Competition Prep! Athletes Depart at T-Minus 4 Days

Today I made my way to the Sports Center to borrow a few silks from Xiao Yu (just helping some friends out with something).  I had to get there before they left for the train station since today was the day they were going to catch the train to Hangzhou for the competition which starts on Monday.

I made my way to her dorm room and hung out with her and Zhang Yang as they finished up their packing.  She was nice enough to give me a copy of the schedule for the competition events so I thought I would share it here with all of you.  One interesting thing is that they moved Changquan to the 3rd day.  Usually they have it on the morning of the first.  Anyway, here it is:

I’ve highlighted the events I definitely want to attend with red.  The ones in blue are ones that I would like to see, but may not get much footage of, either because they are concurrent with a preferred event on another carpet, or because I might not be there.  (Those 8 AM sessions are brutal).

Also, there is a slight chance that I might not get there until Monday afternoon, in which case I would be missing the Monday morning events.  I’ll have a better idea once the weekend is here what my status will be.

Anyway, I hung out with Xiao Yu and Zhang Yang for a bit.  Pretty soon Xiao Yu’s best friend (who’s name I forget) come in the room to help them bring their luggage downstairs.  She’s super nice and also from Shandong, Dong Ming.  A Sanda athlete who is apparently pretty good because she has her picture up as one of the athletes who were “celebrated” upon her return from the All China Games.  Don’t know if she medaled, but she probably got at least top 8 in her division.

She mentioned that she has a Sanda competition coming up in Anhui on April 8, so she will be preparing for that.  If any of you are in Anhui you can be sure to check it out. (She also mentioned that I’ve lost weight, so what she says MAY be subject to interpretation.   )

Wu Ya Nan met us at the bottom of the stairs and then we walked over to the bus.  As we were walking he said “I haven’t seen you in training much lately” and I mentioned that I had been in Hong Kong for a week for work.  But he’s right and I’ve been reflecting lately about my lack of attendance in the wushu guan.  Once I get back from the competition (hopefully rared up and motivated from watching lots of good wushu) I really want to revamp my commitment to my training.  I need to get in the gym more.

After a while the rest of the taolu athletes came and loaded themselves on the bus.  I took video of the whole thing so you don’t need too many details from me here.  Sufficeth to say it was neat to see them get the send-off for competition.  Now I kind of wish I had been able to go with them on the train, but it is good that I have a few days in Xi’an still since I have a lot to do.

Here is the video for you to enjoy!

One good thing about today was that I went running in the morning.  I was meeting James and Adam at their place so I decided to make it a run and hoofed it over.  Here is the map and distance:

So, not a super long distance, just 2.1 km.  But it felt good to get out on the road again.  I walked back as well, so I guess that is another 2.1 km of walking I can add to that.  I’m going to really try to do more running during this week away in Hangzhou / Shanghai.  Actually, I have a commitment with James and Adam that we each will go running every day for 2 weeks, so that is extra motivation for me to do it as well.

Thats all for today.  There is some wushu classes at the Sports Center, but mainly just a few straggling kids.  I think I would rather focus on getting some of my projects finished so that when I come back to wushu after the competition I can really go at it full steam ahead.  Until then … lots of running!!

Related posts:

1. Competition Prep! T-Minus 1 Week