Blessed

As I write, it is 4:45 a.m. June 21st, 2012 which, I guess, makes this the longest day of the year and the first day of summer. These two facts are the bread to my sandwich of fear and self-doubt. I woke up worrying about the bike rental for the sprint-tri event: will it be a jalopy? Will it be too big? Will I need to fix the seat? How am I going to do that? Up to now, I have focused my anxiety on the swimming part of the event. It hadn't occurred to me that the biking part might also be my undoing. Plus, the traffic runs on opposite sides of the street here which results in a few tourist casualties, I'm sure.
And the swimming. Lord, the swimming.
When I began this blog six months ago, I think I confessed that I had finished last in a few events. I think I also confessed that I have always had a kind of hope for athletic success that would result from all of this hard work and training, that at worst, I would have my "Breaking Away" moment. I am back to thinking that I will come in last or not finish, or not even start. I have to do a lot of self talk to return to the origins of wanting to do the event in the first place. I will complete the event. Repeat. Ego out of flow. It is not the result that matters in an event which hasn't happened yet, right?




I am a reasonably fit person, mainly from running this eclectic array of races, as you can see. At a boot camp class last year, I was asked by a young woman, maybe 25 years my junior, "Ma'am, are you okay?" The word "ma'am" in itself is an affront. The idea that I would have come across in the class as not okay was more offensive to me. I guess from appearance (read: greying hair) I might be what some people think is polite to call ma'am. It is true that I was a little out of breath and trailed the group during our running segments. In combination with the ma'am, though, this concern really rubbed me the wrong way. This is a nice way of putting it. Ego again?
Yesterday, here in Lovina, Bali, a young girl named Ari was trying to sell me some bracelets on the beach. She is 12 and will probably never leave this place, but she asked me my name and how old I was as if we were peers, a seasoned beach vendor, Ari is at 12. She didn't expect that my answer would be 100. I did not, however, feel patronized in her sweet inquisition. I am so blessed and fortunate to be here in the first place and Ari reminded me of this.




This project has gone from the challenge of signing up and finding swimwear to an all out assault on my confidence at times. I am still in the middle of it, and I suppose just finishing the event is reward enough. This comes from a person who no longer buys lottery tickets because I am genuinely disappointed when I don't win.

Maybe I am not the non competitive person I thought I was.

Happy summer.

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Location:Lovina, Bali

Lovina Flow

I had one of the most incredible runs of my life today. This must be what runners call the "high" and I can see why it would be addictive. Chemically, this five minutes of joy must have been the result of a perfect storm of endorphins, serotonin, hormones and actually running downhill. The soundtrack was the Inception theme in a deep house trance d.j. mix in the middle of some weird podcast of dance music I downloaded.

I am having one severe bad hair day after another here, but man that run was awesomely epic.

I cried. There was no effort. It was flow and now I know.

Holy shit. Unfortunately, I will be missing the bike blessing ceremony this Friday in Jimbaran. Paul arrives on Saturday and Sunday is the big day.

According to Mr. Angsoka, the owner of my hotel here in Lovina, Kalibukbuk village, today the Balinese are celebrating iron. I might have missed something in the conversation, but there did seem to be an increased number of offerings while I was out and about.


That run, though. Wow.

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Location:Kalibukbuk Village, Bali

Monkey Run

Jet lag kills brain cells, that or mine were already pretty damaged to think that I'd actually do a triathlon scott free. The lack of Scott freedom part has to do with not swimming at all for the few weeks leading up to the race in Jimbaran. As you know, I have a lot of fear about getting physically assaulted and drowning, though uncharacteristically, I am not too worried about finishing that part of the event. But still.

I am in Ubud, Bali for another few hours and in today's morning run, this is what I saw:




I love Monkey Forest Road and didn't expect it to be so literal. At 6:00 a.m. before the tour buses arrive, many dozens of monkeys crisscross the street. I must do research on Monkeys.

Today, Though, I head north to Lovina, in part because at heart I am a beach bum and initially was very attracted to this place because of its name. There have probably been dumber reasons for visiting a place, right?

When I travel, it does take a few days for me to balance the rhythm of cultural differences. I tend to talk too much and laugh too easily when I am nervous, and as I find my place here, I have been doing quite a bit of both so far. Oh well. Still feeling astonished and blessed and (miraculously) injury free, though I did fall down on that Monkey Forest street and have had numerous close calls with the "sidewalks" here. In fact, I witnessed a terrible motorcycle collision yesterday, its sound jarring and disturbing. Two young women walked away perfectly fine.

All the best. Six days to go.

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Location:Ubud

Budding in Ubud

It took 36 hours to get here from Toronto. Each leg of the journey was a kind of blessing and now the technology of capturing the moment is causing trouble.




I'm all ears and eyes and awkward sidewalk adjusting limbs here. It's the middle of the night. I am going out for a run this morning even if it kills me. One of the flights, the 13 hour one between Vancouver and Taipei almost did as I was super ill. Very bad. When I informed the lovely flight attendant that I thought I was going to "be sick", she returned in minutes with a fairly large China Airlines plastic shopping bag. Not as discrete as I'd hoped.
I won't go into details.
It's, of course, comical now because it all got much worse before it got better, which it did... in time.
Someone I know from Montreal and haven't seen in years was on the same two flights to Bali. He's on his honeymoon. His wife works as an meteorology analyst for the aviation industry and this seemed like a good luck charm for onward travel.
In the Taipei airport:




See you later.
Ubud is absolutely stunning. My first gado gado was awesome too.
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Location:Jalan Hanoman,Ubud,Indonesia

Getting There

It's the middle of the night. I am in the Vancouver airport after narrowly averting disaster. My flight from Toronto to Vancouver was delayed because a couple and their "two" year old were ejected from the flight. I feel lucky to have managed to run across this huge airport to check in for the 13 hour flight to Teipei. At some point tomorrow (a concept that involves three tomorrows) I will get to Ubud, Bali, the first town on the itinerary.
The run to the gate here in Vancouver is likely to be the only training I'll have for a few days.
Love the taper...




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Running in Traffic

Before I got to this:


I had to cross this:



A little bit of vertigo enhanced the experience.

I leave for Bali next week and the training continues in its way. Since arriving in Toronto, the swimming has vanished.

Here's hoping that thinking is at least as good as doing.



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Countdown

I have been having worried feelings about the training. On the one hand, it's same old same old, putting one foot, or arm (as the case may be) in front of the other. On the other hand, the tri begins with hundreds of people kicking me in the head as their competitive selves hurl forward.

That's a lot of body parts.

I still haven't decided on an outfit, though I did get a race belt and apparently the bike and helmet I've rented will be delivered to the Jimbaran accommodation.

Truth is, I don't see myself doing this kind of race again.

Unless...



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