With apologies for the delay – I recently found that it wasn’t as easy to carry on working seamlessly while on holiday in Australia as I’d hoped! – here is Part 8 of our wonderful young Bader Grant Recipient of the Month, Thomas Talbot’s, Sporting Journey.
We are so grateful to Thomas for sending in these great reports; an enlightening glimpse into the sheer hard graft that goes with following a dream, and the exhilaration that comes from each achievement that gets you a step closer to that goal. Thomas shows a level of determination and commitment that is worthy of a champion of the future and we have no doubt that that is what he’s going to be. We are immensely proud to have been able to support him on his Sporting Journey…
Read on for Part 8 in Thomas’s own words.
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Its not always hot on the track
Someone somewhere told me that June is supposed to be flaming hot. That was definitely not the case when we travelled up to York Athletics Track for the second York AC Summer League meeting. It was wet, wet, wet!
Despite the rain that came down all day and lots of puddles on the track I ran reasonable times for my 800m but it was slippy out there. I then ran my second fastest season time for my 100m and I ran a PB in my 200m! There were quite a few RaceRunners there and it was nice to catch up with them, despite the rain.
I did however get a bit of a cold and cough after York so I had to have a few days off training to recover. Lots of sleep, rest and honey to build me back up ….. and of course chocolate milk. A RaceRunners recovery drink!
I was quite pleased when we travelled down to Gloucester for the third Cerebral Palsy Sport Athletics Series at Gloucester Athletics track. It was a really hot and humid day for racing and I really had to manage my hydration and also not getting too overheated.
I ran my 100m and was really close to my 100m and also my 800m. I had a puncture on my back wheel just before my 800m and it was a real race against time to get the new inner tube in and pumped back up but thanks to my Dad, we did it.
My next race was my 200m and I ran a personal best in that race even as it was getting hotter on track. Good practise for Spain I guess!
The last race of the day was the 400m race and I ran a PB for my 200m I also got a second puncture on the other back wheel. I have never had that before but it was a good learning for us to carry more than one spare inner tube!
I wanted to say something about my new RaceRunner. I have the new Racerunner as it was made possible by the generous and kind support of the Douglas Bader Foundation who helped to fund it. I have been racing with it for two month now and I love it so much. Without the support from the DB Foundation – I wouldn’t be where I am now so thank you so much.
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We will be publishing Part 9, the final instalment, of Thomas’s Sporting Journey shortly and he has promised us a report on his experience at the Nationals, which will be well worth waiting for…Keep watching this space!
Helpful links: In the meantime here are some links to more from Thomas:
- Please click HERE to download a pdf of Thomas’s Sporting Journey Part 8, which can be printed and saved.
- Click on the link to find out more about Thomas and his Sporting Journey: /?s=Thomas+Talbot&from=dbf