February 20108 Days to go.
On your mark
Well the Olympics have come and gone, and now it is time for the Paralympians to take over Vancouver and Whistler.
In watching the Olympics I learned a lot. It was great to see people that I knew compete on TV and see how they reacted to the pressures of competing at home under the microscope of the world. I learned that the magnitude of the situation will pump you up, so there is no need to try and find that little bit of extra motivation that will make the difference between you and the others; it will simply be there. In fact, I learned that early on you need to calm yourself down because the nature of the situation gives you an extra shot of adrenaline, and I saw a lot of athletes get thrown off their games, or run out of gas near the end of the race because the adrenaline took over too early.
I got a sense of some of the highs and lows that might arise during the course of the events. When you have your friends, family, sponsors, and a nation behind you, the highs of a great race are extremely high, and the lows are agonizingly low. But what I learned from those athletes who competed in multiple events was to work hard at maintaining an even keel, no matter what the outcome of the individual days. It will be a 10 day emotional roller coaster for me and everyone involved, yet I have to be able to stand in the start gate each day, with a clear mind and a precise goal in mind. I hope to keep my emotions steady no matter what the result of the day in order to keep my focus for the next day. There will plenty of celebrating to be had at the end.
I talked to a few athletes about their experience and their only words of advice were to enjoy it and take it all in. I did know this and have been reminded many times to enjoy the moment, because I know from Torino that it happens very quickly and is a once in a lifetime. It was a great reminder and I thank them for that.
I am prepared for the unexpected. Weather was a big story in the Olympic Games, and with the temperatures in Whistler Village at 3 degrees this morning, they are likely to have an effect on my games as well. So we have to be ready for anything, quick changes in schedule, constantly changing snow conditions, stops and starts, followed by more stopping and more starting. There are many different variables that add up to success in my sport and you have to be prepared for all of them. Hopefully we get perfect weather, but that is unlikely and it’s good to be prepared for the worst.
Finally I gained a new appreciation for the power of sport on people and what the competitions mean to Canada. I don’t expect Robson street to fill full of people again when a Paralympian wins gold, but I know that they will have won that medal for more than just themselves, and that there will be people all across the country cheering. It was simply outstanding to see the streets of Vancouver and Whistler over the past two and a half weeks - the outpouring of support was far greater than I think anyone could have imagined. Words cannot describe what it felt like to walk down the streets after Canada won gold. When Biladeau won, a huge monkey was lifted off our nation’s back. When Crosby scored you could hear 35 million people singing our national anthem. The ovation when John Furlong spoke at the closing ceremonies was deafening, and it brought chills to the spine of our entire nation. Never again will Vancouver be the same; the power of sport has changed it forever.
I am ready to go. My dad told me a few days ago that he could see it in my face a week ago. I have been training and preparing for a long time now. I am healthy, I am skiing the best that I ever have, and quite frankly, I’m just ready.
I take all of the things I have learned into 10 days of competition, and I will come out the other end knowing that I have done everything that I could do. I’m looking forward to the journey.
1 Month to go
Grind
There is really only one word I have to describe my 8th World Cup season – grind. I wrote my last blog from just outside our hotel in Innsbruck Austria, an amazing place with stunning views up both sides of the valley to huge mountaintop peaks. We raced on the hill that was used for the 1964 and 1976 Olympics; if you want to see what the hill looked like, and how crazy the skiers were at that time, youtube Franz Klammer’s Gold Medal Run – Innsbruck 1976. It is worth a watch. It certainly gave us a kick to see what the hill looks like then. Needless to say we no longer have hail bails as our safety nets.
What I knew at that time was that it was going to be an incredibly long three weeks, and I was excited and ready to go.
My strongest event has always been slalom and I was excited to have 4 of them in the first 7 days. I skied very well in the first race and finished in 7th place. I was excited for two reasons. One, I knew if I just skied the way I was capable of I should be able to finish amongst the top 7 guys and two I started off the season consistently and finishing races (I finished all of my first 6 races) for the first time in my World Cup career.
I had some other strong results as well in slalom finishing 8th and 10th. I did not finish the final slalom in Austria, but it was a great race overall. I was really pushing the limit on the last pitch and unfortunately got hooked on a gate with about 4 turns to go and was unable to recover. All things considered there were strong results and it gave me a lot of confidence early on in a season for the first time ever.
Having said all that, as skiers we always see areas for improvement and we are constantly trying to push it to that next level. My skiing is at the stage right now where if I can push it one more level, and make that final breakthrough, I will be on the podium. I can taste it and there are moments when it is so close it is agonizing. But I’m not there yet, and each day throughout the first 7 days of racing I wanted to break that door down.
When you are that close to something great it is motivating to continue to push because you know you are right there and it is only a matter of one or two turns that will be the difference between you and the top spot. When you are that close and don’t quite make it, it can also be frustrating beyond measure.
I skied well the final week in Europe. We had two Downhills and two Super-G’s in Sestriere Italy, the home of the 2006 Olympic and Paralympic Alpine events. I finished 12th or 13th more or less each day. Solid results for me in speed events, but again, I was really two turns away from the top contenders. Two mediocre turns that needed to become two great turns.
I continued to try and push it each day and make those two more great turns I needed. But it seemed that when I did in fact make two better turns in areas I felt were important, I would lose it somewhere else that I hadn’t really thought about.
It was an incredible grind, 13 races in 15 days can’t really be summed up any other way. It was exhausting. I never got to have any sort of conversations with my coaches, ever, in three weeks. The great debriefs that I had with team mates in Colorado after every run, never happened because we never saw each other, even if we were in the same rooms.
Early on I was passionate about my skiing - excited for slalom and to show how I could perform. By the end of race 15, I crossed the finish line, left the finish coral and my sports psychologist was standing there; the only thing I said was, “Can we go home now?”
I’ve been home for 7 days now, the jet lag is finally gone and I am finally having time to reflect on the trip. All in all I raced the World Cup season much like I trained all summer long. I thought I was close in slalom, and I was, and I thought I still needed to make one more jump to be amongst the top in the other events, which also turned out to be true.
So now what? Well I have one more big training camp during the Olympics and I’m excited for the opportunity. Usually during our seasons we have little to no time for a training camp and it is very difficult to make improvements during races. I know where I need to improve in all areas to have a chance in March and I am looking forward to the last pull.
As for the passion to ski? Well it didn’t really go away, I was just so out of breath and so exhausted from the three weeks that at that exact moment the only thing I could think about was home. With the Olympic ceremonies less than 2 weeks away now and the build up that you can see around the Vancouver/Whistler area, it is very easy to get back in the gym and continue the hard work. I have spoken to a lot of friends lately and they are all ready to go, which brings me a lot of excitement.
The passion will be a huge source of energy for the next two months. A Paralympic ski race is won or lost in the preparation that happens long before you enter the start gate, I’m excited that I’ve done most of the hard work (still one month to go of course) and that it is time to enjoy the fruits of our labour. I said way back when that when I stood in the start gate I wanted to have a clear mind. Now with one month to go I am excited to say that I am well on my way. When it’s time to start I’ll be ready.
The next two months surely will be long, exciting and once in a lifetime - time to enjoy all the hard work that has been put into this journey and see where that puts me.
1 month to go
2 months to go
A good start – Finally
December always brings the first races of the season. This year I was in Colorado - Copper Mountain and Winter Park to be specific. There was a series of 5 NorAm races in 5 days with a very strong field in my category. The Australian team was there and were skiing well, a Kiwi (New Zealander) who spends his winters in Winter Park was also there and of course the US and Canadian Teams. All in all I had 12 really strong competitors in my field, including 8 World Cup medalists.
Now if you have been following my story for a while, you probably know that historically I haven’t got off to a very good start. In fact, that is a drastic understatement; throughout the 7 previous seasons of my career I’ve started horribly.
My explanation for this is pretty simple. The beginning of the season is always an anxious time when we are trying to prove what progress we’ve made throughout the summer, and I have always entered the season thinking that if I could just ski the way I envision myself skiing I could do well. So I would take unnecessary risks and really get away from what I had actually been training. I always tried to up my game for the race, and now that I look back on it, I was trying so hard, but really had no game plan to follow.
I’m very happy to report that I had a very strong start this season. In 5 races I finished 5th twice, 6th once and capped it off with a 3rd place finish on the last day. It was an outstanding feeling to see my hard work showing good results. I skied very solidly each and every day, and pushed the limit a little more each and every run throughout the week.
I had a 5th place result in Giant Slalom which is historically my weakest event. I finished behind 3 out of 4 previous World Cup winners.
I posted the fourth fastest time in the second run of Slalom after a terrible 10th place finish in the first run. While I wanted more out of slalom that day, I was really happy with how I dealt with the first run disappointment. In the first run I was excited to show what I could do because slalom is my best event. I knew from the previous day’s results that I had a chance at the podium and I entered the day extremely confident, but without any sort of game plan. Needless to say when I felt the nerves in the start I didn’t deal with them very well and culminating with that was a big mistake right before the flats at the bottom and I didn’t get the result I was looking for. But, I was able to realize what I had done wrong, and, most importantly able to regroup in the lodge, and I went out and did the second run much more like I had been training the week before. After a great second run I vaulted up the leader board to a much more respectable 5th place finishing position.
I went into the last day of racing in Colorado feeling great about how things had been going. I had built from each and every day and was finally starting to ski the way I had been skiing in training, which is a lot harder to do on race day than you might think.
The final day was Super Combined - one run of Super G and one run of Slalom.
I skied most of the Super G run very well, all but about 6 turns in the tough, steep, fast, middle section of the course. I had trouble really linking my turns in the section and chiselled off a lot of time in those few turns. I knew it while it was happening but for whatever reason wasn’t able to let it flow. After that I was determined to make it up on the bottom section of the course and really charged the final section. I finished 6th in the run, but was aware that if I could have been a little smoother in the middle I would have been much closer to the podium and possibly even on it.
Nonetheless I had a second run, and knew I could make up spots in slalom. This time around I had a good game plan and stuck with it.
Finally I skied a run like I had been training. It was probably one of my best slalom race runs in my career and it put me in the third place for the day.
I’m very happy with my start and even happier that I was able to get better each and every day. I finally turned the tides and was able to start off a season with a lot of positives.
After a great Christmas at home and a little fun, I’m back in the gym this
week, for the final push to the World Cup season. I’m very excited – more importantly I have a game plan, and I’m sticking to it.
3 months to go
The sprints within a Marathon
Race season is about to start and the focus of the world is starting to shift towards Vancouver, Whistler and the Canadian athletes. I will be heading down to Colorado in a few days, where we will compete in a series of NorAm races at Copper Mountain and Winter Park. There are going to be some great skiers there and it is going to be my first test to see where I currently stack up.
I’ll be training for about a week before we kick off the race season. Then I’ll compete in 5 races in 5 days, a tough task as each race day is both physically and mentally taxing.
January is even more intense. My team mates and I travel to Europe and race more or less everyday for a span of 3 weeks. Then we come home, rest for a few days, head off to a training camp before making our way to World Cup Finals in Aspen, and then to Whistler for the Paralympic Winter Games.
What’s the point? Well each and every day we all try to get up and put forth our best possible performance. It’s really easy to get excited about performing early in the season; I’ve just come off a great off season and really have been skiing well in training.
I’m pumped to see how I stack up against some of my greatest competition. It is always a bit difficult in training to really know where I stand because there is only my team mate Morgan and myself who compete in the same class. We use timing nearly every day through October and November, and we obviously know who won each given run, but we have no idea where that might put us in a World Cup field. We both feel like we are currently skiing well, but the true test doesn’t come until that first race. That feeling of not knowing creates some nerves and anxiety and we are so eager to finally get an understanding of how that off season training has paid off.
Knowing the anxiety that I face, and the energy of the first race of the season there is one thing that I do have to remain conscious of ; while each race is a sprint where it is all out for 90 seconds or less, the season is a marathon and we need to pace ourselves as we go.
As I said it is very easy to be pumped up for the first race of the season. It’s easy to get too pumped up actually. Once we get into the heart of the season it becomes increasingly difficult to get ourselves ready to race each and every day. One day can seem to blend into the next and it’s easy to get lost in the grand scheme of things.
The strategy: pace yourself out of the blocks so that you have enough for the big kick at the finish. I’m not saying that I’m going to take it easy for the first set of races, what I’m saying is I have to be aware of the amount of energy I am using each and every day so I don’t overdue it early. You can’t win an Olympic marathon if you walk the first 10 km, but you can lose it if you sprint.
Colorado is going to be a great test, and I plan to put down several solid performances and see how I stand at the end of the day. But how I ski in December doesn’t guarantee anything in March and that will always be in the back of my mind.
3 months to go.
4 months to go
Health
Lately the questions I’ve been asked the most are: “Are you healthy?” And, “How will you stay healthy until games time?”
I remember a few years ago, when Daniel Igali (Olympic gold medalist in wrestling from the 2000 Games in Sydney) was about to enter a competition, he was asked if he was 100% healthy. His reply was, “If any athlete tells you he’s 100% healthy he’s lying to you”.
I think in skiing, like in any sport, there are always bumps and bruises, and aches and pains that come with the territory. When you choose a profession where your job is to hurl yourself down an icy slope at over 100 km/h you can’t help but feel the pain every once in a while. Even if you have a perfect training camp, the rigors of pounding your body day in and day out take its toll, and you come out of the camp a little achy.
I guess the only way to truly be 100% healthy is to not train, and we all know the outcome of that.
Yes, I am healthy – this would be your cue to knock on wood – minus a cold I got when on the road and the bumps and bruises that come with a long training camp in Sass Fee Switzerland over the past 2 weeks.
“How do you stay healthy until games time?”
Whenever I ask athletes from other sports if they have ever skied, their reply is typically – I’m not allowed to. Why? Because skiing is one of those sports that are “high risk” and they sign contracts saying they won’t ski in order to stay healthy for their sport. By contrast skiers don’t sign contracts saying they won’t go curling on their off days – I actually had that conversation with 2002 Olympic bronze medalist curler Georgina Wheatcroft a few weeks ago - no offence to the curlers out there, and no offence to Georgina at all, an Olympic bronze medal is an incredible accomplishment no matter how you slice it.
There are inherent risks in our sport. Some are from the everyday pounding of the knees, hips and backs. Slalom skiers make so many turns in a day, and hit so many pieces of 47mm plastic that the body can’t help but be a bit out of shape when the day is over. Downhill skiers face tremendous forces from the incredibly high speeds, terrain changes, and landings.
There really is no event that is “easier on the body” than any other; they all have their risks and you take a licking no matter what.
Couple all that with the fact that you travelled half way around the world to get to a training location, in planes, trains and cars that are breeding grounds for colds and flus, and you have a health nightmare.
Notice how I’m avoiding the question… My media training is coming into play nicely right now. Have you ever noticed how hockey players answer whatever question they are asked with the same answer? “We were able to get the puck in deep, outfought them on the boards and that guy in net really played great today” – don’t think that is an accident; they’ve been trained just as I have.
But, I’m not that cruel; I am going to give you an answer. How do I stay healthy until games time?
I will make sure I take all the necessary precautions, all of which are pretty simple. Just like the best way to avoid the H1N1 is to wash our hands, the best way to avoid getting sick on the road – wash our hands.
It may seem boring and simple but it really is the only answer, we don’t have a miracle trick to stay healthy.
On the ski hill, we have to train, and we have to continually push ourselves to be better as the season goes on. We have to take chances and we can’t take it easy, because our competition won’t, and we’re fooling ourselves if we think we can ski less and beat the best in the world.
What we can do is pick our spots for training, and adjust our schedules, as best as possible for the rigors of the season. When the weather is bad or the snow is soft and the risks of injury are higher, we might decide to make that our rest day, or gear down and work on our technical skill that day as opposed to going all out. When our bodies are in pain, we take every precaution to ensure it doesn’t get worse. We have a physiotherapist, doctors and trainers to help us make those decisions.
We do our best to stay fit and strong throughout the long season, because being in the best possible shape helps with avoiding those nagging injuries. We eat as best we can in order to give our bodies the best fuel for competition, training and recovery. Finally when we do get a chance to rest, it is very important to take it and allow our bodies to recover and regenerate.
The truth, injury is always possible in skiing. We do everything we can to prevent it, but it can still happen and there is nothing we can do about it. We understand the risks when we step out on the ski hill, and we accept them.
I will have to ski in pain at some point this season; hopefully it’s just not when the games are under way. But we prepare for that possibility just as we prepare for every other. There is no way to guarantee staying 100% healthy from now until March – it is just part of the game.
5 months to go
Performing under pressure
I’ve been asked the question many times now – how do you handle the pressure of competing at the Paralympic Games? And then on top of that how to you handle the home town pressure?
The other question I’ve been asked a lot is where do I get my ideas for writing these blogs?
One of the duties I have as an athlete is to fill out monthly whereabouts forms for the Canadian Center for Ethics in Sports (CCES). The CCES is the governing body in charge of drug testing athletes in Canada. I have to tell the CCES (to the best of my ability) where I am going to be at all times, so that if I get randomly selected they can find me in order to do a drug test.
There are two kinds of drug tests. One is a blood test, which is typically done on endurance athletes to find the drugs that help them carry extra oxygen in their blood and aid their performance. This isn’t really relevant for my sport as the races are less than 2 minutes long. The second kind of test is a urine test, and in this test they are looking for, among other things, steroids.
What’s my point? Well the CCES showed up at my door the other day in order to do a drug test, and one of the duties of the person who shows up at my door, is to not let me out of his sights until the ENTIRE process is complete. Needless to say the urine has to get in the cup somehow, and alas I answer the question of where I get my ideas from – performing under pressure.
When the world comes to Vancouver to watch the Olympic and Paralympic Winter games all of a sudden the pressure of a ski race is magnified. While I get up every day trying to improve my skiing and trying to be better at what I do, the world doesn’t take notice. But for 16 days of the Olympics and 10 days for the Paralympics no move goes unnoticed. How do you deal with that?
For me it’s pretty simple – keep it simple.
I’ve talked about simplicity before, and when I think about what faces me ahead it becomes even more important. I have spent the better part of the last 12 years figuring out what it takes for me to be successful on race day.
What the pressure brings into play, is the thought of trying to step up your game at the biggest event, when it matters most. It also can bring in a lot of doubt, because at such a big event every decision seems to be x-rayed and put under a microscope, so it’s easy to second guess. But I’ve spent enough time doing this now that I know what it takes for me to be successful and all I can do it stick to that.
I have to acknowledge the pressure (because there will be pressure) take it for what it is, realize that I can’t ignore it or change it, and move on the only way I know how - the way I’ve been training myself for the last 12 years, to focus on my skiing and the routine that has given me success.
My training program is geared to peaking at games time. But that doesn’t mean all of sudden turning on a switch and there I go. I will get up on race day the same way I did the day before, eat well, prepare well, focus on the task at hand, and leave all those distractions that come with the pressure to themselves. Obviously I want to be a little better each and every day when I go out there, and I want to have my best races at the games, but that comes over time, not just because the lights and cameras are rolling. That’s why I prepare for that today. That’s why I consider how to handle the pressure, 5 months before the pressure has begun.
The keys to success when the world is watching, are the same as the keys to success every other day. The only difference is the size of the audience.
5 months to go.
6 months to go
A life of privilege
There are constant reminders of how privileged we are to be here at 3000m (nearly 10,000 feet) above sea level in Valle Nevado, Chile. It’s August, and we traveled to the far reaches of the world to chase winter and the snow.
When I was boarding the plane from Toronto to Santiago I started talking to a guy from Toronto. It was his dream to ski in the summer (northern hemisphere summer anyway) and he had spent more money than he had to board the plane with my teammates and me. He was living his dream; I was going to work, and we were about to embark on the same adventure.
When you travel to Chile to ski, the roads to the top of the mountain don’t exactly meet North American safety standards. Valle Nevado is a 15 minute helicopter ride from Santiago, yet it took 3 hours (passing cactus, cattle, horses, and 8 foot snow banks along the way) to get here. A one and a half lane, 72 switch back road that climbs all of 3000 meters is unique and an incredible experience – assuming you live to tell about it.
But once the 24 hour journey was completed and we settled into the hotel rooms that would be our homes for 2 weeks, and we got a chance to look out the window, we received an instant reminder of how lucky we truly are.
No matter where we compete, no matter what continent, country, province, state, city or town we are in, we are always on top of the world. Now Valle Nevado Chile may have been the best example of this, as we truly did live at the top of a mountain for 2 weeks, but whenever we compete we simply need to look at the world below us, and the snow capped mountains around us, to realize how privileged we really are.
I had a great start to the season in Chile. We went back to basics to start off with. My work in the gym this summer was evident and did pay off. We spent 2 weeks atop the Andes training mostly Super G and Giant Slalom in preparation for the long season ahead.
When we arrived at the hotel the weather was a bit of shock to the system. I spent most of my summer in the 30 Degree heat on the west coast, so needless to say when we arrived and skied the -10 degree temperatures with a heavy wind, my body wasn’t all that impressed. In the first 4 days it snowed about 60cm, which caused havoc with our training, but was a lot of fun.
Day 5 the skies cleared and the following 10 days were filled with blue skies and warmer weather.
August in the Andes is a great place to spend your summer and an even better place to kick off the last 6 months to the Paralympic Winter Games.
7 Months to go
Simplicity
My team and I are about 3 weeks away from hitting the snow once again. I’ve had to start really thinking about my equipment going into on snow training. I’ve had my boots fit (thanks Mountain Boot Doctor) and my skis tuned (thanks Zenon) and the list of things to do seems to continue to get longer every day.
During the next training camp we will dial my boots in. We will be able to determine if it is best to have my heels 42 or 43 mm high – yes I said millimetres.
Then I’ll need to determine if I want the base edge angle on my skis at 0.5 degrees, or if 0.75 degrees is better. Yes I can tell the difference.
What will be the best side edge angle? 3 degrees? 4 degrees?
Between now and March my world will continuously grow more complex.
Which ski is the fastest? Which wax is the fastest? Which ski suit is the fastest? Should I tape down that strap to eliminate drag? What tape should I use? What is the media looking for out of me? Which media appearances should I do? Which should I not do? How do you handle the pressures of skiing at home? How to you handle your family? Friends? Sponsors? Public? When I get to race day, which line should I choose to ski? What kind of warm up do I do? How do I handle any delays? How do I handle having a bad morning? Or a good morning?
You get the point.
Over the next 7 months I will face millions of little questions, have many challenges, have good days and bad, problems and breakthroughs.
There will be many details that draw my attention away from my seemingly simple task –getting from point A (the start) to point B (the finish) as fast as possible.
The task seems so simple. Yet I have spent the better part of the last 12 years of my life trying to teach myself how to do it. I will continue to improve and continue to learn over the next 7 months. But the end goal is that I will be able to stand in the start gate on March 13th, with a clear mind.
At that point in time I want to be able to stand there, knowing that I’ve done everything that I could do to be the best prepared I could possibly be. I no longer want to be thinking about boots, edge angles, skis, ski suits, family, friends, sponsors or media.
If I am able to stand there with a clear mind, knowing that I simply have to get from start to finish as fast as possible, and be able to focus on just that simple task at hand – then I will have success.
Simplicity is the key.
But it’s a long road to get to that point, and a short time to get there.
Only 7 months to go. Back to work.
Anybody have a roll of tape?
8 Months to go
Patience is a virtue
The definition of virtue is “a specific moral quality regarded as good”. The definition of patient is “enduring pain, trouble etc. without complaining”.
I’m not an English major, but if the above definitions are right, “patience is a virtue” means that enduring pain is a good quality?
As twisted as that may sound, in reality it really is true both in life and in ski racing.
There are many things that I want to get better at over the next 8 months in order to put myself in the best possible position heading into the games. Throughout the remainder of the summer I hope to first get stronger, and then turn that strength into power by increasing the speed at which I move. From there the increase in power will help in my on snow training where I will work on different technical aspects of my skiing. That should get us into the early season where I can work on race day preparation and put into practice the mental aspects of racing that I’ve been working on.
But there is only so much time in the day, only so many improvements that you can actually make in a given time, and many inevitable unplanned challenges all along the way.
Being patient and only being able to control what we are doing right at this moment are sometimes difficult prospects to deal with. I can’t control what will happen 8 months from now, until 8 months from now. So I have to remain patient and do what I can do at this very moment. Make the decisions that are best for me today, rather than try and push it too much and actually take a step backwards in my long terms goals.
So far this summer the first 8 weeks of dryland training have gone very well. Strength and stamina continue to improve. But when you push your body for 8 straight weeks sometimes it fights back. Mine did and I got a bit of a cold. Small potatoes right? So I got a cold 8 months away from my goal, who cares?
When a deadline looms of this magnitude it is amazing how much more difficult it is to remain patient, to rest my tired body when I want to be out there making it stronger. But if I sit back for a second and realize what I can and cannot currently control, the best way for me to get stronger right at this moment, is to rest my body, no matter how boring and seemingly unproductive that is.
8 months from now I’ll have a chance to realize one of my childhood dreams. At that exact moment I’ll have a chance. Now, just like 8 months from now, all I can control is this moment, and make the decisions right now that are best for making my body stronger and more prepared.
Today, while being sick, I need to remain patient, and rest. Even though it is painfully boring to do so…