Germany’s biathlon hopeful Justus Strelow regularly writes for sport.de about his experiences in the World Cup. This time he reports on his girlfriend’s concerns that he is overpacing in his free time.
Late in the night I returned home from the World Cup in Antholz. Finally Erfurt again, finally your own four walls again. How I missed that! I quietly unlock the apartment door, leaving the light off in the hallway so that Elli doesn’t wake up. It’s 2:30 a.m. and she has to go back to the university to study tomorrow – so it’s important to sleep in as long as possible without interruption.
Done: I changed my clothes as quietly as a mouse, brushed my teeth and am now lying happily in bed. 9th place in the sprint and 16th place in the pursuit still in mind and two days off before I start direct preparation for the home World Championships in Oberhof.
The next morning it still has to be done quickly, even if there is no training on the program. During my absence in the past few weeks, the individual parts for our new desk have been delivered, and I absolutely want to assemble it today. Tinkering, working, screwing, that’s exactly my world, as I like to have something to do anyway and look for work if necessary. Elli knows that I really hate being lazy.
I promise: an hour of Xbox on the sofa!
As soon as we had breakfast together, I started with the preparations and first made room in the study. Now I want nothing more than to finally start building. I hear Elli quietly arguing in the kitchen before she leaves for the university. “Give yourself a little rest on your day off and don’t do anything for at least an hour, Justus!” she whispers. “It’s alright,” I say, promising her that I’ll follow her instructions and play Xbox on the sofa for an hour.
After enduring 60 minutes of Ride 4, a motorcycle game, with an iron will, I go back to our study. There the individual parts are neatly unpacked and ready for assembly: an electrically height-adjustable frame and a wooden board 2.35 meters wide. Elli and I want to be able to sit next to each other on it tonight.
At first I have to search for the instructions, which are hidden a little too deep in one of the boxes. Then things can really get going and I’m in my element. I screw and hammer, the ideal way for me to switch off and calm down. Time goes by without me noticing. At the end I only have to carefully put the screwed together frame on its feet and then place the heavy plate over it.
Our new desk is a real masterpiece
In the evening the key turns in the lock. Elli is back from university. “Yes, darling, I kept the break with the Xbox,” I call down the hall, “but now come quickly to the study!” I proudly raise and lower the desktop a few times at the touch of a button. Everything works perfectly. We’re both beaming.
After dinner we celebrate the premiere together. Our new desk fills the entire width of the room and offers enough space to work on it at the same time, Elli on the right and I on the left. I dedicate myself to her Christmas present: a photograph of the two of us as a paint-by-numbers picture, which I carefully color in with the brush and the supplied acrylic paints.
I admire my Elli out of the corner of my eye: How persistently she learns for the upcoming exams in the evening! The day ends exactly as it went – happy and as perfect relaxation before the strenuous gallop to the World Championships in Oberhof!
Please keep your fingers crossed for me
Your Justus Strelow