife are such wonderful and personable people. Fred talked to me about his experience at the Montreal Olympics. He waxed eloquent when he reminisced about his Olympic experience. He knows Frank Shorter from Montreal. He too signed my flag, and we took pictures together.

On the wall of USA House is painted a slogan, "Amazing awaits." After my experience at the Beijing Olympics, I can say, "Amazing has happened." I have met so many wonderful and interesting people here in Beijing. I return to the USA tomorrow, inspired by my Olympic experience and refreshed in mind and body. For me, amazing no longer awaits. It has happened.

I will write my final blog about the Olympics upon my return to the USA tomorrow.

Keep climbing that mountain and have faith.
Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner

Entry #15 – One World, One Dream

Final Blog

September 1, 2008
Ann Arbor, Michigan

The official motto of the Beijing Summer Olympic Games is, "One World, One Dream." I observed the motto thousands of times on banners, pins, signs, flags, clothing, and countless other items around Beijing during the Olympics. Both at the Opening Ceremony and at the Closing Ceremony, the motto had thematic top billing. Some commentators have said that this motto belies the Chinese goal of dominating the world. Indeed, it is predicted that by 2018, China will overtake the United States as the world's largest economy. Despite this cynicism, I prefer to view the motto as an expression of the Olympic dream of peace and goodwill among the citizens of the world through athletic competition.

Late Monday evening a week ago (August 25), Gary Morgan and I returned to the USA in a dream-like stupor. Our non-stop United Airlines flight from Beijing to Chicago was filled with Olympians, mostly American, but also a few Aussies and Brits. Among the American Olympians I met was a swimmer, Kara Lynn Joyce, who had graduated from Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, where my daughter Kasia is a senior this year. Kara Lynn now attends the University of Georgia. Kara Lynn did a great job in Beijing, adding to the two silver medals she had won in Athens four years ago with two more silver medals, the first in the 4 x 100 women's freestyle and the second in the 4 x 100 women's medley. We talked briefly, and like all the other Olympians I met, she graciously signed my USA Olympic flag.

For me, the return journey was 22 hours of travel door-to-door from 9 Dragons House in Beijing to my home in Ann Arbor, ending with a joyous reunion with my wife Ellen and my daughter Kasia. Before leaving 9 Dragons House for the Beijing Airport, I gave the staff members a small token of my appreciation for all that they had done to make our stay in Beijing so enjoyable. I presented them with a US $1 bill and inscribed it, "To the staff of 9 Dragons House, in appreciation for their friendship during the Beijing Olympic Games. One World, One Dream." I also left them a nice tip in the form of a 100-stack of one-yuan bills. They were very appreciative.

No matter where you travel, it is always nice to come home. Of course, once I set foot in the door and Ellen and Kasia determined that I was fit and healthy, though somewhat travel-fatigued, their attention immediately turned to the gifts that I had purchased for them in China: three pearl/precious stone necklaces, with matching earrings, and an Olympic scarf for Ellen, and two pearl necklaces, with matching earrings, and an Olympic equestrian pin set for Kasia. I definitely hit a home run with those gifts!

With very little rest, I returned to work at my law firm on Tuesday morning, maintaining a frenetic schedule that required me to travel to out-of-office business meetings in Cleveland, Columbus, and Fort Wayne on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. These were hard, 14-hour days marked by 3:30 A.M. training runs, long drives, and sleep deprivation. Luckily I survived and physically collapsed on Friday night. My colleagues at Allotta, Farley & Widman had assiduously followed by blogs from Beijing during my absence and, upon my return, presented me with a certificate which read, "Mitch Garner, Olympic Gold Medal Blogger, Beijing 2008."

On Saturday morning, I felicitously rejoined the ranks of the Nasty Boys for our traditional tunnel run on the field of the Big House before Michigan's home football opener against the University of Utah. They too had followed my blogs from Beijing and were anxious to hear more about my adventures in China. One of my blogs gave rise to a humorous discussion about the origins of my sobriquet, "Iron Bulldog." They were most impressed that I was able to survive 19 days in Beijing without having to pay for any meals, save the one night when I splurged on Peking Duck at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. I am very lucky to have these guys as my friends and my running group!

Today, Labor Day, is my first opportunity to reflect upon my Olympic experience in Beijing. A week later, the experience has taken on a dream-like quality. Was I really in Beijing for 19 days to attend the Olympics? Did I really see all those things and meet all those people? Well, I have the pictures and my Olympic flag to prove that I was really there. It would be hard to photo-shop almost 700 pictures and forge all those autographs on my flag! In this final Blog from Beijing, I want to give you a wrap-up and a look back on my Beijing Olympic experience.

The Olympic Games are truly the world's greatest athletic competition. All other athletic competitions pale in comparison. During the Beijing Olympics, I had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I experienced life and culture and sports firsthand. Beyond that, I experienced the full panoply of emotions. I laughed and I cried; I smiled and I sighed. I endeavored to extend my hand and my heart to others in friendship and understanding, and they reciprocated.

I like to believe that people around the world share more in common that unites them than they have differences that separate them. My Olympic experience has corroborated that belief. I remain convinced that the goodness of the human spirit is greater than its darker side and will ultimately prevail. There are many paths to the top of the mountain. It is not for me to say that my path is a better path than someone else's path. We are all trying to get to the top.

In his book, Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World (a pre-Beijing gift from my Yale classmate and dear friend, Dr. Steve Cushner), bestselling author David Maraniss explores the history of the People's Republic of China (today's China) and its participation in the Olympic movement. In 1958, China embraced an isolationist foreign policy and eschewed any type of athletic competition. That year, China officially withdrew from the Olympic movement and refused to participate in any Olympics because of a dispute over the International Olympic Committee's recognition of Taiwan (known then as Nationalist China, as opposed to Communist China).

It is ironic that in 2008, 50 years later exactly, China hosted the Summer Olympics with all the splendor and grandeur of an imperial emperor. The progression from non-participant country to host country has been slow and steady, but not without some pitfalls. In 1984, Communist China broke rank with its Soviet counterparts and sent a team of athletes to the Los Angeles Summer Olympics. As a result of China's decision to participate in the 1984 Summer Olympics, the Soviet Olympic boycott was attenuated somewhat, with only 12 countries officially boycotting the Games that year. Without China's participation, the boycott would have been much more extensive.

I am convinced that the evolution of China's attitude toward the world in general and the Olympics in particular was positively affected by personal diplomacy, Chinese citizens talking to Americans and people from other countries behind the scenes. Peter Ueberroth, current Chairman of the United States Olympic Committee, has steadfastly maintained that peace and stability in the world come through contact and exchange among countries in the form of trade, travel, and friendship. These forms of dialogue among the peoples of the world are very real factors in improving relationships between nations.

Gary Morgan and I have experienced this amelioration of relations between China and the United States firsthand. Certainly, there are areas in which China and the United States are not on the same political page. However, I like to think that we played our part in touching the lives of the Chinese people with whom we came into contact and in making them feel that we were honored to be in their country and to experience their culture and their Olympics. You have only one chance to make a first impression on someone, and we tried very hard to always make a good first impression on the Chinese people whom we encountered.

Gary, in particular, was the quintessential goodwill ambassador. He spearheaded a group of five American Olympians who treated five Chinese orphans to an evening of track and field at the Bird's Nest on August 21. These kinds of virtuous acts do not make headlines, but they are significant factors in building bridges between people of diverse cultures.

During my time in China, I made a point of talking to many young Chinese people. They are the ones who will have to cope with China's precipitous societal, cultural, economic, and political changes. For them, the challenges are many. According to an article in the May 2008 edition of National Geographic, China's one-child policy has created a generation of only children that numbers 90 million. In China, 119 baby boys are born for every 100 girls. The number of unmarried young men, euphemistically called "bare branches," is predicted to be 30 million by 2020. In a recent survey, 45% of Chinese women said that they do not want to sacrifice their careers to get married.

Still, when you talk to these young people, you find that they share the same dreams as we do. They want a better life for themselves and their loved ones. When they are on a date, they hug and kiss and coo just like their American counterparts. They want to find, as Plato says, their other half and the true love that comes with that discovery. They are very interested in life in the United States. There is even a burgeoning interest in spirituality, a concept that is antipathetic to orthodox communism.

At home I have a daily flip calendar (a gift from another dear friend, Linda McGuire) that features a quote each day from a famous person. By serendipity, the quote for August 25, the day I returned from Beijing, was from the famous American poet, Emily Dickinson, who said, "I hope your rambles have been sweet and your reveries spacious."

It has been a spacious dream indeed for me to attend the Beijing Olympics. In the words of another famous poet, Frenchman Charles Baudelaire, "I have more memories than if I were a thousand years old." I hope to keep that dream alive until the next Summer Olympics in London 2012 and then perhaps in Chicago 2016 (let's give our heartfelt support to the Chicago 2016 Committee and its efforts to bring the Olympics to Chicago). For me, the understanding engendered by my Beijing Olympic experience has made the world smaller: One World, One Dream.

And so, I conclude my final blog with the wish that someday you may have the chance to experience the Olympic dream as I have. I hope you have enjoyed reading this blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it. I say good-bye now. Ave atque vale. That is, "Hale and farewell."

Keep climbing that mountain (whatever path you may choose) and have faith. Follow your dream: One World, One Dream.

Mitch “Iron Bulldog” Garner