Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Meeting an Olympian

Although I didn't run the Chicago Marathon this year, I headed to the expo anyways. Why? For the free stuff aaand.... The chance to meet Desi Davila!!! You may remember that I am a bit of an Olympics nerd. When Maggie mentioned that her contact at Brooks was able to set up a meet and greet for some of her Chicago Blogger friends, I cleared my schedule and made arrangements to be there.

When Desi first walked up to our group, all of our faces all lit up with excitement. I mean, we were meeting one of the most famous women in current American distance running! It was really hard not to geek out too much when talking to her.
L to R: Amanda, Sara, Jeni, DESI!!, Maggie, me

I read the Runners World article about her so I felt like I already knew her! I did get some one-on-one chat time where I asked her what kinds of things she has been doing since London (water running? elliptical? etc.) She said that she has been completely resting and not putting any pressure on her leg. Complete rest! Sometimes, that is what our bodies need despite what we want to do. She only just got cleared to ride a bike a few weeks ago and she explained how great it felt to just sweat. While we were chatting, lots of people were taking walk-by photos of her and it was a little strange (I am for sure in the background of a few). If she had the chance, she would ask them if they wanted to be in the photo too. You can just tell that she is a genuinely sweet and down to earth person who just happens to have this amazing athletic ability and complete focus and drive to get stuff done. And she is so tiny! It was really great meeting her so thanks to Maggie and Brooks for helping set this up!

After meeting Desi for a little bit, we got our gait analyzed to find out what pair of shoes would best fit our running style. Turns out the Brooks Adrenaline are a good fit for me. Next, we went for a fun run along the lake with some of the Brooks ambassadors. It was such a beautiful fall day and the view was wonderful!

When we were back at the expo, we ran into Nicole Fritz and snapped a quick pic!

All of the Brooks people were so surprised that we all knew each other and that we kept running into people that we knew. All I have to say is that the running community in Chicago is small and big all at the same time!

Have you ever met an Olympian? Was it hard to keep from geeking out? I know it was for me!!! :)

13 comments:

  1. Looks like you guys had an awesome time. Meeting an Olympic athlete must be quite an experience. I haven't met any Olympians but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I did see one of the guys I trained with as a sprinter back in high school on television competing in the 100m at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Does that count?

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  2. Are you going to run the Chicago next year?

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  3. Imagine how much thinner Desiree Davila is when she is actually running 100+ miles per week? :-) Cool that you guys all met her. Her duel at the finish of Boston last year was awesome.

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  4. Growing up I met a bunch of Olympic figure skaters and I was always in awe!!! Actually, some of the ice dancers I trained with are still competing so that's fun to see!

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  5. So exciting Kelly! I met Joan Benoit Samuelson and got super tongue-tied, ugh! Thank goodness they ARE sweet people!

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  6. I would have geeked out too! I was at the expo but missed the famous runners! How exciting for you!

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  7. It seems there were quite a few famous folks at the expo. Thanks!

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  8. Haha, someone else feels the same way! How cool that you got to meet her!

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  9. I met Meb at the San Jose RnR Half when he won it last year! It was so cool. I love race expos and the energy, I've totally gone when I didn't run before if it was in town...

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