Back in the day when I was going to college, I thought it would be cool to try out for an olympic team. I don’t know why I would want to put myself through that, especially with no chance of making a team but it sounded cool. As a Canadian who grew up under the Northern Lights playing hockey, I’ve had many dreams of scoring a goal and helping to win the gold medal for my country.
That of course won’t ever happen BUT as I was walking around the hallways of my college one day, I noticed a poster advertising try-outs for the Canadian olympic speed skating team. Sure, I had never speed-skated before but at least I knew how to skate pretty well.
This was my chance. I jotted down the date (a Saturday morning) and made sure I was ready for it.
Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned. My original plan was to have a good nights sleep but when I came home Friday night, my roommate was throwing a party. Since I wasn’t going to sleep with all the noise, I decided to join in on the fun. Everyone thought I was crazy to wake up and try out for an olympic team. Many were already amazed that I had acted in a movie and it was this night that I realized how different I was from many people. I was a dreamer. Someone wanting to experience life in so many ways.
Saturday morning, I woke up and went to the try-outs. The morning consisted of weight-training and cardiovascular tests. I’ll always remember the bike. The evil bike. A stationary bike hooked up to a TV screen. It was only a 1-minute bike ride racing against the computer but they told me it would be the hardest bike ride of my life. I scoffed at it, wondering how hard 1-minute could really be.
Well, it was hard. Very hard. After a few seconds of warm-up, the tension kicked in and everyone around me started shouting to encourage me to keep going at full strength. By the end of the bike, I could barely walk. I was told to jump on the regular stationary bikes and peddle softly to avoid building up lactic acid in my knees. Everyone else was wiped out too. But before I made it to the other bikes, I walked awkwardly to the bathroom and puked my guts out.
But hey, I did it. I lived!
Next was the on-ice try-outs. I laced up my skates and did numerous laps around an olympic rink. This was difficult but nothing compared to the evil bike. I actually didn’t do that bad, but as expected, I didn’t make the cut. They said my skating was strong but just not strong enough to be olympic-material within two to four years.
So you won’t be seeing me with a Canadian olympic medal anytime soon but I did cross something off my crazy life list. Trying out for an olympic team and with no sleep!
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