If you haven’t realised by now, not only do I love my Kinesiology, but I also love getting out and about in the beautiful sunshine.

As you know, if you have been reading my blogs (shame on you if you haven't), the world of triathlon entered my realm a few years ago.  Not being one content sitting on the sidelines and watching, I decided to try it myself. I competed in my first (200m swim/10km cycle/3km run) triathlon on my 37^th birthday this year and most recently, my 4^th and longest (1km swim/33km cycle/7km run).

You would think the challenge here would have been the length, the endurance, and the mental toughness, yet, no. The toughest, or most interesting part was the conditions.

The Conditions

Let me help set the scene for you.

It’s 6am Sunday morning at Calypso Bay, an exclusive newish canal estate, halfway between Brisbane and Gold Coast. As most of Australia are only thinking of waking from their slumbers, I am in the cool murky waters, orange bathing cap on, waiting anxiously with other competitors for that siren to blow. The sun isn’t shining, the skies are not blue and yes, it is starting to rain. Not quite that perfect Queensland weather!

The siren blows and I’m off and racing. Legs, arms, and white water are all I see. I get mushed in the face, kicked, slapped and dragged down by stray legs and arms, but finally I make it. As I run to my bike, the rain gets heavier and I find my cycle shoes filled up with pools of water. Nice!! I squelch into them and continue on my merry way. The cycle course is not so bad, apart from the continuous driving rain (who needs to see anyway), and I chuckle to myself, not quite believing my current reality.

I make my way home to start my 7km run and the rain is now so heavy I can barely see 2 feet in front of me. I squelch into my pink racing flats, put my soggy visor on (for the rain, not the sun) and begin my run. I try to avoid the bigger puddles, as a girl still wants to look her best and doesn’t want to get too muddy!! I run, run, and run, and it continues to rain, rain, and rain. How fascinating and how hilarious!

Before I know it, it’s all over. I’m done and dusted and I’m in the mud again, sipping water and eating watermelon, oh, and freezing to death. What a morning!!

The moral to this story

When I started Triathlons, I always dreamt that every race day was going to be perfect – picture perfect blue skies, crystal clear calm waters, gentle breeze to keep me cool and lots of spectators to cheer me on. What I didn’t factor in was reality.

Dreams and reality can be quite different.

We can dream about how we want our picture perfect lives in our picture perfect world, however, to make it a reality, we need to place ourselves right smack bang in the middle of it. We need to explore all the scenarios, warts and all, to discover how it would really feel. It is only then that we can start putting those dreams into action, and truly see if those dreams fit our reality.

When you explore all possibilities of a dream you soon realise if they are ones you should be working towards, or simply ones there for your emotional pleasure.   The more real they feel, the more comfortable you will be in attaining them. So this doesn’t mean to stop dreaming, it just means to factor in some reality.

So now I have gotten my reality check on what it is truly like to compete in a Triathlon, rain, hail or shine, I am well prepared for my next adventure – Noosa!  Wish me luck!!