Canada Winter Games and beyond

It's been a while since my last post, so I'll just pick up where I left off. My visit home in between Easterns and Canada Winter Games was a little bit bittersweet. It was great to see and spend time with everyone again, though the week ended with me developing some cold symptoms just before getting on the plane for Halifax. Getting sick during race season is a terrible feeling, but doing so on my way to Canada Winter Games just made it that much worse.

I played the week day by day, seeing how I was feeling and then deciding what the best course of action would be. So I ended up sitting out the first two races, in the hopes of getting better for the 3rd and final individual race. I woke up that morning still definitely with a cold, but due to the fact that this was my last chance to ever race at a Canada Winter Games, I convinced myself that I was ready to race. Unfortunately, no matter how convinced my mind was, my body just did not cooperate. Right off the start of the 15km classic race, my body just felt so heavy, with no energy flowing anywhere. After a grueling, and frustrating, 6km, I pulled off to the side of the course, removed my bib, and dropped out of the race.

So while the racing aspect of the week was tremendously disappointing, I still managed to have a great time just being there. The city of Halifax did an amazing job organizing the entire event, with over 6,000 volunteers! While I spent a good chunk of my time in bed trying to get healthy, I still managed to get out and see a little bit of Halifax, and got to know the way from my hotel to the Athlete's area (lounge and food place) very well. I also had some fun taking part in the pin trading that took place throughout the week (sounds lame I know haha, but actually became a priority for nearly everyone at the Games). As soon as everyone arrived in Halifax, every athlete was given a bunch of pins from their home province. So I made it my goal to get one pin from every province and territory. It was close (the market was immediately flooded with Ontario pins, making it very difficult), but I managed. I put all of my new pins on my athlete accreditation lanyard, and it made a good Canada Winter Games souvenir.

Feb. 27th, the Games wrapped up with the Closing Ceremonies, and I was finally going home to Canmore. I spent last week doing some easy training, just making sure my cold was completely gone, before starting back into some harder training this week in preparation for Nationals. Nationals this year are here in Canmore, running March 12-19, and I can't wait!

Race days are Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. I'll try to get some updates up periodically throughout the week. Until then, cheers.