Daydreams and Nightmares

To find the wind you need only to open your wings.

James Kelly


Have you ever had one of these dreams?

It's Ironman, you've just gotten out of the water in a great time. You fly through transition and head out to the bike racks. Suddenly you think you have forgotten where you parked your bike. Come on man, it's got to be right in this row. One over from the big tree when I face the lake and half way down. Now where the heck is it?

This is the point you start to do that thing when you can't find your keys. You know, second guessing the fact that you were sure you put them right there. Right beside the phone when you came in. Well, obviously someone has moved my bike, or worse taken my bike by mistake.

Now the panic sets in. Your hollerin' for your bike louder than Jurgen Zack without a helmet. It's right at the point where you're just starting to get that sick feeling that this is the day you are not going to finish, when you wake up, sweat running down your back. And you say thank you out loud. Funny how a nightmare can be a thankful thing.

I know this feeling in a small but real way. One time I got to the start line late after hitting the snooze button one too many times. I was just about to hit the beach when I realized I had left my goggles in the hotel room. This day I was fortunate and found friends standing behind the swim transition fence and one of them ran back to my room for me and brought back my goggles. Just in time for the start.

Really, how many times have you looked into that sea of faces trying to source out someone familiar and seen no one. I have one or two of these dreams before every Ironman. I like to think of them as good luck omens. I remember one such dream I emerged from T2 and was half a km into the run before realizing I was naked. That one wasn't so bad, just seemed to scare a few kids.

There is no point I am trying to make here. I just wondered if anyone else had these dreams.