Time to Tri(athlon) Something New

Hi everyone! I'm official!!!

I started my training today at the Triathlon (tri) venue. It is located an hour north of Beijing, in the middle of nowhere! Honestly though, it's really nice to be in the mountains, away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

The tri venue is built on the side of the Ming Reservoir, although I found out the reservoir is to hold water for the defunct "Nine Dragons Amusement/Water Park." The tri offices (a.k.a trailers) are mixed in between the merry-go-round, lazy river and ticket offices for the old amusement park.

As you can see, the field of play (FOP) is still being built, but is almost done. It's going to be amazing when they finally get there. The blue mesh that you see is astro-turf (per se) it's the transition between the water and the cycling and the cycling and the running parts of the race. It's fun to walk on!

I was given preliminary access to the INFO2008 intranet. It is a private network for journalists that has our flashquotes, athlete biography, medal counts, and anything else you'd need as a journalist. The system was initially built for the 1996 Atlanta games, and has been updated every year since.

I'm off again for the next week. The triathlon specialist is busy this week and can't meet with us to teach us about the sport. To the right is the Mixed Zone at my venue. I'll be a Flash Quotes Reporter (FQR) during the triathlon on August 19 and 20. Now, I have to find something to do until next week!

Mark