Destination: AUSTRALIA!

I love DESTINATION posts; they are my favorite.  There’s something about packing up and discovering new places that I find incredibly exciting, renewing, and always a very in-your-face time to learn about yourself. When you leave the comforts of home, you invariably get an up-close view of who you are.  Like it or not.

Travel was a big part of my life before triathlon. Now, if I can ever combine the two, I jump at it. It’s certainly not the same kind of adventure that I sought out before, but it’s still an adventure, albeit a different one.  I’m not sure what’s more painful: overnight Ecuadorian buses, or racing endurance events?  Strangely, I find them both gratifying in their own way.

A month or so ago I  applied to race on the U.S. Pro Team for ITU Long Distance Worlds in Perth, Australia. While I thought it’d be a long shot, I figured I’d have nothing to lose, and if I got it, well, it would pretty much be one of the coolest excuses that I’ve ever had to travel across the world for a race!

Last year I had to bail on Belgium after the hip injury, so getting to wear that uniform a year later is a wonderful turn of events.  I was VERY pleasantly surprised to get selected for this one.

Then, something funny happened.  While I’d like to say my focus was most definitely on the TRIATHLON, I have to admit that I was far more intrigued with the destination.  As a result, my “research” into the race was just shy of Kindergarten level.  The whole time I thought it was a half ironman distance race.  Nope.  It’s 2x olympic distance.  Let me spell it out for you:  3k swim, 48mile bike, 12.4 mile run.

THREE THOUSAND METER SWIM . . . with a SHORTER bike.   Not exactly how I would’ve designed it, but for some reason ITU didn’t consult with me prior to laying out the plans.  The nerve.

So it’s definitely a race that plays to the swimmers, but it will be fun to get out there and rip it up to the best of my ability.  I feel great on the bike and run and am so ready to race again.  I love that it’s a flat course, and did we forget that it’s AUSTRALIA?  I mean, who really cares about a few (thousand) extra meters to swim? 

I depart this weekend and the race is on Sunday, October 25th.  I plan to keep the bloggy alive and kickin’, and will post photos along the way, so stay tuned.  I am super stoked to be flying the pimped-out Emirates Airlines, with a layover in Dubai.  Nothing like a brief R&R in a rich oil nation’s airport.  It’s gotta be better than Lima, Peru, right?  (But we did have fun there, didn’t we, Bianca?!) I am trying to coerce my (Lebanese) mom into giving me a crash course in Arabic over the next 5 days, so that I can order my tabouli and grape leaves like a pro.

More to come.  Thanks for checking in.