Monday, August 6, 2012

6/8/12

Today?  Come to an end of what has been a relatively tough stretch at work for me, lots of hours, and home alone, in charge of the dogs so I enjoyed a reasonably slow morning.  Lots of snoozing.  Also cleaned out the gerbils and did some "Olympic vacuuming".

It's the Olympics that I want to talk about today, I was thoroughly unexcited in the run up to London 2012 and watched the opening ceremony with great cynicism.  I was more amused than impressed with the beginning of it, but as it went on I got into it and I have to say Danny Boyle did a very good job with it!

As far as the sport went, I made an effort to avoid it in the early stages but ended up catching some of it.   I'd always intended to watch the cycling but ended up watching lots of the swimming in particular, as the competitions have developed I've ended up getting hooked.  Missed quite a bit with being at work but really enjoyed what I've watched when I have been at home.  "Super Saturday" was amazing to watch, as have been performances by some of the big guns (Phelps etc.), already got me, at least, thinking about competition.  I haven't raced my bike in over a year now and can't wait to get back to it - watching this has definitely got me wanting to race more.

What really got me though, was seeing Oscar Pistorius run in the 400m last night.  He was the last to finish in his race which as far as most olympians are concerned is a disappointing result, but to see him, who lost his legs when he was very young, strive to not only to become a world record holder in the T44 100m, 200m, and 400m (when T44 is actually for people with "less" of a disability then him), he wanted to do more.  He became the first double leg amputee to compete alongside able-bodied people in the Olympics.  This really put things into perspective, he's a real inspiration.

I hope that I am not the only one that feels this way, and having seen what can be achieved in the face of adversity, other people get out there.  I'm not saying everyone should be targeting the olympics, but it just goes to show that things normally seen as barriers to success aren't necessarily solid!  That combined with the great achievments of some of the British athletes (who's names are getting to numerous to list!), I really hope it makes a difference to people.

And in true "inspired style" I went for a run today.  I really wanted to go out and ride but my arm has been particularly sore over the last couple of days and I didn't want to aggravate it further.  Now I should point out that the route I've been running which is 2.7 miles, due to where I live, is predominantly downhill for the first half and uphill for the second (with a climb on the way back categorised at category 4 on Strava for cycling!).  As of yet I haven't managed to run the whole thing, but have been getting progressively better.  Didn't have my brother with me to help with pacing this time around so I ended up going off quite fast and I died a little bit in the middle so walked more than I would have liked in the second half but somehow managed to knock almost a minute of my previous best time.  25.53 for the 2.7 miles.

Legs are grumbling a bit now, as is the rest of me really, but Rio 2016 here I come? :-P

36.32 km ran in 2012 so far...

Just to keep things interesting here's a picture of a very cuddly chicken.


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