Running the Torch

Today is an awesome day for me! I have been itching to scream this exciting news at the top of my lungs…so here it is, I AM RUNNING THE OLYMPIC TORCH!

I am so honored that Coca-Cola, the longest continuous partner of the Olympic Games, has chosen me to run one of their legs in the torch relay. There are 8000 runners participating in the 70 day Olympic Torch Relay, and my piece of the flame’s exciting journey through the UK will happen right outside of London on the morning of July 10th! (Here’s the relay’s entire route).

I have so many wonderful memories of the torch relay. The first coming from 1984, my first Olympic experience, when Olympian Rafer Johnson carried the flame into the stadium in LA, and the most impactful being the emotional hand-off between my former teammate, champion Janet Evans and the great Muhammad Ali at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. (Watch it again, it always brings me goose bumps) I never thought that carrying the Olympic Flame would actually be in my cards, and now I’m going to be a torchbearer!  

And how cool is it that Coca‑Cola has been involved with the Olympic Torch Relay since the 1992 Games in Barcelona, and now on the 20^th anniversary of that amazing Olympic moment for me, I’ll get to make another Olympic memory and be part of helping Coke make memorable moments for others.

I am thrilled. I am honored. I am a torchbearer. And now…I’m a little nervous. Maybe I should practice…think running around my neighborhood carrying something fragile and flammable would help? J  Here’s hoping my marathon training pays off!

See you in London!