Friday, March 19, 2010

Almost at fever pitch

Yesterday was another crazy crazy day! It started out with our 5 km classic race. The conditions were super hard and fast in the morning. The corners were pretty sketchy, so our policy was "fast up the hills and cautious on the downhills." That was what we did, except we missed the wax a little and our grip was not as good as we'd hoped. I had a really good race though, and was happy at the finish line. I didn't fall on any of the downhills, even though I did trip on an uphill bump because my wax wasn't working. My teammate Courtney Knight beat me by 4 seconds, which was a bit of a bummer, but that is sports. And at least I wasn't last this time!
Courtney and I are always very close and we take turns beating each other in our friendly competitions.

Cliff, Kathleen and my parents were there to cheer me on, which was really great. I watched the rest of the races with them afterwards. It was a beautiful sunny day, and it warmed up quite a bit throughout it. I went into Whistler with them just so we could spend a bit more time together. Then they headed off to Vancouver to watch the sledge hockey semi-final game.

Our afternoon was also very busy. Courtney, Andrea, Tom, Robert and I headed to Saskatchewan House around 5 to visit some people from Andrea's home province. Everyone was really nice and friendly over there, and we really got a warm reception. They had live music, some snacks and drinks, and we got to talk to a few reporters and some Paralympic fans.

Afterwards, we went to watch the Medal Ceremonies at the Medals Plaza in Whistler Village. Canada got three gold and a bronze yesterday. What a great day for us! The Ceremonies were very upbeat and fun. I took a ton of pictures.

To top the evening off, we showed up at Canada House, where there was a party in full swing. I met quite a few people over there too. Collette came to celebrate her bronze medal with teammates and friends. She graciously took pictures with everyone all evening. She is such an inspiration to all of us and an awesome human being.

We got home around 11 o'clock totally exhausted. I think everyone is keeping going on sheer adrenaline these whole Games. There's just so much to do and so much to take in!

Thankfully, today is a day off before the relay race tomorrow. Our women's relay team is made up of Mary, Jody and Robbi. The rest of us will definitely be there to cheer them on tomorrow morning! Go girls go!

We've got a few things planned for today as well. Tom's got us doing a scavanger hunt in Whislter Village at 1:30 as another team-building exercise. Not sure how that's going to work for us blind people, but we'll try our best. Then, we've got team photos at 4. After that, we're hoping to get a group together for a dinner out with family and friends. So another busy day coming up.

Well, I'm off to my massage before I head out to Whistler. Good morning to you for a change!

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