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Since I am a one-person "team" at the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, I do not have the resources to provide formal race reports. My primary focus will be getting photos of the races, which I will post as soon as possible. However, I am also going to experiment a little and write some blog entries about my experiences and observations at the meet.
As I sat in the Hartford airport this morning, I read this article about the flooding in Des Moines. When I landed at the Des Moines airport several hours ago, it was pouring rain. The friendly man from the rental car company gave me directions on how to get to Drake's stadium and avoid the roads which are closed due to the flooding. By the time I got to my hotel, the rain had stopped and I had to fish out my sunglasses. It's breezy out, but I saw a thermometer which read 69, so it's not bad for racing.
Not being up on my Des Moines geography, I don't know how close the flooding is to the stadium, but the airport and the track are only five miles apart, and some of the roads between the two are flooded. I wasn't nervous about any of this until I just heard the front desk worker at my hotel say everyone is calling to cancel their trips to Des Moines, and that in her opinion, the dam is not going to hold. I don't have time to look at the local newspaper's coverage of the flooding, but please e-mail me if anyone learns I am in imminent danger! (That's a joke, I think this will be a popular topic of conversation once I get to the track, so I'll be a little more clued in as to what's expected.)
Though my hotel is less than luxurious, I'm happy to be staying a little ways north of town, away from the flooding. As the article I linked to in the second paragraph mentions, some teams had to relocate to other hotels due to the flooding. This is unfortunate for the city of Des Moines, because I'm sure they wanted to put their best foot forward when hosting an event like this. When Iowa State hosted the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 2000, my former co-worker from Iowa tried to convince me that it's not always -19 degrees with the wind chill in Ames. Now I'm sure he'll try to convince me that Des Moines is not always flooded. Either way, as far as I know, this is not going to affect the meet at all, so I'm looking forward to a great track meet! I'll try to post another update when I get back from the track tonight.
Posted by Alison Wade at 3:05 p.m. | Tags: 2008 NCAA Outdoor T&F Champs
Bridget commented, on June 11, 2008 at 5:06 p.m.:
This is great, Alison! I am looking forward to the updates.
Carolyn commented, on June 11, 2008 at 7:46 p.m.:
Try to stay dry!! You are the best there is for running.
Becky commented, on June 11, 2008 at 3:37 p.m.:
Love the idea...but was there ever any doubt?