Let the Games begin...

After a lovely morning walk in Bunbury along the inlet, before i headed to Perth i dyed my hair. I don't do it too often but when i do it is usually around the a time where something stressful comes up or i want to feel that i am still free to do things no matter how simple for myself to be who i want to be. With uni games coming up and exams looming in the not too distant future i wanted a small change which could boost my confidence in myself an din the words of Lady Gaga be 'as free as my hair!' So i dyed my hair a red/brown :)

After a nice drive back to Perth singing along to my music it was time to unpack one bag and pack another. Kyle came and took me to the airport and once I was checked in we met Abby and Mario who were also there for uni games (Abby went for volleyball) before sitting down to a coffee. I am always a little uneasy when it comes to planes, I love the views but like my feet on the ground more. But meeting many familiar faces from UWA and other WA uni’s heading over for the games eased my nerves and got me more excited!  We were on time and boarded the plane at 4.30pm, I was sitting with 2 lovely girls from Curtin who were studying chiropractics and were volunteering as part of the medical staff. I listened to my ipod most of the way and we landed sooner than I thought after 2 and a half hours. Yay we were in Adelaide!! The wind was freezing! Sharing a taxi I made my way to the Old Majestic Lyon apartments in North Adelaide. I was proud of myself to carry both my case and sports bag up two flights of stairs in front of all the footy guys (no they didn't offer any help) and met my team in the apartment J
I had a lovely night chatting to the team, they are so down to earth and fun! We were all tired after midnight but that just made our conversations funnier and i think we all hurt our stomachs laughing at our male pole vaulter trying to explain the mechanisms of vaulting, using the right stiffness of his pole and the length (if you get my drift... :P)

We slept in the next morning and after breakfast in the guys room it was quite hard to get to watch the other sports with our location so we made our way into the city for a wander and to buy some food for the week. We had a nice coffee in the Adelaide Arcade before getting costumes at the Reject shop and food at Woolies, there were so many uni students doing the same thing!! We met the guys and had lunch in the city before heading back.
 

Adelaide Arcade

Coffee date

Outside the Old Majestic Lyon Apartments

Having a chilled afternoon i managed to do a little surgery study (boring i know!!) but i was not the only one, then went out to stretch my legs and walked around some university grounds and along the Adelaide river which was very pretty!! Just to make sure i could still run i had a quick run up some stairs but i felt pump and ready to run a race then and there no matter how fit i am! The guys cooked pasta that night which we all ate together and relaxed before heading to bed for the first day of competition :)

I was the first one up in the morning as no one else was doing the 1500m. So after a quiet breakfast i headed to the guys room to collect Dan and Andy who were also running the 1500. We got ourselves a taxi and i had my first glimpse of Santos stadium and the excitement set in!!

Santos Stadium Adelaide :)

We watched the end of the 10km race before warming up, i was hesitant to run on my foot and with every stride was relieved when it did not hurt! Then the nerves set in. The guys ran first and had a difficult heat but both ran well!

Start of the open men's 1500m heat 2 

Men's 1500m heat 2 (Dan in UWA uniform near the back) 

 And then it was my turn to line up, there were 16 people in each of the two 1500m heats. I was excited to be lining up to race again no matter how nervous i was with no expectation as to how fit or unfit i am!!

Lining up for the women's open 1500m heat 2

 At the first 100m i was getting boxed in so took the move to go out ahead and let the others take over me one by one (which they did :P). One thing about not racing in a while is you forget how to pace yourself as you do not know how fast or fit you are. I went out a little harder than i should have, maybe it was just the excitement of running again! But by 2 laps to go the lactic hit... and it was the biggest lactic i have felt for years! One thing i learnt.... biking does not substitute the lactic preparation you get from running!!

My first bend getting in the lead to avoid being boxed in... good move??

 But as painful as it was i still enjoyed it, the freedom of running and pacing around the track! Best of all my foot held up and i crossed the line in a slow 5.08.11min (my PB is 4.47min) while the winners ran 4.50min. I didn't make the final but i expected that especially with that time! It is good to have a base line of fitness for the coming season providing my foot continues to improve :) I then spent the day at the track with the team and although i pulled out of the 400m had a great time cheering the others on and seeing our team mates pole vault, steeplechase and sprint! I loved being at the track all day!

Men's Pole vault - silver :)

Men's steeplechase - bronze :) 

That night we got back late and headed to Indian for a lovely and yummy dinner while half of the others went into the city for the night life. I was tired after the big day and those of us who stayed in had an earlier night after watching the Brownlow medals to prepare for day 2!