My GOLD MEDAL Day

I'm learning a lot of great lessons on tour. Most of them are pretty simple things....and things that I probably learned time and time again last year. But I guess I am getting a second chance this year to REMEMBER them. Like take last Friday, for instance. If someone asked me the ONE thing that I learned last Friday, what would it be. I would think long and I would think hard....and I would remember the things that I did that day....and I would have to come to one conclusive lesson: I learned that a day on tour is no different than a day back in 'real life'...because in the end, what you get out of it is going to depend almost entirely on what you put INTO it.

Explain? Gladly. Last Friday, my day was loosely scheduled as such: BRUNCH with the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration office in Colorado Springs (not required...free to attend if you'd like), FREE TIME for the bulk of the day, and SHOW at Pikes Peak Center that evening. My options: skip the brunch and spend my free time holed up in the hotel, sleeping or watching movies or whatever. OR option 2: make the day one you'd be glad you didn't miss.

Our brunch with the staff at the Colorado Springs Imagination Celebration office was a ball. The food was amazing - and plentiful....and I have to report that the staff there found the PERFECT way to keep a cast of actors occupied for the better part of 2 hours. Just put coloring pages and colored pencils and crayons down before they arrive....and the rest is HISTORY! We are all SO appreciative of the support and excitement that they shared with us. Their program in the Colorado Springs area is amazing....and they delivered a house full of EXCITED, ENTHUSIASTIC and COMMITTED audience members for our Friday night show...and it was great.

Everyone seems to be enjoying brunch...or everyone is deep in tought regarding what colors they will use on their pending art projects.

Roe pauses for a picture enroute to get seconds.

Our Tech staff with the Co Springs Imagination Celebration Staff.

Mike is wearing the dragon hat. Amazing, right?

The masses...hard at work.

Jeffrey shows off his finished product.

Our FAREWELL shot! Happy faces and FULL bellies.

After lunch, everyone went their own ways. My way took me around downtown Colorado Springs shopping a bit - and then about 5 minutes EAST of town to the United States Olympic Committee Headquarters and Training Center. Like I said previously - A LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN FOR THIS KID! Thanks to my good friend, TOM BENSON, he got me in touch with his friend, ANNIE, who works for the USOC here in Colorado Springs. Annie was kind enough to pick me up downtown and take me out to the Training Complex and set me loose on a tour that I soon will not forget.

There is no way to really describe the tour...by outward appearances, it was just a lot of walking and listening. Not too many people were training - most of the training takes place in the early morning and the early evening. (The afternoons are reserved for school work. part-time jobs or community service....) The pool was emtpy - the gymnastics, volleyball and basketball floors were empty - the wrestling room was eerily quiet - the shooting range was free of shooting - and yet....AND YET....that silly little Olympic Spirit that has a tendency to choke me up PERMEATED the buildings and grounds. I spent about 45 minutes on the planned tour, and then another hour myself, just walking around the grounds, checking out the displays and art and snapping pictures here and there. The weather was perfect - the crowds were small - and I roamed around, celebrating the US Olympic movement in my own way. (Which included a Diet Coke in hand and the Olympic Fanfare playing on repeat on my iPod. I'M A CHEESEWAD - SO SUE ME!)

The grounds arond the training complex are covered with these cool art cutouts - representing EACH and every sport in the Olypmics games...both existing sports AND sports that have since been removed from the games.

oops. I forgot the LUGER.

The Visitors Center was FULL of quotes and people with toches coming out of walls. Outside the context of the Olympics, a bit creepy. In context, I was like...OK. Show me MORE of them.....

The final torch from the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics.

Gymnastics and Wrestling training areas. I did a tumbling pass, just to pass some time.

Even the BATHROOMS get into the Olympic spirit!

More of the arty-things.

Some of the art out front of the complex.

You're free to ENJOY the globe-sculpture thing called OLYMPIC STRENGTH. You're just not free to climb ON it. DUH,

Top L: The view from the globe WESTWARD, to the Mountains/Pikes Peak. Top R: Another cool statue out front of the complex. Bottom: The flags flying out front of the complex. (Pikes Peak in the background.)

Kristy Yamaguchi statue out front of the Visitors Center.

A look back to the globe...through some wildflowers that have been COLOR ACCENTED! YESSSSSSS!

The Official COUNTDOWN...to 2008 and 2010.

We have quite the training center in Colorado Springs - plus 2 more around the country. If you are ever in the area, after you check out the Garden of the Gods, take a trip to the FREE tour of the USOC. It will make you appreciate the dedication and drive of the elite athletes in our country. AND - you will get to see the cool CURLING art display and sign that I stood in front of for a long time....dreaming of the day that I make the US Curling Team. It's coming...you wait and see.

SWEEEEEEEEEP! SWEEEEEEEEP! DON'T SWEEEEP!

The rest of the GOLD MEDAL day was our show and a drive to Pueblo. I had a great time performing the show....and had some friends in the audience, to boot! I fell asleep that night faster than I ever have before. But I'm ok by that...because the way I figure it, most people who win a gold medal are PROBABLY worn out at the end of the day. It's TOUGH being the elite. We need our rest.

My favorite quote i saw on a wall.

Now go out there and make TODAY your Gold Medal Day! I'm going to bed.

G