There’s more to life than winning every race, as I found out recently.
Making bucket lists, annual goal charts and creating mountains to climb are all very well, but what no-one warns you is that these attempted feats can push you to your limits, and challenge you in ways you hadn’t even considered – and there’s no guarantee you will achieve them.
During a recent trip to Chicago where I competed for Australia in my age group in the world triathlon sprint championships, I was confronted with failure, and came so close to not achieving my goal, it has taken me weeks to be able to write about it. After over 3 years of training, no social life, thousands of dollars in equipment, training, airfares and 5.00am starts, I almost didn’t make it.
Three and a half years ago I had never swum in the ocean, and never ridden a road bike with clip-in shoes, so a triathlon was the furthest thing from my mind when a friend took me to run club to lose a few kilos. Turns out it was a triathlon club, and before long I’d taken the challenge to complete my first triathlon in Byron Bay within 6 months – and that was only the first mountain I would climb.
The goals over the years came thick and fast – faster, longer, shorter distances, a week cycling the French Alps, and when I heard triathlon was the only amateur sport where you could represent your country at world level, I had to take the challenge.
