It is now less than a month until I head off to Rio. Twenty-six sleeps. Or, in terms of my fitness goals, a minimum of 260,000 more steps to take!
The fitness thing is actually going quite well. Or so I thought. I have made my goal of 10,000 steps every day except one so far. I even overtook my golf-loving friend in Wellington, and got close to my endurance rider friend. I was going really well this weekend too. Now here comes the but. Or should I say ‘butt’. It is because of the butt that I couldn’t achieve my goal yesterday and it looks like I won’t again today.
On Sunday I went for a very lovely long farm ride, and right out the back of the farm managed to fall off. Very inelegantly, landing on my posterior or, as previously referred, my butt. With my horse looking down at me laughing. Luckily she didn’t bolt for home, otherwise I would have definitely achieved 20,000 steps that afternoon alone!
Now when I was younger and did more riding, I was much better at falling off. Actually I was much better at staying on, too. It didn’t really hurt much at the time and I clambered back up (that used to be easier when I was younger too) and rode home. But that night the tailbone started to hurt, and the next day there were other bits hurting as well. It hurt to walk too far, and I certainly wasn’t contemplating going for another ride, or riding the bike. So my golfer has now overtaken me again, and my endurance rider is half way to Taihape I think. But I will be back stepping out soon!
Anyway, before you start with the butt puns, enough of my woes. I could tell you all about my travel plans but everyone starts yawning when I start on that, so I have been told. But if you have some suggestions as to what not to miss when I am in Buenos Aires after the Olympics for a few days, please let me know.
The naming of the team was great and must have been a huge relief to those selected, and a huge disappointment for those who didn’t make it. While we all want the horses to be wrapped in cotton wool, it can’t happen: they have to go and compete and continue their fitness programmes. Some of our eventers are performing at Barbury this weekend, and others are heading to Aachen the weekend after. Hopefully all things go well for them, but if not, Tim and Blyth will be ready to leap into any vacancies. It is great to know that we have that sort of depth in our team.
In other exciting news, my Olympic Identity and Accreditation Card arrived (see photo at the top of the page). I have to front up with this when I arrive at the airport in Rio and then get all my accreditation pack. It becomes as important as my passport. I’m a “Journalista” – doesn’t that sound great? (*Has visions of clicking heels, red swirly dresses and people yelling ‘ole’*!)
I’m now starting to think about what else I have to do and what else could go wrong. My biggest concern is having good internet access.
At Athens in 2004, we had to use dial-up and it was up to the Greek Gods whether you got on-line or not. Sometimes it took up to an hour. There was internet rage in the media centre quite frequently. Computers suffered as a result. Back then we didn’t even use Facebook! Our Kiwi news was sent home via a daily email and on the website. How times have changed, and I’m hoping that getting on-line has changed too. And that reminds me, I’ve a very funny story (or two) about the Athens Olympics. But that can be in the next blog.
Now my next mission is to make sure I have the right power plug adapter and insect repellent. But first we have the announcement of the British and Australian teams to come – the GB one is expected tonight!
If you want to catch up with previous blogs, here’re the links:
