The Fastest Man in the World

I had the occasion to meet Usain Bolt today. It's a pretty cool thing to meet the Fastest Man in the World.

An email went out company-wide on Saturday seeking volunteers to "race" Usain Bolt at the OFFICE. Some co-workers thought it was a hoax, but many thought it was what it was-a visit from a storied and emerging legend in track and field who would make the rounds on shows at ESPN.

I replied without really thinking too much about it. I thought it would be some low key promo. I thought to myself. "Who wouldn't want to meet Usain and say they met the fastest man in the world?" Low key? Uhmm, not so much.

Hundreds lined the sidewalk to watch the 23 year old Jamaican take on 8 employees in the 100 meter dash. More than 200 employees replied to enter a random drawing to race "The Bolt." I was chosen from this pool to be one of 4 alternates. If one of the chosen ones didn't show, I could have potentially lined up toe to toe with someone so fast, he could give me a 5 second lead and would still beat me. It was not to be, but I still had fun watching.

The horn sounded at 11:40a and I could hear the crowd cheer and a blur of green and yellow came floating toward me at seeming sonic speed. His right arm was extended in exaltation, fingers spread like he was reaching out to the crowd, and the other arm gently tapping his chest as he smiled-toying with his fellow racers as they ran with all their might behind him. The throngs of staffers who came to see this elite performance roared their approval as he broke the red tape at the finish line.

As quickly as it had started, the race was over

Usain stopped to snap photos with some of the racers and I was able to get a pic by one of the work photographers. I handed my blackberry to a co-worker to snap a photo of me next to Bolt, but she was not successful in getting it to take a picture. I was able to have another co-worker snap this photo you see below in the half hour before the race.

All in all, it was a pretty cool day in the office.