USATF - News - USA Track and Field - reports that BEIJING - “Dathan Ritzenhein (Eugene, Ore.) and Ryan Hall (Mammoth Lakes, Calif.) were ninth and 10^th, respectively, to put two Team USA athletes in the top 10 of the Olympic men’s marathon for the first time since 1976 in competition Sunday morning. The race concludes Olympic track and field competition as Team USA won the medal race with 23 medals and seven golds.”

When the Olympics opened on 08/08/08, one of the first things that I heard was that the marathon event might be canceled due to poor air quality.  What a relief for the athletes that they were able to compete. To qualify and then not be able to compete, well I can’t imagine how much that would suck.  All those years of work for nothing.

I’m a runner, not a marathoner or an elite athlete - I run local events.  I spent the first 12 years of my life running everywhere, usually in some form of play, because it was fun.  I spent the next 28 years doing my best to avoid running. It was harder to run as I got older, it began to feel less like fun and more like work. 

I decided to try running again 4 months before my 40th birthday.  I was out of shape and a trainer I talked to at my health club suggested a walk-to-run program.  Every step was a test of my willpower - I wanted to stop and on every run the words, “This might not be a good idea,” ran through my head.  I worked very hard to replace those words with, “Just keep going, just keep going, just keep going….”   I ran my first event, a 10K that November.  As I approached the finish line, my then 8-year-old ran out to meet me and we crossed the line together. It was pretty cool and the whole thing made me cry (as many things do).  I was so proud of myself.

If you are a runner and single, think about joining your local running club.  It is a great place to meet other like-minded men and women in your area.  Many people say the same thing, “I don’t want to meet someone in a bar.” Running is about as far from bar hopping as you can get, unless of course, you are looking for a running event that features beer breaks, because some areas offer those, as well.   

Running clubs and running events attract people of all ages and although I know I will never be an Olympic athlete like Dathan Ritzenhein or Ryan Hall, I do hope that if I hang in there and keep running, eventually my age bracket will thin out a bit and someday, I just may place.  Somebody has to win the over 70 class, after all. 

Yesterday, I read about a controversy concerning some of the fireworks displayed during the Opening Ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. A portion of the fireworks were added in digitally. Personally, I don’t have a problem with that. It was simply special effects for the television audience members who were unable to attend.

This morning, I read about another one - Controversy Brews Over Lip-Synching - AOL Sports. The story goes something like this; Yang Pinyin, a 7-year-old Peking opera lover, was chosen to sing “Ode To the Motherland,” during the Opening Ceremonies, but was later replaced visually by 9-year-old Linn Make, because she was deemed “cuter.” Lin Miaoke lip-synced to Yang Peiyi’s voice. Lin Miaoke was then proclaimed, “an international singing sensation,” by her father Lin Hui , in an interview in the China Daily newspaper, even though she did not sing at all.

This isn’t really that big of a scandal, it’s not even the first time that a previously taped performance was used in an Olympic Opening Ceremony, but it has really got me thinking about these two little girls. One isn’t cute enough and one isn’t talented enough, or that is the message that this performance sends to each of them. The article I read, written by Cara Anna, for AP, displays a photo of each girl. They are both cute. I’ve never heard Lin sing, so I can’t make any sort of statement about her talent, but that’s really not what matters to me here.

I can’t imagine how much work and preparation go into planning and pulling off an Opening Ceremony like the one presented on 08/08/08. I’m sure that some tough decisions had to made, but this one and the way it’s now being publicly played out, I worry about it leaving a lasting impression on these little girls.

The concept of cuteness or beauty, it’s so subjective - everybody has a different idea of what constitutes a beauty. After watching shows like American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance, I realize that the concept of talent, lends itself to the subjective, as well.

This situation, it doesn’t have anything to do with dating, so you may wonder why I’m writing about it here. I think it has to do with human nature, the way we see things, and how the pursuit perfection can come with a pretty steep price. It’s hard to be a human. Dealing with the challenges of every day life, they can be exhausting and soul-sucking. I hate to think that these two little girls are learning that at such a young age. These Olympics, they are huge to China, a way to show the world that they are a modern, vital society. The Chinese, they are going to hold onto the events playing out in China currently. Everyone who is involved, their families, they are going to feel a sense of pride and accomplishment, but these two little girls, their accomplishments are tainted in the push for perfection because each was decided not enough - not cute enough, not talented enough, not good enough. That sucks.

I’ve read articles about “settling” and how settling is a bad thing, maybe even a way of cheating yourself out of what you rightly deserve. I can see where the need for perfection comes into play in sports, but does everything in life have to be perfect? Do you suspect you’ve ever thrown away someone good for you in the push for perfection? Can the need to find that perfect person force you to discard someone who might actually be an even better fit for you? Is “good enough,” ever good enough?

Here is an update on the 08/08/08 wedding story; more than 300,000 couples were married in China. According to National Nine News at http://news.ninemsn.com. The actual total was 314, 224.

Wow. I bet a lot of the day was spent waiting in line.

We’ve got a touch of Olympic fever, here at my house. We’ve stayed up late every night so far, but our viewing habits will have to change shortly as we are back to school in 2 more days. That includes me, as I’m an aide at our local elementary school.

Do you know of any Olympic athlete couples? I’ve been doing some research and haven’t heard of any for the 2008 Olympics games. If you know of any, please share in the comments. Thanks.

Lots of Olympic talk around the B5Media. For more stories on China and the Olympics check out -

Talking about the Olympics - Sandy Mitchell shares an extensive list of Olympic-related story links and Noreen’s Buzz about the Olympics on the Lifestyles channel of b5 media .

Calum MacLeod, of the USA Today, reports that some 9000 Chinese couples are set to be married on August 8th, 2008, in Beijing, China. The push for so many to marry on that date comes in two parts. One, because 8 is a lucky number in China and they want to take advantage of the 08/08/08 date. The second part is that the Chinese couples want to honor the opening day of the Olympics Games, also on 08/08/08.

Couples married on Friday will be taking part in a promotional event, wherein they will sign a billboard that states, “A century of the Olympics; a century-long dream; a century-long prayer for happiness; a century of perfect marriage.”

Okay, I get the dream and the prayer, but where does the “a century of perfect marriage,” fit in with a country that hold a 39% divorce rate?

For more of the story, check out MacLeod’s article at 9,000 Chinese couples to wed on lucky date - USATODAY.com. For more Olympic Games related information, see what they have to offer over at http://www.lightthetorch.net .