“ It was 6:30 in the morning in Korea. My weight was 49.5kg. The competition was the next day and I had 1.5kg to lose. 25 hours were enough for this mission. I skipped breakfast and started getting dressed. First came the sweat suit, followed by two long, warm shirts over it, a sweatshirt, two pairs of long pants, gloves, warm hat, two pairs of socks and a coat. It was a little chilly outside, but I was wearing plenty of layers. I started running. One hour later I stepped back into my room, exhausted. I lay down on the floor and waited for my heartbeat to slow down. When I could stand again, I made hot tea with lots of sugar. The hot liquid would make my body sweat a little more, the sugar would bring back some energy, and I was so very thirsty. I only allowed myself a few sips before I poured all the rest into the sink so I wouldn’ t regret drinking too much. That was the only thing I drank that day. I undressed slowly, layer by layer, hoping to see dampness on the cuffs of my sleeves, droplets of sweat inside the sweat suit.
I’ d already lost about 3kg in the preceding few days. Usually I weighed less than 49kg at this point, but I had had a long flight, and yesterday when I ran my weight didn’ t drop. I didn’ t know why. I wasn’ t stressed yet, but when I stepped on the scale my heart sank. I weighed 49.4 kg. I had lost a mere 100 grams.
I had only one thing in mind: this weight has to go. At 11:00 I started running again. This time inside the hotel, back and forth in a short narrow corridor. It was terribly boring, but it was a bit warmer. I sang songs to myself, counted the times I passed by my room. Every time I got tired I burst into a short sprint. This time I ran for an hour and a half. My weight was 48.9 when I was done. I can’ t explain how happy I was when I saw the number 48 on the scale.
It was almost 13:00 and there were still 900 grams to go. There was no sauna in the hotel, so I prepared a hot bath in my room. I knew I wasn’ t going to lose much weight in the bath, but I didn’ t know what else to