The Heat

Last night Caro, Mieke and Phoebe were in the Olympic stadium to watch Nick run his heat of the 1500m. They met up with the family at a pub just outside Olympic Park and walked over to Olympic Park and the stadium with Sierra.

Sierra, Mieke and Caro

Entering \Olympic Park

The Olympic Park holds the main stadium, the aquatic centre as well as many other sporting venues and is right by the Olympic village, The park was amazing and was planted with beautiful wildflower meadows and a meandering stream right outside the stadium.

Wandering through the park it was a sea of people but the gardens softened everything and made it a beautiful journey to the stadium.

Caro has dreamed about the Olympics ever since she was a little girl running in her adidas three stripe towelling shorts and to finally get a chance to be there was just amazing. As she climbed the steps under the stadium and then came out onto the top level it was mind blowing, beautiful and almost overwhelming -  the scale of the stadium, the amount of people and the atmosphere of being at the Olympics gave Caro goosebumps and tears in her eyes. As Mieke and Caro found their seats, only a few rows from the top of the stadium, it was a little scary and they fought back feelings of vertigo! As they sat down at the start of the top bend just to the right of them was the huge Olympic flame. The couple sitting next to them to the left were from Rotorua and the lady to the right was from Opunake! What a small world it is! Opunake is where Caro's mum Marjorie grew up and where her Nana Molly lives.

Phoebe just having some dinner outside the stadium before the heat

Phoebe took it all in her stride and wasn't phased by the noise in the stadium

The heats of the womens 100m were up first as well as the heptathlon Shot Put. The crowd was very vocal for the British woman Jessica Ennis who is the poster girl of the Games and the favorite to win the heptathlon. Caro missed seeing her good friend Becky Wardell competing but was cheering on fellow Kiwi Sarah Cowley.

A text came from the warm-up track from Steve to say that Nicks warm-up was going well. Nearly there. Mieke and Caro's stomachs started to churn as the nerves kicked in....Phoebe went to sleep.

At the top bend 71 rows up Phoebe fell asleep just as Nick lined up for the start! The woman on the right is from Opunake!

As darkness fell the Olympic stadium emerged in all its glory; full to its 80,000 capacity

Then as the sun started to set at Olympic stadium the mens 1500m heats stepped on to the track. Hearts were pumping and it felt surreal for Caro to be finally at the race that Team Willis and our family have been focused on for months and even years, but how would Nick feel. Caro felt that maybe it would be easier to be competing as you have an active way to work out your nerves. They had to wait for the first two heats to run with Nick running in the third heat. Mieke and Caro felt like they needed a bathroom break but then Nick was on the track and he was introduced to the crowd as the Beijing Silver medalist and they were jumping out of their seats. Suddenly it became obvious to those around them that they were personally interested in the race and as there were no British runners in Nicks heat the crowd around Mieke and Caro adopted Nick as their own! And Nick ran such a great race and looked smooth and in control and confident tucked in second for most of the race and then brought it home with a strong finish to win his heat.

Phoebe didn't wake up.


One race down and two to go. Good job done.

Mieke, Caro and Phoebe just had to make it back home to Solihull. After the walk/run, tube, train, taxi and then car ride they made it safely home.... and will do it all again for the final on Tuesday! It was such an amazing night and what a blessing to be part of it!

The beautiful Olympic flame was just to the right of our seats