The times of my life

Hello once more

I feel very lucky. I have just taken part in a Paralympics in my home country, broken my personal best records, am a very proud owner of a silver medal and have been able to soak up the atmosphere from a great 11-days of competition.

If anything was going to drive me on and to continue competing until the Paralympics in Rio 2016, it was the London 2012 Paralympics. It was a fabulous experience.

Some people have asked me about whether I am disappointed with my results from London. I am the first to admit that post each race there was some element of disappointment as on one level I had not quite reached the targets I had set myself. However, when I walked off the track after the 100m final and my heat in the 200m, I was walking off with new personal bests. As a sprinter there is nothing else you can do, run as hard as you can and produce a personal best.

In just about every Paralympic sport world records have been falling. Athletes from across the globe have taken our sports to a new level and the challenge now is to respond. I am confident that Mikhail and I can rise to that challenge. On the road to Rio we have the world championships next year and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (I am delighted that the T12 100m is currently included in the main athletics programme).

The last few weeks have been like living in a different world. It is not common for Paralympic athletes to have so many people cheering them on. Hopefully, many of those who came along to watch the Paralympics will venture out to support other events between now and the next games in Rio.

Having the accommodation village so close to the stadium was great. While I did not venture over too often while competing, any time Paralympics GB won a medal in the Olympic Stadium we could hear the roar very clearly even when our windows were closed. I am sure that says more about the volume of the roar than the sound proofing in the apartments.

The last few days of the Paralympics I spent with friends, family and met the people who had won competitions through ESPC to come to London. After missing out on attending the opening ceremony (standing around for 4-hours is not good for a sprinter) I was able to go to the Closing Ceremony and it was wonderful. The picture is of Richard Whitehead (gold medallist in the 200m) and me in our Paralympics GB finest outfit.

Now I have four weeks off. My coach has instructed me not to do any training as my body and the mind needs time to recover. As weird as this seems, that might be quite hard to do as training is such a big part of my life. Once the holiday is over it will be time to start my winter training programme as the preparations for next season begin. It will be good to return to life with a bit of routine to it.

During October I will be visiting 5 schools in East Central Scotland with ESPC and a few other things. I am really looking forward to them as school visits are a great part of my job.

Thanks for all the support

Libby

P.S. Take a look at the video message that ESPC put together will all my supporters!