Monthly Report-October

The secret race. We are all on our own secret race to be successful. Whether mentally or physically, we are able to achieve more than the person sitting next to us, by the race, goals or journeys that we have for ourselves. “ The stages of life are filled with many firsts each fulfilling the final journey of life with memories that will last forever”. From the start of October, I was on my journey to the final race of the season in Auckland, NZ. A early start to the racing season in January, approx. 42 flights later, I am now currently on my break for the year.

Sitting down in my backyard and for the first few days, I read the book “The Secret Race” by Tyler Hamilton. He is a former Olympic gold medalist and a seven time Tour de France rider who talks about the secrets in the professional cycling world and  what it took to win- no matter what the cost. The book took me three days to finish and I was left wanting more. So many of the them cheated the system to achieve their goals by manipulation of their body. It was amazing to read about their opinions but no body will actually never know what happned. Everyone thought they were doing the right thing. If they wanted a career in cycling, they had no choice but to be involved. It is sad to thing what happened and the scandals that happened throughout the years. Its great to know that triathlon is working for a dope free sport with measures in place to keep it that way.

Other than having my head in a book, I have been busy catching up on things that I couldn’t normally do. With late starts, shopping, cleaning and spending more time with my family and friends. Taking my dog to the beach was good bonding for us and it makes me think about how the simple things in life that I miss. I found out how little I know about my home city, Sydney, as all the streets look the same and my unfamiliarness means walking in circles was the only way I was going.

I have attached a article from my local paper from Worlds and what I plan on doing over the next few weeks. I know I will never live it down that I am a cheesecake specialist. I still havent made one for my family yet! This made me sit in the local library for a few hours, flicking through the all the cook books, wondering what to cook. I have gone back to the basics of house wife duties, as my lack of ironing over the last 5 months is showing through. I think I might just stay in the kitchen J

Although the last bit of October has been about a break, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to October, training hard for Worlds with my “family” in Wollongong. It was enjoyable to be back in a familiar enviornment but everything still felt brand new as being away for 5 months, things were unfamiliar and different. The first 20 days were hard, challenging and I look forward to another 20 days just like that with high hopes for 2013, starting with a few months high in the sky in altitude in Falls Creek, Vitoria.

To end the month, a spent a few months catching up with the HUUB team in QLD, going through the exciting development for the company over the next few months and in the years to come for ITU, half and Ironman athletes. I am thrilled to be part of this journey with them as a expanding company. I was also pretty excited to be asked to come back to my primary school to talk at an Academic assembly to talk about excellence and how I have achieved it. With nothing much else to report, its time to enjoy having the legs up for alittle while!