Happy Birthday to Me?
Ah, the pandemic. Depending on where you are in the world it might be something your country or region is slowly working its way out of or maybe still being ravaged by. Some places are hoping it just “goes away”. For us here in Australia, we seemed to get on top of it pretty well. Sure there was plenty of complaining, and rightly so when people's livelihoods were thrown into the unknown, but for the most part we came together and did the right thing to get on top of the spread. We had done the right thing and were getting rewarded by being allowed to get back out in a limited capacity and suddenly planning for the future didn’t seem like something too far out of reach.
The Plan...
We spent so many weeks staring at the interiors of our homes (check out my Backstreet Boys emotional montage of quarantine) and we all decided it was time for us to get back into the groove with training with Paralympics-level preparation. Many ideas had been floated while we were in full countrywide lockdown, but it was decided that a great restart opportunity would be a team training camp. So when the restrictions were getting eased, the date was set and my excitement for getting back into a team environment again after so long was, for lack of a better term, “happy dance worthy”. The plan was to get the majority of the wheelchair track team together and have a training camp in Newcastle, NSW. I mean after the 6 months of isolation training, and having all the events canceled, wouldn't you dance to this news? Accommodations were taken care of, appointments set up and training planned out for the two weeks it was going to be a humdinger (is that an actual term?). Best of all, my birthday, which had been the original day for Tokyo 2020 team selections, fell during this time. I was so excited to see my teammates again!
This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things!
*insert sigh here* So, here’s the thing about a pandemic level virus… it spreads. What started out as a small hotspot soon blossomed into fencing in whole communities, then the entire bloody metropolitan Melbourne and BAM! Victoria has its borders closed to other states. This is why we can't have nice things Victoria. *grumble grumble* For a couple days, we all were trying to figure out if they could get passes for the two Victorian athletes *cough Sam Rizzo and I cough* to cross the border since we have been isolated and having regular symptom checks. However, after a mad dash of phone tag, a heart-crushing email came that stated that Victorian athletes were encouraged not to attend the training camp. It was hard to brush off the idea that the rest of the team was still going to get the opportunity while I spent my birthday doing a training session on the rollers and telling my dog she’s a good girl for the umpteenth day in a row. Maybe I’ll bake myself a cake.
Happy Birthday to Me!
After a couple more days passed, it was decided with the craziness back on the rise to cancel the whole thing. So, now there is no camp. While it’s absolutely the right decision, it’s hard not to feel the cancellation slap you in the face with the ever so slight “normality” that could have been. For now I’ll continue to train in the garage, slowly but never quite making it to the garage door on my stationary trainer. P.S. If you could wash your damn hands and stop breathing on everyone, I would be very grateful! P.P.S. My dog is always a good girl and I have definitely decided to bake myself a cake!
Daisy (The Good Girl, obviously)