The Excitement Builds

With one week to go before I head overseas and only 23 days until the start of the London 2012 Paralympics the excitement of what is about to transpire has been building!  I think that the fact that I have been watching so much of the Olympic games has made it all that more close.

My training has been going very well, I am trying to stay focused but relaxed.  I have been relaxed so that I can enjoy the hard training and I have been able to give it my best. I have been training on Kew Blvd. which is very similar to Brands Hatch and I feel that I have made large gains, especially in the hill climbing area!  Even my testing in the lab has gone extremely well and I am hitting targets I never dreamed of.  I actually now realize how great it feels to be calm and able to relax into a powerful, authentic focus.

I had a wonderful moment last week when I was asked if I could attend the Coburg West Primary School for their own "Olympic Opening Ceremonies".  The school has 500 children who were divided into 26 different countries.  Each group put together flags, country signs and costumes of their country and walked out onto their school yard to music from that country.  The parents were there to cheer them on and the kids cheered, waved, made noise, blew whistles and enjoyed themselves like any true athletes would walking into an opening ceremony.  They even had their own torch relay where 2 children from each class where chosen to carry the torch half a lap of their track, with the school captains the final torch bearers.  They ran a quarter of the track to where I was with my trike and I followed them in my Aussie gear around the track for a lap!  It was a fantastic feeling having those 500 children cheering and clapping as we passed by them.  A cauldren was then lit and I was asked to say a few words.

As I won't actually be at the opening ceremonies in London I felt like I had my very own private opening and I told them that!  I also told them that it was very exciting to be representing Australia and that if I won a medal that was just icing on the cake.  It was more important that I give it my best shot and that even if I didn't come home with a medal, I would know I did everything in my power to do my best.

I think the way the media has been protraying our Olympic athletes has been abismal!  As far as I am concerned not one of our athletes has not gone and done their best!  I don't believe that winning silver and bronze is a bad thing!  It is amazing how many young children now believe that it is bad to not win!

True success is being able to live with the knowledge that you have given your all in whatever you attempt.  I think that athletes have to stop striving to impress others and do those things that will genuinely impress themselves.  They have to live true to their own highest standards because they are the only thing that matter, to know that you have performed to the best of your own ability, win or lose!

Within a week I will begin the adventure of a lifetime and I intend to push enthusiastically forward every chance I get and to fully live this adventure!