Chapter 2

I used to be an avid blogger. I started a blog (you can find the remnants of it here) and posted with enthusiastic regularity. I started blogging when I started taking triathlon seriously. You know, signed up for the big race and started being a serious athlete. I wanted to document that experience and it was my therapy, self medicating myself through words because I didn't really know what I was doing and I basically shut up shop on my social life to train for my big race. I really didn't know how else to deal with it.

I look back now and honestly, it is another version of myself. I took myself, the sport, my training, so seriously and didn't give myself zip in the way of flexibility or fun. Its how I've always operated whenever I committed to something that was big and scary so I just rolled out what I knew worked for me. As it turns out, it didn't really work for me.

I did my big race (Cairns 70.3) in June 2012. I finished in 5:42 and change and was hysterically disappointed. The result was so much worse then I had mentally and physically expected. Basically, I failed. Full stop. I took to the bed, cashed in my training and spent close to 6 months doing nothing but slumming it and sleeping. Oh and eating. That's the all or nothing approach to triathlon that is guaranteed one result - dismal failure.

I then spent another 12 months fiddling around with things. Was I a cyclist? Maybe I was a runner. Or maybe I'll be one of those girls who is happy going to yoga classes, body attack and some brisk power walks. A flash of bright light got me distracted onto something else. Christ. Who made sport so hard?

Me.

As it turned out, I made sport that hard. Why? Not sure. Partially because I didn't want to suck at it so I thought if I did that and only that, then I wouldn't suck. Well I proved that theory wrong.

Then I realised something. I liked other stuff! I liked coffee. Hanging out watching movies. Drinking wine. Working late (sometimes) and having good old bitch session with colleagues over a drink. Playing with my cat-dog. Sleeping (a lot). Cooking (and eating it). Wasting time surfing the net. Playing with my friend's babies. Taking photos. Contemplating life. Lots of stuff that isn't sports related. Why wasn't I doing this cool stuff more often?

So. This leads to this. The Whole Book. Three words that symbolise life. Its not just about one chapter, one hobby, one passion, one person, one job. Its everything, thrown in together, mixed up and spat out into this crazy busy bunch of fun. And it will give you the most amazing time if you let it and don't take it too seriously.

This time, you can expect different stuff:

- Some rambles about triathlon (cause I love it, its kinda interesting and who doesn't like a sport that makes people vomit (sometimes) and squish their private bits for hours on end....for fun???

- Gibberish about work. It's a given. 10 hours a day people, and I have some good material

- My cat-dog. I'm not a crazy cat lady, just a lady who loves her cat (big time)

- Cameo write ups about Pauly (aka cyclist extraordinaire, aka by BF)

- General philosophising about life, people and other things that pop up in my head that I think are SO IMPORTANT AND RELEVANT that I feel the need to write about them.

#thewholebookaustralia