I have an itch that can't be scratched.*

It seems so long ago, way back in December when I took part in my first stage rally in the co-drivers seat. It was a successful outing too, finishing third in class in worse than dicy conditions. I still look at that trophy with more pride than any other medals I've won for anything else.

Dan and I. Third in Class, first time out. Might be the proudest I've ever felt.

Then of course there was the coming down after the high of successful competition. I was warned about the Rally Hangover. The coming down from the adrenaline high of competition. 

"Yeah, right" I thought to myself.

But no. It's real, very real. If anything, I thought it might be similar to the feeling I'd felt after completing a successful run in a play on the Amateur stage, coming down after all the good newspaper reviews  and resounding rounds of applause from the audience. No. It was worse. A lot worse. I probably needed these.

(Not really a cure for Rally Hangover.)

Now a few more months have elapsed, I still look at that trophy and glow with pride, but the hangover has gone, replaced by the itch for competition. I'm chomping at the bit to be out there calling pace notes. I went out and bought myself a race suit. Put that down as one of the things I thought I'd never say. 

"I've bought myself a race suit".

No. I'm not a QuickFit fitter. The white stripe on their suits was vertical.

Then there's the friendship and camaraderie with my fellow competitors. I didn't know what to expect that first time. I thought the drivers might be a wild bunch of adrenaline junkies and the co-drivers might all be studious types stood in a seperate corner discussing Satre and Proust where I might have been able to talk about Senna and Prost. I was totally wrong on that one. I now interact with these people nearly every day wether it be sharing things on Facebook, or being invited to events as varied as motor race viewing parties or gourmet food and beer evenings. They are a great bunch of people. 

So, I've renewed my RallyAmerica license, and I'm ready to go. To the Headwaters Rally, I've paid the entry fee. 

It's in May. The end of May.

May is still long way away. 

I've been studying videos of other co-drivers to see how they do what they do, even listening in to them in foreign languages, hoping to pick up pointers. Dan and I have sat down and analysed our performance  and worked on how to call things in future. Things are looking good. I reckon we'll do better than third in class sometime this year. (I know, pride comes before a fall and all that.)

I'm sure that having made this brash prediction, many of my fellow competitiors won't let me forget it. 

*a reference to the Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell" sketch. Something I truly hate