21 Things You May or May Not Know About Me – June Report

If you have missed pictures of me with a new coffee machine or out to dinner in the Basque country of Spain then you probably wouldn’t know I hit a milestone this month. I woke up on the 18th of June and realised I was halfway to 42 and had a day of hard training in wet and cold weather or to be more optimistic I was 21! Since I have already sent out a few race reports from races in June, I am sure you are aware training is moving along nicely and I am thoroughly enjoying myself in Vitoria Gasteiz. So I thought I would compile a list of things about me from my 21 years of life that depending on who you are, may or may not know…

1. I grew up living on the grounds of a primary boys boarding school. Located in the Southern Highlands in New South Wales. This allowed me to enjoy l, hundreds of acres to play on, a 25m swimming pool, tennis courts, dams, bike tracks and ropes courses

2. I always wanted to be a boy. I blame my 2 older brothers and fact #1.

3. I vomited in every single public swimming pool I visited.

4. I vomited during any car trip over 2 hours. Luckily I have got over both of these.

5. I cried for the first 2 hours of school every single day. School took a little while to grow on me as this lasted for my first 18 months

6. I loved computer games. Mainly ‘Rollercoaster Tycoon’ and ‘The Sims’

7. By the age of 12 I had caused the family computer to crash 3 times. I believed I had the technological skills of Julian Assange.

8. I despised dresses. Most days my ‘get-up’ included Mambo hand me downs from my brothers or overalls resembling ‘Dennis the Menice’

9. At one stage I was sure I was going to be a ballerina. The latter is a reason why I gave this career the flick

10. I was ecstatic when I found out I needed braces. Mum and Dad felt the opposite about this. $$$

11. I attended an all girls high school. Living at a boys school definitely balanced everything out but I was still forced to wear dresses.

12. I tried every single sport available. Swimming, Tennis, Softball, Hockey, Netball, Basketball, Cross Country, Athletics, Martial Arts and Cricket.

13. I dislocated my knee at the age of 15 playing hockey. It wasn’t the best feeling lying on the hockey pitch for 40mins with my knee cap on the side of my leg.

14. From the age of 13 to 18 I woke up at 4am 6 mornings a week for swimming training. I don’t regret this one bit, the decision was always mine and it shaped me as a dedicated athlete.

15. My best pool swimming events were 100m and 200m breastroke. At 15 I discovered 5km and 10km open water and pool racing never appealed to me again.

16. I was sure I was going to be a runner. This was until I was exposed to triathlon at 19 and I haven’t looked back since.

17. I have a bad habit of staring at people. I am easily entertained by ‘people watching’, although I am told I look very judgemental. If you ever find I do this to you, I apologise in advance.

18. I am not often in a bad mood. I suppose this is a good thing but when I find myself with a bad disposition, it’s pretty bad.

19. In the past 18 months I have learnt an unbelievable amount. This is mainly due to my coach Jamie Turner and my training group. I have learnt to travel the world, love the bike, and have fun. I couldn’t ask for a better group of people to be my second family!

20. For the first time in my life I lost someone very close to my heart. I recently found out my dog Simba was put down the day after my birthday. For 12.5 years he gave me so much joy and this gave me a lot of heartache. He was the first boy I ever loved.

21. I plan on making the next 21 years better than the last!