Entry 1: Cherry Ripe! 

68 days until the games… WOW! This year really is flying... Look out Delhi belly!

It seems a lifetime ago that I was anxiously dialling Si’s (coach Simon Baker) mobile and receiving race updates from our national race walking championships in Hobart, the official selection trial for the World Race Walking Cup and Commonwealth Games.

Unfortunately, like it can for all elite athlete that push their bodies to the limit, the horrible ‘i’ word (injury) had prevented me from competing but thankfully, a third position was up for grabs and I was fortunate to be selected after the World Race Walking Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico.

This is the perfect opportunity to express my gratitude to the guys I like to consider ‘Ma boys and A team’, a fantastic, fantastic support team. As cliché as it sounds,  I don’t believe our performances are possible without the incredible time, effort, thought and support of so many wonderful individuals, organisations and of course family and friends. They mend, motivate and move our bodies in the right direction, ‘igniting our Spark and fueling our Flame! (Ha ha, sorry, couldn’t resist!!) I won’t mention names, but you all know who you are, so a never-ending THANK YOU from me! You got me to the line and in my cool masseur Marcus’s words- you’re keeping me ‘Cherry Ripe!’

For those courageously dealing with the continual day-to-day niggles and more serious injuries, keep your head up, keep persisting and seeking alternatives… do things that make you happy and enjoy the other aspects of life that add colour to your day-to-day happenings. My advice: try baking, it’s very therapeutic! Things will just fall into place!

And so the next 68 days will be filled with heat sessions to assist acclimation, strength and conditioning, pool, bike, physio, massage, good recovery, TLC and specific walking and running sessions to go for gold. Not to mention a weekly baking ‘sesh’ to keep the VIS crew happy!

I’m starting to get quite excited now; I think the Games are going to be hot and spicy! I can’t wait to stand on that start line and release all the hours!

A huge CONGRATULATIONS to the ‘Spark’ too, you guys rock!

Happy training, competing, coaching, officiating and spectating!

Best wishes to the rest of the Commonwealth Games team in your final competitions and preparations, look forward to seeing you all soon!                                                                                                    

Yours in walking,