Part One: Update After a weekend in Budapest, Sam and I are now in Gyor, which is in the northern part of Hungary near Slovakia. We’re here because this is where Canoe/Kayak Marathon World Championships are being held and Sammie is competing as one of the five members of team USA. I am here as a “coach” (I put it in quotes because even though I have an official pass, let’s be real…) but actually I do feel semi useful. I don’t know a lot about kayaking, but I do know a thing or two about physics and since physics is in almost anything, I feel like I’m being more of a help than a hinderance. We had to talk about turn tactics given how narrow the Danube is here and how strong the current will pull on the boat. Plus, I’ve been supplied with buzzwords, so I think I can fake it til I make it. We’ve been in Gyor since Monday night, which is great because Sammie has been able to train on the race course since then, and her race was today! But I’ll get to that part later. It’s been fun exploring another Hungarian city and I’ve loved running along the Danube here. Luckily we’ve had a great interpreter too, another member of the team (Balazs, you’re the bomb), who we came with from Budapest. The rest of the team got here on Tuesday night, so on Wednesday our little crew was complete. I think everyone is having a laugh that I’m a coach, but it’s all good, because so am I! It’s been a ton of fun so far. The opening ceremonies were last night and those were a blast! It was kind of raining, so they cut it short. Which worked for us because we had to be up early for Sammie’s race anyways. After the presentation of the countries and speeches by all the important figures, there was a really cool dance presentation, which involved at least ten people holding up a kayak and moving it as though it was actually on water. It was extremely creative. Then, this guy came up and started playing covers of different songs. His finale was Uptown Funk and whole crowd of people started dancing at the front. I grabbed Sammie and we joined in, dancing around and having a blast. Next thing we knew, people were running and jumping onto the stage! We followed the crowd and ended up dancing around on the stage! You can see a photo of us on the stage in the slideshow of photos at the end of this post. Definitely check out those photos, there are more from Sammie’s race and the event itself! Finally, the good part: Sammie’s race! She was number 68; right next to her, number 69, was the Hungarian girl that was projected to do very well, if not win the whole thing. Sammie’s plan going in was to try and stay with her to ride her wash (which is like drafting for kayaking) for as long as possible. The start and first turn were hard, but she did so well. Let me just explain what her marathon kayak event is: she goes through 5 laps of a course, completing 18.3 kilometers in total (that’s about 11.37 miles). In all but one lap, she has to do a portage, which is where she has to hop out of her boat, grab it, run 150 meters while carrying it, and then get back in it and start kayaking again. All of that is done on the fly. She finished in just about an hour and thirty minutes and ended up in 16th place. This was pretty funny because earlier this year she came in 16th place at World Sprint Championships and now she is 16th at World Marathon Championships! You know what they say, consistency is key. Naturally, she was really tired at the end. I couldn’t even imagine; I’m so proud of her! Her race was the first one, so now we get to sit back and watch the rest of the competition and cheer on everyone else. Although I guess I have to prepare my pep talk speeches, I have three other athletes left to compete! Part Two: Thoughts On a Birthday So. It’s my birthday. I’m in Hungary and it’s my birthday. And I got to watch Sammie race, which was awesome! Because, let’s be real, it wouldn’t truly be my birthday unless there was some sort of sporting event going on. And I’ve already forgiven her for making me wake up at 6am on my birthday. Somehow, it doesn’t seem real. Like it’s not actually my birthday. It can’t be, right? I can’t actually be turning 23. This birthday has me thinking about a lot of different things, especially about what a birthday means. This was kind of spurred by a conversation I had with one of the other guys on team USA. He has the same birthday as me, which is a very unique coincidence. This is essentially how our conversation went during this discovery: Me: Yeah, cause it’s my birthday on Friday. Him: Wait...really?! Like this Friday?! Cause that’s my birthday! Me: Seriously? You’re telling the truth? Him: Yeah, I’m not kidding. September 11th, 1995. Me: **in my head** Holy cow, I am so incredibly old. **out loud** Oh….yeah (awkward laugh) nice. Him: What about you? Me: What about me….what? Him: What year? Me: ….....1992……... Him: Oh, wow so you’re the grandma of the group! Me: **try to laugh but seriously I feel so old** I joke around a lot about how I feel old, but it’s actually a real feeling. I do feel old. And sometimes that feeling of being old makes me feel behind. I feel like I should have my life more organized or know what I want to be when I grow up, which can lead to me feeling as though I haven’t accomplished anything since I haven’t “made it big” or something along those lines. And not being in college anymore doesn’t help. For the past eight years, every year that I’ve gotten older means that I’ve gotten one year closer to graduating (both high school and college), one year closer to finishing school. But now that’s done. So what am I working towards? What does getting one year older mean for me now? I believe that’s what thinking about this birthday is making me see. It’s trying to help me realize that it doesn’t matter if there is an answer to those questions or not. It doesn’t matter that I’m not a professional athlete, movie star or famous singer. It doesn’t matter that I don’t know what career I want to have. It doesn’t matter that I don’t have something specific to work towards at this very moment. It doesn’t matter that getting older may only mean that I’m getting older. And it’s trying to show me that I have accomplished a lot. I may not have won an Oscar or a gold medal or have loads of money (or even a job, really, although maybe this coaching thing will work out...heehee), but I have traveled to a lot of amazing places, I’ve received a college degree, I’ve cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal almost single-handedly, I’ve played two collegiate sports for four years, and, most importantly, I’ve made a lot of great friends and built many strong relationships along the way. So maybe I haven’t changed the world yet. It doesn’t mean that I won’t. For now, I’m going to welcome the 23 year old version of me, even if that means I’m the “grandma”. The rest will figure itself out. Let’s just hope that Blink-182 was wrong when they said that nobody likes you when you’re 23, shall we? :)
1 Comment
susan owens
9/18/2015 07:22:41 pm
Loving your posts - keep 'em coming!
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Meet AnyaHi, Hola, Bonjour, Ciao!
I’m Anya Phillips, a data analyst and travel enthusiast who is always on the lookout for the next adventure! Categories
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