Michelle Stilwell Report #1

Saturday, September 2

Hard to believe that it is already Saturday. My first race is in just 2 days! I can feel my nerves starting to heighten. The first nights I was here I slept quite well, snagging 8-9 hours. Last night though I would be lucky if I got 6. And we all know how much I need my precious beauty sleep!

Last night we had a team supper/meeting where the team captains and flag bearer were selected. It works by nomination and then by private vote. Our flag bearer will be Courtney who is a blind athlete. She has been in the sport a long time but I do not believe she has ever been a flag bearer.

We had pizza and socialized for a bit then I went for a quick massage. Our therapist is ex-Olympic biathlete Yvonne Visser. She is wonderful. It is nice to have someone who really understands working on all your aches and pains. She is very busy though having all 47 athletes to work on. Our sessions are generally pretty short (about 20 minutes).

We have a family of little bunnies that live in our yard. They are so adorable! Just sit and eat grass all day wouldn't it be great if that were our only concern, no other stresses just eat grass. I don't know, they just seem so relaxed.

I have been introduced to a little taste of heaven since arriving in Holland. They are called Stroopwaffels. Even with my sweet tooth I cant imagine eating more than one. Don't worry Nicole I am bringing some home for tea time. J

The super bikes are here for the weekend. These are really really fast speed bikes (motorcycles) that race on a formula one track. All week I have been listening to the engines revving as they practice. I was thinking of going today but the weather is not nice enough for me to want to sit outside and watch them go by in a blink of an eye.

Right now it is early in the morning while I type this (7am)---yes that is early to me. It is misty outside and no sign of the sun; and people say living in BC is depressing! Today is a busy day for me. I will head to the track in about an hour to practice starts, then back to the village for a quick bite to eat. At 1pm I am meeting Clayton (fellow quad racer) to try to make hard gloves. I would love to explain this process but it is pretty complex. I will say it involves boiling water, a blowdryer, special rubber and special plastic. Wish me luck. After that it is treatment for my shoulder and then off to the opening ceremonies. The opening ceremonies are actually optional to us if we don't want to go. I am undecided. I have been to enough of them to know that there will be about 30 minutes of cool stuff and 2 hours of boring stuff. The transportation to and from the venue is rumoured be very unorganized and we probably will not be back at the village until after midnight.

Tonight I should sleep well. I am actually pretty happy today will be so busy because it will hopefully help me to stop thinking about the race. I am finding I am starting to question myself and some of my techniques I have got to block all that out.

That is it for today.

Love, Mikey