Well I made it safe and sound to Omaha without any additional travel problems! Immediately after I stepped off the plane I saw numerous posters promoting the meet throughout the airport. Some of them were cartoons of swimmers that look surprisingly like some National team swimmers I know, and some were actual photos like the gigantic poster of Davis Tarwater by the United baggage claim. It’s so cool to see how welcoming the city of Omaha is for our Trials!

The Qwest Center facility is phenomenal. It reminds me a lot of the Rod Laver pool from last year’s World Championships in Melbourne (in that it’s huge and you can easily get lost). The competition pool arena holds up to 18,000 people. Without people in the stands it doesn’t seem too overwhelming, but I think I need to wait until they’re filled with screaming spectators before I make that judgment. The place is so big that there are people standing at nearly every corner and hallway to point you in the direction of where you’re going. There’s an athlete lounge (equipped with Guitar Hero), massage tent, huge warm down area… My two favorite things about the facility: the water isn’t freezing cold and there is a hot tub. I know these things seem frivolous, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been freezing cold at a meet and would have given anything for a hot tub! I might not need that parka as much as I thought I would…

The city of Omaha is really cool. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but I was way off! We’re staying right by the Old Market, this cute cobblestoned street filled with restaurants and shops. Erin Reilly (my Cal teammate) and I went to lunch at Twisted Fork today and I had the best grilled trout with bacon, onion, and jalapeno salsa. So yummy! There’s even this cool art fair going on right now, but I think it’s best that I stay in my room and rest up. My first swim is going to be the 100 back and I only have a couple of days left… Wish me luck.

For those of you that won’t be able to check out the facility check out these links:

TV schedule: 

http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&ItemId=1990&mid=2943

Live results:

http://www.omegatiming.com/calendar/index.html

I wanted to write more, but the hotel just made an announcement that there is a severe weather warning… I’m supposed to go in my bathroom and shut the door. I’m sure everything will be fine, but it’s a little scary.