THE CALLING...:part 6

Whirlwind. Insane. Electric. Unreal. Euphoric. Thankful. Blessed.

Those are the words that I can use to describe the day that has just passed. Today was event 4 and 5. The Man Test. The "100's" and the back-breaker. Deep breathes.

After a lekker dinner at Ocean Basket last night and a good nights sleep, I woke up and had a superb bowl of oats and coffee, and felt good about the day ahead. I was 20th at the start of today and knew I had to step it up. Our first event was only at 13:15 so Nico took it easy helping ourselves to massages and some good food. The team did very well in their 100's workout with Gina being the only girl to finish the entire thing, following strong performances from Jono and Tyron. 

Time to get ready and the same routine was followed listening to music and strapping up. I knew the chest to bar were going to tough and didn't want to rip my hands. I felt good and was ready to give this everything. Just to give you a quick history, I bombed the C2B in the open workouts and that was just 30... Now I had 100, after 100 wall balls. 

Alan Foulis lane 10!! It was time and the crowd was twice the size it was for day one. It was loud and electric in the arena. I asked the judge or the usual request, "count my reps loudly and let me know if I am close to any no reps". 3, 2, 1, GO!! I walked to the wall ball and got going. My strategy was 10 reps, rest, repeat. I clapped the wall balls but had a few no reps which was annoying. Then the chest to bars.. All I will say is that I got them done and made up good ground on the pistol squats. I started the snatches and both hamstrings started cramping but there wasn't much time and I had to push and eventually ended with 31 snatches in the 25min time cap. That performance pushed me into 17th place overall with the 21-15-9 of 143kg deadlifts and 70cm box jumps. We had a couple hours to recover so Nico and I hit the ice bath... Not my favourite experience but necessary. After a brief rest it was time to warm up again and the air felt like it was sucking every ounce of moisture out of my mouth and throat. Earlier i had watched Roland and Kirsty smash the same workout so I knew I had to give it horns. 

Time to go. Alan Foulis Lane 4!! I stepped out and the atmosphere was electric, shouting and screaming an loads if noise. I had the same judge I had for event 2 and 3, and he was a superb judge! I decided before the start that I was going to forget about everyone else, tackle this rep by rep and just keep moving. 

3, 2, 1, Go!! 

I touch and go'd the first 5, took a brief rest, another 5 and then did them in singles, dropping the bar after each rep and picking it up quickly again. I was in 3rd place behind Danie and Nico through 21 box jumps, I then overtook Nico in the 15's and knew I could catch Danie because I was quicker than him in the box jumps. So I kept pushing and finally overtook him on the deadlifts in the round of 9's. I started my box jumps ahead of him and knew I had it so I pushed hard and on the final jump so I put my arms up and jumped down onto the stop mat at 6:12. A time that proved to be the winning time overall. 

When I realised I had won the event I was in a state of shock! I beat everyone, all the guys I looked up to and had been to the games before. I guess it still hasn't really sunk in yet but I am just so thankful for all the support I had and have. My son motivates me beyond words and I am so blessed to have him and all the people that care about me, backing me. So thank you... :) 

More is a nogge dag as they say!! I am sitting in 13th overall now and there are 2 events remaining. So, here's to the impossible and the endless possibilities that it provides us with.

Till then, you stay classy.

Peace n love

Al Zilla