World Cup 13: Oz Again

So we had our match yesterday. We came out on top 10-6. It was a brutal game. I woke up this morning feeling like I was hit by a train. They really pressured hard and it took all we had to keep the score margin where it was. It should not have been as close of a game as it was, but I can't dwell in the world of "should have". Because of the way the rest of the matches wound up we will be playing Australia again on Tuesday because they are 7th and we are 6th. The top 4 right now are NZ, Eng, Can, and Fran. It's really frustrating that the set-up of this tournament is such that in the end the 4th place team will be 2-3, while the 5th place team will be 4-1. Doesn't make sense!


After our match we showered and watched the France vs England game. England won without much problem. I got to spend time with my parents before heading back to the hotel. There we ate dinner and then I went to get treatment from our medical staff seeing as I couldn't look over my right shoulder without a lot of pain. After that several of us wandered down to the lounge in the lobby for a drink. I didn't have one because I was tired and dehydrated and wound up coming back upstairs shortly thereafter and wound up watching some US Open repeats on tv.

This morning both Carrie and I completely slept through the alarm and only just woke up in time for breakfast. We staggered down and scarfed down some eggs and toast before our pool recovery session with Michelle. It was pretty easy. After the pool recovery I had a massage. They arranged to have 4 massage therapists come to the hotel for 3 hours to do massages. So I definitely took advantage of that.

Then we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our day off. There was talk of going to the mall, going to downtown edmonton, heading out to Elk Island National Park, etc. I was in the "how can I be as lazy as humany possible" crowd. So we decided to go to the mall and watch a movie and walk around a bit. We decided to see 'Wicker Man', which was #3 in the box office. It was horrible, but on a positive note it really allowed the brain to completely shut-down for 2 hours, so it served one decompression option.

After the movie we wandered back through the 48 city blocks worth of mall to the entrance that KTP had dropped us off at earlier in the day. One thing to note that we discovered is that the Budget rental vans are taller than 6'6", since we clipped all of the over head barriers on our way into the parking lot. Luckily they were all attached with chains and not solid.

Jen and I went out to dinner with my mom and step-dad. We went to a little indian restaurant that was really good. This was the first time that Jen has spent any significant time with my mom and step-dad, and things went remarkably well. There was no lack of things to talk about with John's love of sports and their love of travel... I hope it can be a continued rapport developed between all of them as time goes on. When we got back to the hotel the mindlessness continued with watching 'Maid in Manhatten', more tennis, and recently '13 Going on 30'. After spending a considerable time hanging out in Jen's room talking with Pam, Jen, and Maggie, I decided it was time to get to bed so that I could get ready for another day of hard training tomorrow. We've really got to get focused because Australia's going to come out hard against us on Tuesday because they've got something to prove. And we have as well, so the next several days will be quite intense... so I should get to sleep and I'll finish this and upload the pictures and such tomorrow before our practice session in the morning.

So this morning was very grey and blah... we woke up to thunder and lightening and lots of rain. It's the kind of day that cries for cuddling, movies, and hot chocolate. I got a few of those this morning after practice. Now I'm packing for the day. We have one practice session this afternoon and then we're having another BBQ at Susan's house. Unfortunately I don't think the weather's going to be as nice this time around as it was last time, but we'll see. Now it's time to head to practice to prepare for Australia again.