Settling in - Back to Reality

I've now been back for about two weeks, pretty much back to normal now and very very glad to be back home. Its taken a while to get acclimatized back to the weather again, the cold and wet is a great change in my opinion to high humidity and tropical temperatures.

I think the best experiance I had over there by far had to be simply the shooting event itself. I had already shot there in April but the fact that its a much bigger event seemed to have more of an effect on me. I was definatly more nervous then I ever have been when I went down on that line at the start of my match! Throughout the shoot there was a shift in the wind conditions which made for hard shooting. It must sound strange to say that I haven't trained much in the wind when I come from Palmerston North but the skill of reading has to be developed over many years of dedicated shooting.

Other experiances in Beijing include the Opening and Closing Cermonies which were both incredible. There are not many time in life where you get to see that many people in one place for the same thing. Just walking on the track with the other New Zealand atheletes is something that I will never forget. Words simply cannot describe how I felt.

The shopping was great fun and I got to meet a lot of other foreigners that had come to watch the Games, there were all excited to meet a Kiwi, some hadn't even heard of New Zealand before!

So since I've come home to Palmerston I've had to postpone my studies untill next year as its too late in the year to pick my papers back up. I'm holding a part-time job at Massey University in the IT department to keep myself going and currently taking a break from training for a month. The New Zealand outdoor season for shooting picks up soon and I am considering breaking out the rifle again for some more competition.

A big thanks to all who have supported me, every little bit went a long way and I am tremendously grateful for all the help I recieved. Here's hoping I'm still around to try again in 4 years time!

Rob