Back to reality?

Sorry for the lateness of my blog, the down side of yesterdays great adventure, is the totally exhaustion I have felt all day. Sleep and I are not usually well acquainted, even though my duvet and I have a loving relationship, however today sleep and I were inseparable.

I got up on time to take Phoenix and Cheyenne to the vets for their post operative check, and that was a mission worthy of the army. Those two decided ten minutes before capture to declare mortal war on each other. So it was soon clear we would have use two baskets to move them, which isn't usually a problem however mum is tired from yesterday and husband had work today so it was entirely up to mum and I . Seeing as I am on crutches it left all the lifting to her and as usual there is no where near to park. Still we made it, and after gravity being the main agent used to remove cats from baskets they past with flying colours, suddenly getting them to go back into their baskets became an easy job. It was waiting in the surgery for mum to get the car the pain really took hold and I mean pain with a capital P. It was all I could do to stay conscious till she pulled up with the car.

We made it home and unleashed the whirlwind of cats and that is pretty much the last of the days memories till gone 6. I am told I did eat and take tablets but I can't have been fully conscious when I did it. Even when Hubby returned and took me to the store after 7 it took me 5 minutes to walk to and from the car, and forever to get round the place. I was trying to explain to my rapidly frustrated husband it is like trying to walk when you can't feel the muscles from your waist to your knees, it is just this block of pain and nothing else. He didn't have a clue what I was talking about but at least slowed down.

I haven't dared lay down since dinner for fear of going back to sleep, but at no point has the pain subsided. But am I upset or even slightly annoyed about the day? No, because this pain is a reminder of yesterday. Not just my experiences and activities, but that every participant at the current Olympics must be feeling to give the best they can every moment they perform. I have felt this exhaustion once before when I was fit and decided in my wisdom to run the London 10k for fun. During that race I felt was is called the wall, very common in long distance runners, and as explained by my physio, the bodies warning that you are hitting your limit. It is when the lactic acid builds up in your limbs and they feel like lead, just trying to move them is a task requiring every inch of your mental strength. The soreness you feel the next day is like some battle scar you show off.. Its that same soreness I am feeling now.

 But that's not my battle scar, that's my contribution to the efforts of Team GB. I have been lucky enough to join the masses who have made the wall of sound (or waves in my event) cheering on the hopes of the nation. Providing the support for those men and women have dedicated their lives to become the pinnacle of all our nations hopes and representing everything that's good about being British. Both competitors and audience have found a common ground were religion and ability are disregarded and for the 1st Olympics ever every Olympic team has had a female competitor. That has to be included in the memory of London2012, that it was the first Olympics that had been truly equal. It doesn't matter that countries like Ghana have had to use 2nd hand wheel chairs donated by other Olympic countries, or that a Oscar Pistorious has such refined running aids he could actually qualify both forms of Olympics. In fact all this does is highlight the future of the Olympics, that in the not to distant future the two categories will have to merge.In our house we don't use the normal versions of words towards the two Olympics, they have been renamed mainstream and alternative, because alternative in comedy is often more edgy and more fun. The only annoyance is the fact it has got the same amount of coverage and the adverts are driving us mad.

Back to reality though, if we as a society can carry one thing forward from this last month or so please let it be tolerance. In many ways I hope the pain in my legs doesn't just disappear as it is working as one hell of a reminder of how lucky I am. How I managed to get to this event on my own steam with my own legs. It wasn't easy, but life isn't meant to be, if it didn't hurt it wouldn't be worth remembering. Like love, and any other emotion I can think of, its always more clearly remembered and a greater treasure of a memory if it came at a cost. When I won a music competetion it was the ones where my fingers were raw or I had been sick with nerves, that I remember more clearly, same with the plays I was in and so on. So yeah I am in pain, so much so I am awake still at nearly 5am, but its because yesterday I achieved something even my doctor thought was too much, and my reason for doing it was selfless. So it is worth every second of it.