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Slashdot | Amputee Sprinter Wins Olympic Appeal to Compete

"Oscar Pistorius, a 21-year-old South African double-amputee sprinter, has won his appeal filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport. This overturns a ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations, and allows Mr. Pistorius the chance to compete against other able-bodied athletes for a chance at a place on the South African team for the Beijing Olympics. He currently holds the 400-meter Paralympic world sprinting record, but must improve on his time by 1.01 seconds to meet the Olympic qualification standard. However, even if Pistorius fails to get the qualifying time, South African selectors could add Oscar to the Olympic 1,600-meter relay squad."

Read the whole thing at The Associated Press: Amputee runner wins right to try for Olympic spot

    Off to catch up on lost time with my Serenity. Will I ever stop coughing this stuff up. yuck.

Rededge-2

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More random things about me - for SandyU  who tagged me........

1.  I love Plain Non-Fat yogurt.  I have it for lunch every day.  My lunch has never been stolen out of the work fridge.

2. I do not watch any "reality" TV shows  - I seem to be the only person I know who doesn't.  However, I did watch the first season of Survivor all those years ago.

3.  I have peroneal tendonitis in my left foot.  I have had it for 2 years now.  I don't think it is ever going to get better - it is an "overuse" injury and I just can't see how you can not use your foot.

4.  I admit to having owned some Abba cassettes - but surely I did not purchase them myself! :-)

5.  For seven years I lived in a 12-storey apartment block with hundreds of others and only learnt the name of one neighbour.  Ophelia!  A fabulous name  - I wish I was called Ophelia. My father wanted to call me Fleur - I'm glad my mother resisted - though Fleur would be a good Vox name. 

6.  I think of worst case scenarios for every situation.  I am a "what if worrier".  What if robbers suddenly appeared to rob that armoured truck as I'm walking past,  what if my waiter just sneezed all over my plate and has some incurable disease spread by "droplets"; what if the plane really does have to make a water landing; what if the life jacket is not under the seat;  what if ..... you get the idea!

7.  I have morning "tea" at 10am every morning - weekday & weekends. Though this actually consists of coffee rather than tea; if I miss out for any reason I turn into a very nasty person.

8. I have probably eaten tons of chocolate in my lifetime.  I have still not perfected the art of making a box last longer than a day.  I intend to continue practising on this!

I was taking care of myself in all but a financial way by the age of seven. When your only parent has to go out to work you have not got much choice in the matter. There's no-one else around to do things for you and unless you want to stand still and do nothing [no thanks] there's plenty to be getting on with and it's called life. If I continue on this diet for much longer I do not think I could remain independent. Last night I just had to lay down and try to sleep. During sleep humans re-charge and generally wake up feeling full of energy. Well not today. Not this human. Today I do feel mentally a little brighter, a little sharper than when I went to sleep 4 hours ago but that's the only thing that did get better and I am sure that will not last long. Physically I am all out. I did start to do a little yoga but I could not keep my balance and struggled with simple postures. I could not manage to complete the first round of repetitions for the standard set of weights I normally enjoy every morning. There was no way I could do 10x3 I struggled to do 10 and that was that, I had to give up on it. So now I am losing strength and I am not able to gain any because I have become to weak to train. That's one of those lines that have been crossed because if I do not have the energy to fuel strength, then I will just deteriorate in ever decreasing circles and that's dangerous. Muscles will start to waste and my joints already feel starved of synovial fluid which makes it painful to move limbs. Just like a car will cease up without oil, the body starts to erode and dry out. I have to take note of these subtle warning signs and consider stopping this experience very soon. I need to get stuff from the shop and I love to walk in the rain but I am doubting if I could make it there and back to be honest. It's not that far but last night I could not be bothered to make it to the kitchen. The walk to the shop includes going up and down hundreds of steps and includes a nice steep hill that's a little daunting if you are not on form. I will consider calling this off today before things get seriously bad. I am not sure if I can learn much more now than I already have without risk. I will decide by the evening whether to continue or not but this 3 week point could be enough already as I don't think i can take much more and remain independent.