An exciting week....

...and a good one, mostly. Wednesday was scrimmage night and I was finally told whether I'd made it into the travel team. On the rubric we use to score skater's competency, I scored a respectable 61.5 out of 105, which means that I'm in the training squad. Where in that squad I don't know at this stage, but I'm happy to have made it. 

Just happy I (don't really) hear you ask? Well, due to lots of different reasons the decision was delayed to the point that finding out how I did seemed almost anti-climactic. Don't get me wrong, I'm very pleased to be considered good enough to represent the league, but the jumping-up-and-down-oh-my-god-yay feeling just isn't there this time. Still, it's great as it means more bouts and more challenges to come. Knowing that the derby adventure isn't over for me yet is very heartening and has given me renewed energy to throw into it. 

I continue to run, hitting the pavement three times and the treadmill once this week. Tonight (I know, I went running on a Saturday night. Life? I have none) I made a personal best of 4.6km in 32 minutes. Again, it might not sound like much to you but to me that's a real achievement and I still feel I could have gone further if I hadn't turned up at my house when I did (going past it and then going back is still uncharted territory). I'm also keeping an eye on my food intake using mapmyfitness's nutrition tracker (No. Life.) so that I don't accidentally starve myself or carboload into oblivion (both have potential to happen, I know what I'm like). Looking at the plan I'm using, I'm well on track to kick some ass at the Quarter marathon, and I'm looking to find a 5km to run in as a warm-up that doesn't clash with a bout (harder than you think). There's one the day after our bout against Richter City (Wellington) but as I don't know if I'll be playing, I'll hold off on registering just yet. I'm absolutely LOVING running, finding it to be almost meditative. There's been a lot written and said about running, more I think than any other physical endeavour, and I'm starting to understand why. Seeing a tangible improvement in my times and distances helps too of course!

Sadly, no good week can happen without the occasional bit of bad news. A car did a u-turn into mine last night as I was giving some friends a lift and trashed the front of my car. It could have been a lot worse of course, nobody was injured and the car is (just about) driveable, but it meant that I couldn't attend the NZRDT training today as I was busy running around after insurance companies. Still, that meant that I suddenly had a day with no commitments. Result? Washing done, motorbike re-registered (well, I need something to get about on!), good friend met for lunch, and some proper, no-guilt down time. And it feels awesome. I think I might spend the rest of the night reading a book and listening to something gentle...