Closing Thoughts

I have a vague recollection from the last night after the party of stumbling out of a club at 3am with Gavin Pollock from Great Britain. The earth was spinning quite a bit and the music was thumping outside of the club. People in the club were dancing, some very very close to each other. I needed to be at the hotel because only a few hours away, my flight back home awaited. Before going to the street to hail a taxi, we looked to our right coming out of the club and saw some little food stand with seats.

Gavin and I sat down, and soon, we found oursleves eating like mad-men. How do mad-men eat you ask? Well, if you'd seen Gavin and I eating the delicious things we were eating, then you'd know. The coolest part of that part of the night was when I looked up and saw some news show on tv. I was thinking 'Geez, the people they're interviewing look a lot like skaters'. And sure enough, they were. After the interview, they aired one of the women's road races.

You know, this was one of the hilights of the whole trip. Here I am, worlds is finished, the party is over, but I am sitting with a good friend eating some great newly discovered food that I have no idea what it is, it's 3am, but skating is on tv. It made me smile. Just everything at that moment was just right; the temperature, the smell in the air, the noise of people yelling and laughing, the background music, Gavin drunkingly munching away on the food and me saying that this is the best food I've ever tasted- it was all perfect.

So how'd the party go? It was awesome. Everyone was in such a good mood. After the marathon, some people went to the closing ceremony but I stayed back and cleaned my bearings. The dinner was ok, but there was no chairs! The speeches were long and they kept saying 'Please do not eat the food yet'. 'Ha' I though, 'try holding back a whole swarm of athletes who haven't eaten since the marathon'. The food was good, but the real party started after the dinner.

The word got out that everyone was going to meet at the hotel where the Americans and French were staying. There was a disco right beside, so it would all work out. We all somehow got there by 9pm, quite early. I got there in a small bus with friends from Ecuador, Mexico, and El Salvador. It was so much fun listening to them all talk and laugh on our way over. I'm lucky to spend time with people from different nations.

The disco was not yet open, so about 150 of us athletes, coaches, officials, managers, and friends started going through the streets, taking over stores, chanting, and just being happpy (and rowdy). For some of the skaters, this was the end of the season, so it was time to let the elastic band snap since they'd been wound up so tight with training and sacrifice. For others, the season continued with the WIC today, so they took it easy and took in the positive atmosphere and energy.

At worlds, skaters know a few things really well: How to skate, how to focus, and how to party. I think I've been to quite a few competitions, and skaters to everything right to the max.


AJ, Alex, and Jesse unloading their luggage from the bus at the airport in Korea. Once our luggage was cleared, security called Andrew, AJ, Jesse, and I into a small room to go over the contents of our suitcases. Ends up the bottles of spray ben-gay shouldn't be in our luggage. Well, one things led to the next, a few ben-gay bottles ended up on the floor, and we almost broke into a ben-gay fight in the security room.


Mount Fuji from the air. The view was breath-taking.


The American mothers of Micheal Cheeks and Brittany Bowe; we were on the same flight back to North America. They were sitting right behind Jesse and I. Mister Mantia was also a couple of seats back and he slept the whole time!


Jack Black in Nacho Libre; Nacho Libre was one of the 5 movies that Jesse and I watched on the flight back to North America. First we watched Poseidon, then X-Men, afer that An Inconvenient Truth, followed by The Family Stone and finally Nacho Libre.

This leaves us now with the 2006 world championships as officially over...in my books that is. I'm plannning on being in Colombia next year, so until the next time, skate well.