And the Story Begins, Travel day – July 26th, 16 days until I fight!

Hi, Everyone..

Its 4:15am and the alarm has just gone off, I’m not tired but more anxious to get on the road. As I finish packing up my bags and get ready to go, I already notice that my mind set has changed, I no longer am thinking about paying my bills or making sure that the house is clean, all I have on my mind is performing at the Olympic games, and even as I write this my mind is going at million miles per hour, thinking about my opponents and how it would feel to stand on top of that podium in 16 days.

My Girlfriend asked me if I was mad at her this morning because I was being so quiet, of course I was not I just had a lot on my mind, if you have ever had a huge exam, an important business meeting or anything that was super stressful in your life you would only begin to understand how I am feeling. To Understand....... Triple how you feel before a big test or meeting and make it a do or die situation that only comes around every 4 years and that pretty much sums up how much pressure and Olympic athlete has on herself/himself. One day every 4 years to make sure your 100%, one day every 4 years to prove to the world who is the best, one day every 4 years to represent your country in the biggest sporting event in the world, ONE DAY!.

I am heading to Japan this morning, the Canadian Judo team will be training for 8 days at Budo University. The reason we head over so early is to get used to the time change and to get accustom to the climate. The trip over is rather long, but ive had worse! One 3 hour flight to Chicago, one 13 hour flight to Japan, and one 2 and ½ hour bus ride to Budo university, not to mention the layovers we had, but finally we are here. Mind you we are a little tired, and in need of a nice hot shower! After unpacking and settling in the team heads out for a quick dinner, a little chickenkatsudan(spelling) which is rice with onions, with a fried type chicken over it, oh and of course you can’t forget the raw egg which is cracked on top of it. MMMMMM haha actually it’s really good, the raw egg cooks because the food is really hot!
After that we headed back to the dorms to get some rest, but as tired as we are we know we will be up early because of the time change. SLEEP.