The anxious wait is finally over. Receiving the official phone call from Eric Hollingsworth made the wait worthwhile. I mean, I was 99.99% sure I would be picked, but until that phone call came, I just didn’t want to count my chickens before they hatched.
It means now I can say “yes, I am in the team” whenever someone asks “so, are you going to the commonwealth games?” This is instead of “well, I’m pretty sure I am, but it’s not confirmed yet.” I got some funny responses when I said I was in. One of the best responses I got was from a work colleague who said “so can you just run full-time now?” Oh, if only it were that simple.
With my selection confirmed, I can forge ahead with my plans for the year, culminating with hopefully the best peak I’ve ever had. I have it marked on the calendar: October 14th – Commonwealth Games Marathon. It will be the single, most important event to date, in my athletic career.
It’s an exciting time, and I can hardly wait for the day to arrive. Being able to put on the Australian uniform, charge around the Delhi course with two fellow Aussies, and have all of Australia supporting me makes my skin tingle with anticipation. My only hope is that I can produce a result that will make everyone proud of me, and proud to be an Australian.
Until then, there will be countless miles logged and plenty of shoes worn. I hope you can all ride with me on this journey towards India. Australia is sending a very strong team to compete against the best in the Commonwealth. To all the other countries sending athletes, I say – BRING IT ON!
