Hello, Hope everyone is doing great!  Right now we are in New York getting ready for SNL.  We went from NYC to Orlando to NYC to Chicago to San Fran to LA to NY in about 10 days.  The cast of SNL has been so cool.  They work ridiculous hours.  Most of them stay overnight and sleep on their couches in their offices.  Then after 2 hours of sleep they still manage to be hilarious.  Did you know that each host only gets to practice the skit a couple of times before the big show?  Michael met with each writer/actor

Katie Hoff has been on vacation but will be on the Best Damn Sports Show tomorrow with Natalie Coughlin.  Last week we also all went to the Oprah Show last week.  They taped outside at a beautiful park in Chicago. The show aired on Monday as the season premiere.

Michael did some work with Chicago 2016 while we were in Chicago.  He was supporting their bid for the Olympics to take place there. 

Well, make sure you tune into SNL on Saturday night. 

Ni Hao,

Not sure where to start...I can't believe that it's August 21st and what has happened since my last post.  It has been a crazy couple of days since everyone finished swimming.  

Phelps and a crew got to go to a Men's basketball game and watching them play.  The team has been so supportive of the Swim Team that Michael wanted to cheer them on.  After the game he went down to the locker room.  When he walked in LeBron (BIG USA basketball player) had on swim goggles. It was pretty funny. Team USA has really come together and everyone is trying to make it to as many events as possible to support each other.

Most of the swimmers left already for home.  I guess two months away will make you want to head back soon :)  They also were extremely busy after they finished with a bunch of media requests and appearances.  Most of them were exhausted.  Katie Hoff and I are going to stay through closing ceremonies.

Tomorrow she is going to ring the Beijing Bell which is like ringing in the New York Stock Exchange.  Pretty cool huh?

Right now! I am at at the Hilton Beijing and things are starting to get crazy.  Regardless of the massive rain storm that we got today...we at Octagon, are getting experiencing "the calm before the storm".  We are finalizing the Post plan for the athletes and trying to help them make the most out of this time.

After the finals this morning, I saw Kirsty Coventry today and gave her a hug at the Cube.  She is so nice!  I wished her luck on her races and she said that she's excited and feels great. 

Tomorrow is a big day!  Go USA!

Today was one of those days when you look around and say..."wow, life is really good".  I have been waking up pretty early (around 5am) to get started on my emails.  I usually work until 715 and then get ready for the day.  This morning I did not have tickets for the finals.  I went downstairs to the lobby in jeans and a t-shirt to meet someone and then was planning on heading back up to my room.  Then I got an email that someone magical who's name is Chrissy had a ticket but I had to be in the lobby and they were leaving now...so off i went...I had a ticket and I could travel over to the Cube with an Olympic car.  Visa has a hospitality program and they have buses that travel to the cube.  Not only was I stoked about having a ticket but the bus makes it so much easier to get to the venue.  They have Olympic lanes and you whizz by all the cabs in the morning traffic.

But enough of that...what happened during the swims is the exciting stuff.  Phelps started by swimming the 200m Butterfly.  He broke the WR.  Laszlo was right behind him and it was a pretty close race. When Michael got out of the water he ripped his goggles off and rubbed his eyes.  Immediately I knew that his goggles did not work the way there were supposed too.  Debbie (his mom) saw him move them around on the block which he never does...he still got the gold and the WR but it was a close race.

Then the 4x200 Freestyle relay.  I was sitting next to Lenny Krayzelburg and he said that the US team should have the race by a lot.  But you never know what could happen.  I should have listened to him and relaxed.  They won by a lot.  Phelps finished the day by becoming the most decorated Olympian in history.  That means he has the most career gold medals. Amazing. 

I should mention that Ryan Lochte had a strong race.  He looked good and I'm sure the 200 IM is going to be really fun to watch.

After the morning finals the Phelps crew and I went to the Omega Residence to have lunch.  We met up with Ian Thorpe and Cindy Crawford (and her family) for lunch.  It was fantastic! 

Hello from Beijing,  Wow, it has been a crazy couple of days!  China has been fantastic.  Today the sun was out and there was a blue sky.  That is right...I said blue sky.  The swims were great in the morning but what was really really exciting was the Men's 400 freestyle Relay yesterday.  If you didn't catch it you should go to nbcolympics.com and watch it.  Incredible!  Lezak was half a body behind the French team and then had an amazing finish and USA got gold.  It was the best race I have ever seen!  Everyone was jumping and screaming.  Phelps' reaction was timeless.  Everyone was so excited.  They were not supposed to win.  George Bush was there with an American flag..even though he was holding it backwards for a little bit :)

Everything is well organized and everyone is helpful in China.  There is a language barrier especially with the cab drivers.  There has been so much new construction that most of the cab drivers are not familiar with the streets.  I stayed at the Hilton Wanfujing which opened on August 1st and I think one of out ten cab drivers knew where it was.  I usually was taken 30 minutes outside the city to the other Hilton.  It's not a big deal though because the cab fares are so cheap.  I was in a cab for about an hour and paid $5 us dollars.  I hope I get a chance to go to the markets.  I want to buy some "Goach" hand bags and "Grada" sunglasses.

Hello from Beijing,

So the flight was not bad at all.  I ended up sleeping most of the time.  I couldn't believe it!  When we landed we hitched a ride on the Hilton bus.  A couple of co-workers are staying at the Hilton Beijing and I'm staying at the Hilton Wangujing.  It just opened and it is an incredible hotel!  I was so excited. After a long trip there is nothing like being able to sleeeeeeep.

This afternoon I had a pretty random day.  I met up with some Visa folks at the Westin then got talked into going to pick up Debbie Phelps at some really random store in the middle of nowhere to make sure she gets back in-time for the opening ceremonies. 

Here we go...it's all started!

Hello and goodbye, I'm packing all my stuff to get ready for a trip of a lifetime.  I am scheduled to be in China from the 7th to the 24th but we will most likely go on a sort of Tour after the Games are over.  Probably be making stops in New York, LA and Baltimore to name a few.  Should be very exciting.  I leave tomorrow at 6am and get into Beijing on the 7th around mid-day.  I have two computers to watch movies, the book "The Glass Castle" (which better be good, my friend Danica recommended it), a Beijing tour guide, and some playing cards to entertain myself.  I don't usually sleep on planes so it should be a pretty boring trip.  When we arrive I'm going to get situated and then probably head over to see our friends at NBC.  They have a huge compound where they eat, sleep and work.  Mostly work.  Drew Johnson, who heads our PR, will basically live there helping our athletes with their media obligations.  He has been known to frequent the cafeteria.  I don't blame him. Especially in China.  The food situation should be interested.  Last year we went to a Mexican Restaurant next to our hotel in China.  Yup, you are right, it was a really bad idea :) 

Hey, how are things going? Fine here. We are getting everything in order for the big trip.  A lot of people that we work with are already over there and have said that Beijing looks terrific.  Should be exciting!

I'm going to head to the library to get some books for the 20 plus hour plane to Beijing.  My computer will die around hour 3 and I'll have plenty of time to catch up on some reading.  We are planning a bunch of events for the athletes when they are done competing so I'm sure we will be busy on the plane getting everything organized.  I want to bring the Rosetta Stone program with me as well to try to get some key phrases down.

Can't believe that the Olympics are already here.  It's been a long time coming but this year has seemed to fly bye.

If you haven't seen Men's Journal yet and you are a swim fan then you might want to go pick it up.  Ryan Lochte and Michael Phelps are on the cover of the August issue of the magazine.  The guys took the photo while they were training in Colorado Springs.  Generally, after three practices a day a photo shoot would be the last thing they would want to do but they had fun since they are good friends.  Katie Hoff was on the cover of FAST Magazine last month in the LZR Racer.  Phelps is in the August issue of Men's Vogue in a suit...not a swim suit but a real dress suit...Also, you can watch Michael in an ESPN Sportscenter commercial.  There are two different spots...I love those commercials...lastly, did anyone catch Justin Timberlake host the ESPY's? They aired it last night.  Pretty good. I'd give him a ten!  But then again he could do anything and I would give him a ten..

hi

Hope everyone is doing great. Today is Monday and I'm getting ready to head to New York City for a quick trip.  I'm meeting Debbie Phelps in NYC and she is doing interviews to help promote the group she is working with called ADHD Mom's.  ADHD Mom's is a support group for (you guessed it) Mom's who have kids that have ADHD. Michael was diagnosed with ADHD when he was young.  Swimming has always been a great outlet for him as well as many other swimmers.  We were hoping to catch a show on Broadway tonight but I don't think that I'll land in time to catch something.  In February this year, Katie Hoff, Michael, Erin Popovich (Paralympic swimmer) and Cherie Blauwet (Paralympic Marathon/Track and Field athlete) went with their sponsor Visa to a really funny show called "Spamalot".  It was hilarious.  Clay Aiken, from American Idol, was actually one of the stars and really funny.  Any Claymates out there?  There were a bunch in the crowd with t-shirts and buttons on.  He's not my favorite musician but I'd see the play again in a heart beat. 

Where to start?  hmmmm...It's hard to know where to go from here since I am the worse blogger ever and always forget to write.

I'll give my highlights from the week outside the swimming.

Michael's Birthday and Speedo Dinner

It was great to be able to celebrate with Michael on his 23rd birthday.  We met up with him after finals in the Hilton Executive Lounge and shared some goodies and gave him his presents.  Omega gave him a nice wallet and Visa gave him a pretty sweet gift basket.  Speedo is sending him his present later but they did have a Family Speedo Event that night at a local restaurant.  Michael couldn't go because he was swimming so much but we had a good time.  Craig Brommers, who runs the marketing at Speedo, was there and I gave him a hard time for the interview I saw earlier that day on Nightly News.  It's really funny to see people you know on TV.

Megan Jendrick making the US Olympic Team. 

I knew she could do it since she has worked so hard but if this week proved it that anything could happen.  We had media credentials so we could see her after her race down in the Mix Zone.  Her husband Nathan was so excited.  It was really awesome.  The mix zone is the area where all the media who attend the event gather to ask the athletes questions for the articles they are going to write.

Saturday's Dinner

Generally since Michael is so busy we help him with most of his planning.  It was a nice surprise that after he was done swimming he planned a private dinner  for his family and a few of us Roctagonian's in the back room of the hotel restaurant.  We had a great time sharing stories. 

Well, last night was pretty incredible.  I had no idea what to expect going into the QWest Center but it was amazing.  There were over 12,000 people in the arena and the croud was going crazy.

The first finals of the Olympic Trials, the men's 400IM, got everyone off their feet.  Lochte and Phelps were so close until the final stroke.  NBC played it live so if you weren't there you could watch it at home.  We had a feeling that whoever was going to win the race was going to do it in World Record time.  I didn't get a chance to see Ryan but he swam a personal best time.  We ran into Michael later that night and he was pretty excited.  We took some pictures that we will put up in a few days.

Katie Hoff won gold in the 400IM with a World Record time.  You could tell when she walked up to the blocks she was ready to race.  And then Larsen Jensen had an amazing race! 

After the meet, we were all so excited we didn't know what to do.  So we went to a restaurant got some food and played Buck Hunter.  OmaWoh...this is going to be a good week!

Over the weekend I watched some of the gymnastics trials on NBC.  It was pretty amazing and fun to watch.  Although, I have to share that I get so nervous watching the routines that I often have to change the channel.  I've been working in the Olympics for about five years, watched it for much longer and still can't get over this feeling.  I have watched amazing races, matches, etc. but for some reason, gymnastics makes me really nervous.   It might go back to my childhood and my experience with gymnastics.  I am not flexible. I can't touch my toes.  I am not graceful.  I can not jump through the air and land on my feet.  I am not small.  I am just about 5' 9".  I like to eat...a lot...and I'll leave it there.  So I think I picture myself on the beam with everyone watching and then cue the nervous feeling.

The swimming trials make me nervous as well but not the same way.  You can't really get hurt or fall in the water.  I get nervous because I've worked so close with all of these great people who have trained so hard for years and years and everything they have worked for is determined in sometimes a minute.  The life of a swimmer is rough. There is no off-season.  To be an Olympic athlete is tough.  You have four years to train, wait and hope. And then you are on the block for the Trials and you have to feel good and hope that all that training is going to pay off.  Not to mention someone could have a blow-out swim.  Ok, I have to go...I'm getting nervous...

I started working for Octagon in 2003 and went to the 2004 Olympic Games.  It was an incredible experience but a crazy one at the same time.  And now, with a winter Olympics squeezed in the middle, it is already 2008.  We took the same strategy that worked in 2004 and applied it to 2008.  One of those ideas was to work with each coach and athlete to find a time that we would no longer schedule media or sponsor requests so that these guys can focus on training.  Well, here we are...and the only things they are really doing is swimroom.com stuff.

We call it the BLACKOUT.  For most of the athletes they look forward to this time to relax and concentrate on their goals...and with ten days till Trials....who can blame them... 

I can not believe that Trials are approaching so quickly.  The first half of the year has been a blur.  I'm looking forward to the Trials even if they are in Omaha ...as the Counting Crows put it, "somewhere in middle America" and getting there is never easy.

Hola!  Sorry it has taken me so long to write a blog.  I have been on vacation for a week in Mexico for a wedding.  So, a wedding on a swimming site, where's the connection?  Well, let me assure you, it's Marissa's World and everything I do has to do with swimming.  I just don't get in the pool.  The wedding was for a swimmer.

Hi,  SO tonight was a lot of fun!  Everyone swam pretty well.  Michael and Aaron had a good 200 Backstroke.  Aaron beat Michael out at the touch!  Natalie Coughlin swam an amazing race.  We had to wait for her time to be announced for what seems like hours because the score board was not working.  She missed her World Record by a few 100's of a second.  I ran into Natalie at the warm down pool and congratulated her on her great swim and her recent engagement.  Exciting stuff!  After finals, we went to dinner at PF Chang's and ate outside.  The weather was really nice.  We ordered, well Michael ordered, three appetizers and then we got plates of food.  We had great conversation at the dinner table.  It turns out that Michael is probably not going to shave his chops until Trials.  The whole Club Wolverine swim club was growing some sort of facial hair for their time at Colorado training but they could shave after the first day of prelims at Santa Clara.  Coach Bowman shaved pretty much right after the prelims but Michael is keeping his for a while.  It’s an improvement from the mustache though.  We got back around 9pm which was too late to try to head over to the amusement park which I guess is in the area….maybe tomorrow. I'll try to stop talking about food on my next blog...but to be honest it is going to be hard because I really love food.

Hi…welcome to my blog on swimroom.com, a place where swimmers connect and I’m not one. So, why am I writing a blog and why would you read it. Well, I’m writing it because for the next few months I will be your behind-the-scenes blogger for some of your favorite swimmers. Right now, I’m in Santa Clara for the Grand Prix. Yesterday, I landed and headed off with Michael Phelps who had a Speedo appearance at the Palo Alto Swim Shop. It was 102 degrees, an all-time high by ten degrees for the San Jose area on that day. OY VAY! We took a quick 20 minute ride from the hotel to the shop. We had a reporter drive over with us from a high fashion magazine. Generally, when reporters are doing stories, they like to be “flies on the wall” to get a sense of the person. I think he got a pretty good idea who Michael was because after four weeks at altitude camp, doing two to three practices a day, leaving at 415am for a flight, and then getting into an obnoxious heat wave, he smiled for 345 pictures. By the end of it he was pretty tired. Today I watched the finals of the Grand Prix. I got to run into Whitney Myers, who is amazing, and has extremely hairy legs.  She's not shaving like the guys and I like that about her...she does her own thing... The races were alright, Davis Tarwater had a good race, and everyone else swam ok.  After finals, Michael, his mom, and our friend went to get Mexican food at a great local restaurant. MP got a couple plates of food, pretty common, while we got one. He mixes the beans, lettuce and everything else on the plate instead of eating the separate parts.

And now off to bed for another day of swims and hopefully fun. I think my blogs will get better and funny so make sure you stop back. I think I’ll discuss Michael’s facial hair tomorrow.