Being one of the boys

August Camp. It has come around very quickly! What with a week away in Sheffield and then being ill for a few days as well as preparing for winter with work and the stress that created I'd left it too late to arrange accommodation with friends in Bath. Luckily the boys (Tim, Marcus and Craig) came to my rescue and offered me the spare bunk in their room at the White Hart Inn - a lovely pub at the bottom of Widcombe Hill which has dorms and houses some of the other skeleton boys.

So here I am, sat on my top bunk writing a quick blog. Marcus and Tim are watching YouTube videos of martial arts and Craig is either watching Pitch Perfect or learning the Sochi track. It is quite a change from the girls company that I am used to!

Laptop friends

So far the week has been good. Prior to the camp I managed to put together my most consistent block of training due to having (touch wood) no injuries. As a result I am back pushing 100% with the group. I feel a bit rusty and off balance but it is good to be back working on it and I can feel I am making good progress. But 'winter is coming' and a major task this week is to build our sleds ready for our first ice push camp in Sigulda and then our first sliding camp in Lillehammer. The toolboxes are out and the tape is fresh and we are spending almost as much time in the shed as Dave the Rave; the mechanic.

But enough business, here is what it is like to live as one of the boys...

Boys Team – training hard but wasting time harder (Wyatt, 2015)

Sharing 2 x bunk beds

One shower between everyone

One mirror between everyone

Two other skeleton boys, one other bobsleigh - boy city (lucky me)

YouTube videos – sumo v MMA, Will Ferrell everything

Farts

Craig’s one liners ‘Why Doesn’t Ashleigh message us in German?’

Dirty chat – constant. 

Craig saying ‘that’s what she said’ to anything and ‘she’d definitely get it’ to any female

A lot of eating

They actually bring their tools

Constant comments on gainz, praise for growing!

Said YouTube videos of sumo v MMA

What you don’t know about the boys

They watch (and enjoy) Pitch Perfect

2/3 had never eaten in Pizza Express before

1/3 had never had a beer with a meal

They worry about looking fat in photos

You can win them over easily with tea and biscuits

But as much as I am enjoying the change I am missing the Girls Team; here are a few of the reasons why!

We have teddies

The boys are always visiting us

We eat a lot too

We talk about boys!

The snuggles from Maddy

It is comfortable

We are here until Friday and then back off home until the 28th September when it all kicks off for winter basically. I will have started my sabbatical by then; therefore will be entirely self-funded. So I have also been using this week to fine tune my sponsorship proposal and prepare my crowdfunding campaign as well as networking to try and find contractual work and get all the advice I can! Here we go...

Roomies