Sunday, October 26, 2008

whoooooo!!!






The fitness test is done...and over! Thank god! We left the hotel at 8am and headed to the track. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty nervous. Not that I doubted that I would pass, but worried about the "what ifs". What if I slipped on one of the sprints, what if I pulled a muscle...etc. You know, all those things that you have no control over...that is what I was worrying about. I just kept telling myself...you can do this, it is the same test you have run 20 times, this one is no different. The bus ride to the track was very quiet, and we were a small group (13), only the referees. The assistants were coming later for their test. Just as we boarded the bus...rain, and I don't mean just rain, but RAIN...sideways, it was crazy! But, by the time we got to the track, it was just a drizzle, and as we finished our warmup, it had stopped. The problem was that now the track was wet, and that made it slippery. So, for the sprints (40m), I made sure that I didn't start too fast so I didn't slip. I just had to make sure that I ran hard the whole way. Get this, ever single one of my sprints were 6.3....all 6 of them, weird, eh? On to the intervals (15om + 50m recovery). I wasn't too worried about these because I have done them so many times that I knew the pace, and last week I ran a practice test and did 15 laps. For the test we were doing only 10 laps, so I knew I could do this. I ran in a group of 4 girls and we worked really well together. We took turns leading and helped each other out when we needed it...it was good. It was such a great feeling to be finished and the best part...all 13 referees passed...awesome!

That evening we had the official referee dinner with members of the FIFA referees committed and the tournament organizers. We all got dressed up in our brand new FIFA suits (freshly tailored), boarded our bus, and went out for dinner. The food was amazing and at the end of the night, we were all presented with our official tournament medals! It was a great day!

3 comments:

Lee said...

Congrats on the fitness test Michelle and comrads! Bring on the games!

I hope Starchoice is showing these games! I'm searching for coverage.

Thank you for taking the time to plot your thoughts and experiences thru your blog, Michelle. This fellow referee gal (age'ed) is vicariously enjoying your adventure thoroughly!

I did the annual fitness test 12 min track run Wed evening in N. Delta (made 6 & 1/2 laps, yeah!) and reffed a few highschool boys Valleys in Osoyoos this weekend. My leg muscles are a wee tight but I think about you gals & those sprints & more and just admire.

It's already the 27th where you are, 1 sleep to go..have fun.

Cheers, Lee

Michelle Pye said...

Lee

Thank you for your comments! I am happy that you are enjoying the blog. I have been having such a great experience, and I am glad that I can share it with you!

Michelle

Lisa said...

Mich,

I love that picture of you with your thumbs up; I imagine it was right after you passed your fitness test.
I'm so proud.

Also that picture of all of the referees together was quite striking. There's obviously a lot of diversity in the group, it must be fascinating.