A Cardiovascular Neverland

I could have run a marathon each day I spent at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista.  I still would have felt lazy. 

 

The OTC was a gift to the US Olympic Training Committee from the San Diego National Sports Training Foundation.  (If that group is looking to gift some more, I’d love a Sony HD cam to shoot my kid at the playground.)  Since 1995, athletes have visited the facility to live, train, and be all things Olympian.  If 7-11 trained athletes, this is how they’d do it.

 

The facility operates year round in warm-weather conditions near paradise.  I say near because the OTC is in Chula Vista, not San Diego, as many think.  It’s a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border and every few hours you can’t help but notice the border patrol helicopters circling overhead.  The athletes say the proximity makes for interesting trail runs at times.

 

You’ve got to be a big deal to get an invite.

 

Athletes don’t pay a dime for their training, lodging, and sports therapy.  It’s kind of like that dance teacher from that show Fame  used to say,  “This is where you start paying in sweat.”  Actually, the USOC would prefer gold medals.  And, I think the athletes would too.