Olympics wrap up

Cometh The Hour Cometh The (Wo)man

The 12 years that I spent dreaming about running at the Olympics lived up to everything I'd hoped it would be. This statement might confuse some people, and perhaps even contradict my performance... because my results were below what I'd hoped for, what I know I can achieve... And what I have achieved in the past in regards to how fast I ran.  But, after careful reflection-  read a few sleepless nights and a few solo runs sans stopwatch around London's Victoria Park I resolved to be happy. I'd made it! I'd actually run at the Olympics and finally become an Olympian. I resolved that I've worked too hard for the past 12 years and the people around me, my team, have sacrificed too much for me not to be happy and proud of the collective effort that went into getting me on the Olympic team and to the start line. Sure, it would've been out of this world to win a medal, or even just to run a pb, but to consolidate, these Olympic races, they're just the icing on the cake of an incredible journey up to this point. The people I’ve met, the friends I've made, the challenges me and my team have been able to overcome, the places I've seen, sharing the little victories with  Jony along the way and then sharing the bitter disappointments... I remember sitting in the stand at last years World championships in Korea watching the women's 10,000m- the race that I had gone there for... injured, despondent and basically crushed that I was injured and not able to run the race that I'd come to do. I have a faith in God, and I believe this was all part of His greater plan. I was humbled by the result of my races. The Olympics is HARD! It's made me hungrier than ever to be the athlete I know I can be and London 2012 was another big step in the right direction. It hurt my pride to not run well on the biggest stage, but it wasn't disastrous, my time of 32.25 in the 10,000m was the fastest time by an Australian woman in Olympic 10,000m FINAL history. Had I run the same time at the Beijing Olympics I would have had 10 runners behind me. And, in the 5,000m, I gave myself the best shot, knowing that the 10,000m was already in my legs, I knew I’d have to be mentally tough... An excerpt from my pre race rants before the 5,000m:

"Tomorrow: I'm going to go out and run fierce. Run without fear and run like a girl who believes in herself and believes this is where she belongs."

I felt like I did this, just that my spirit was willing but my body was not. I started to tire with 4 laps to go, my quads lost power- a result of lactic from the 10,000m 3 days earlier but I felt like I maintained mental composure and strength which is an experience I know will hold me in good stead for future races where the pressure is on. I keep Imagining being physically in the best shape of my career and then also being able to maintain the mental strength necessary to execute a race out of my skin. I believe these days are ahead.

I commented in a post race interview that my coach Nic Bideau and I had decided on a cautious approach to training before the Olympics and that this may have played a part in my form leading in. "A cautious approach" might not be the words Aussies like to hear about an Australian athlete preparing for the Olympic Games. Mainly because where I come from, we want gold, we are gold diggers, we have our golden swimmers our golden girls, our golden boys, we love to win... And anything less is, well...not gold. Mine and Nic's cautious approach to preparing for London, wasn't to try less but it was simply to run less. To supplement the junk mileage with cross training and focus on quality running sessions. The sole reason for this was because of my injury history leading into major events and my body's inability to cope with a high volume of running. We were prepared to take only very calculated risks because we both knew that had I got injured again it would have been disastrous for my future in the sport. Although I was running less than most of my competitors per week (115km for me as opposed to up to 160km) the cross training is hard. I would get on the elliptical trainer with the altitude mask on and get my heart rate to what I would normally be at running, I was sleeping in an altitude tent set at 12,000ft. Although great for remaining injury free the elliptical and other cross training doesn't compare to the benefits of the specificity of running. If you want to run faster, you need to run more... But at what cost? This was our reasoning- that running injury free at these Olympics was crucial to my future in the sport. I'm only 29, I'd like to think I have another 10 years of competitive running left in me... At least another two shots at the Big Sports Carnival...this was my first Olympics, I feel like now I'm just getting started!

My most memorable moments from my first Olympics? There's the obvious, walking into the stadium for the Opening Ceremony, it was like a dream that I never woke up from. From practicing the North Korean army march with my team mates outside the stadium walls, to actually floating into that place, the sound of the crowd was breath taking and the energy and emotion of the moment overwhelming- but so so good.  It was a special moment.

I remember standing in the middle of the arena at the opening ceremony and looking around at all

of the athletes, thinking that a select special few of these athletes will go home hero's...Cometh the hour, cometh the (wo)man. I remembered this thought again as I watched Saudi Arabia's first female athlete to compete in an Olympics run down the home straight in the 800m. She was not only inspiring a generation but by using her gift of running she was being an agent for change for women's rights in her country. What an achievement!

Then there was the afternoon in the athletes village that I told Sally Pearson about Julius's story and why we started Love Mercy as we sat and watched the swimming on TV, she got up from the lounge after we finished talking and gathered a whole lot of her Olympic kit together to donate to the orphaned kids that Love Mercy sponsors. It’s these moments that shaped the Olympics for me. I'll be forever grateful for the memories, and, at least for the next 10 years, I'll be chasing after more like them!

We flew from London to Uganda after the Olympics to officially open the Kristina Achon Medical Clinic that Love Mercy has been fundraising for. We met a team of friends (nurses, builders, councilors) from home who had been a part of helping fundraise and who wanted to come and help us celebrate and help in anyway they could. It was an amazing moment when Julius and the government health minister cut the ribbon and opened the clinic in the presence of thousands from the Otuke District who had come to celebrate adequate health care in the area after 25 years of war and suffering. It was Julius's Opening Ceremony and he was honored that day. As always, a trip to the North of Uganda is both heart breaking and soul enriching at the same time... The people from Julius's village thanked him profusely, saying "thank you for not forgetting us, thank you for coming back to help us". Julius, always replies with a simple but powerful message "I never gave up". 

Written by Eloise Wellings for Jock Athletic Ezine