A good day

Today I swam in the South China Sea. We got the chance to go to the beach and most of us gladly went along. It was beautiful and the weather was perfect. I'm not a huge fan of the ocean so I didn't get in it too much but I sat by the water for quite a while and took it all in. The sunset was beautiful. There was a military type beach BBQ for dinner and they they brought all 4 of us vets along with the swim team. I met some nice people and had a good time. It was great day.

The past few days have been pretty good ones. Yesterday we got to go in a KC135 simulator and take- off and land and fly around a bit. That was real neat. They also had a static display of an F-15. We weren't allowed to go in it but we got to get close and take pictures which was good enough for me.

Tomorrow we get to go off post for a few hours. I think I am going to go with my sponsor and do some shopping and hopefully get some sushi or something. We got to see a little more of the island today when we were driving to the beach but I'm looking forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.

We leave for Beijing on Tues. Only 2 more full days here. It has gone by so fast. Swimming is going as planned. We are tapering so doing less yardage and less intensity sets and we are only in for 1.5 hours or so. SInce we are doing less we all have a bit more energy but it is important that we do what we can to rest. It's all part of the taper...the part I struggle with is trying to eat less. Since we aren't swimming as much, we aren't supposed to eat as much but I Really like food and it's so good here. The cookies at lunch are especially tempting.

Opening ceremonies are a week from today. I think I've decided that I am going to go. I think I would be really disappointed if I didn't. I am going to try and use one of my teammates wheelchairs so I can sit down instead of be on my feet the whole time. As much as I would love to walk into the stadium it's a good compromise to staying off my feet. I just can't resist the feeling I know I'm going to get when I walk in the stadium for the first time wearing the USA uniform. I get chills even thinking about it and can't pass it up. It will be fantastic.

Here are some pictures from the pool, the F-15 and the beach.

It's bedtime for me now. I'll probably write once more before we leave for Beijing. Good night.