Of colds and Paralympic dreams

I'm sitting on Andrea's parents' back deck revelling in the spring sunshine. I'm wearing my new red Canada warm-up jacket - hard proof that I did make the PARALYMPIC TEAM! The "press conference" finally took place yesterday and the long awaited team announcement was finally published on Cross Country Canada's Web site.

I've still got a cold, which is part of the reason I haven't been blogging in the last couple of days. My cold took a turn for the worse after our Mount Shark adventure, and I've been resting for the last three days as a result. I'm trying really hard to get better before our trip to Whistler because, as my dad said, it's better to come to the Games undertrained but healthy than overtrained and sick.

It's not uncommon for athletes to get sick as they start peaking for a major sporting event because they push their bodies to the limit, and as a result, their immune systems become more fragile. It is definitely better that I have this cold now than a week from now, on the day of my first race. I just have to make sure I do everything in my power to get better. I'm already much better today, but I must ensure that my body is strong enough to resist other infection before starting serious training again. I will probably be going for an easy ski tomorrow and maybe just a walk this afternoon. It's no fun to be sick at a Paralympic training camp, but it would be so much worse to be sick during the Games!

Yesterday, we finally got all of our team clothing from CCC including a warm-up suit and parka (which we will have to return or buy out after the Games), a racing suit, a cool sweater with First-Nations designs, touques and gloves. There was also some kind of press conference, which generated pretty much zero actual media attention, just as could be expected for a Paralympic press conference. We took our team picture with our CPC media jackets, and that was about it. Then I went home and veged, while the rest of them went to a yoga class. I would have loved to go, but thought I'd do myself more good by staying home.

Today's been another quiet day for me. I slept in till 11, while everyone else went skiing, and then have been checking my e-mails and cleaning up. Sorry this blog entry is so boring, but there's not much to say when all you're doing is nursing a cold. Things will pick up soon, I promise!

Good afternoon from Canmore.