I had a really weird dream about the Pineapple Man last night. It has been at the front of my mind this week so now it's closely sneaking into my sleep as well.
Cast of Characters:
High School Acquaintance: I haven't really even thought about this person since high school but she showed up in my people you may know list on facebook so I was looking through some of her photos a couple days ago.
Tri Swimming Coach: There is a girl at the gym that teaches a triathlon swimming clinic at the pool. I haven't taken the class, but I've been on another lane while she was teaching it a few times before. She also teaches swim lessons to little kids at the gym which is where I saw her yesterday.
Heidi: Roommate
Sharon: One of the ladies I met in yoga class. She is also a cyclist. When I did the 33 mile route for the Cycle Jam she did the 100.
Dream:
Now that the cast of characters is established I can tell the dream without going off on tangents about who everyone is.
I show up for the Pineapple Man race ready to go. That morning I was running around getting everything ready last minute as is usual for me. I didn't dream anything about setting up my bike and other gear at the transition area. I just started at the swim. I was wearing my swimsuit not my triathlon clothes. Heidi was competing with me (she's not signed up in real life). At the start we jump in and start swimming together. The water is very clear, and my viewpoint is not from my eyes but through a video camera recording the scenes in a movie. The swim starts in an open area but narrows down through two high walls about 20 feet apart. There is red tape on the top of the water indicating the lane. If you go outside the lane you are automatically disqualified. I have trouble with swimming in a straight line so I was being really conscious about not going outside of the line. One of my fears going into the actual race is that I'll disqualify myself. In the out-of-bounds area, there are referees guarding and recording any violations. I am swimming along and I feel a pull on my ankle. The pull brings me under water just as I'm getting ready to take a breath. It is the high school acquaintance. She had pulled my ankle and was dragging me under water to the out of bounds area. She was playing dirty and intentionally disqualifying swimmers. Since I didn't get to breathe before getting pulled I had to surface in the out-of-bounds area. When I surfaced, the referee was the tri swimming coach. She said, "Player #X, your time won't count." I was devastated, but I wanted to finish anyways so I kept on swimming.
When I got to the end of the swim I arrived at a boathouse where we were to pick up our kayaks. I don't know how this happened because there is no kayaking leg of the Pineapple Man. I don't remember bringing my kayak to the race. Heidi was at the boathouse and pulled out two kayaks. That wasn't my kayak..."Heidi, where are our kayaks?" "They lost them," she said. What?!?! I get out of the water to figure out where my kayak was. I ran inside and it was like a maze. I couldn't find any kind of line or checkout system or anything. I saw Sharon and asked her where we were supposed to get our kayaks. She said we had to take our swim caps to the vending machine. I don't know what I was supposed to get out of the vending machine, but I went to the closest machine and it said to scan the UPC label on my cap. I took it off and sure enough there was a raised UPC that I scanned into the machine.
The rest of the details of the dream are fuzzy. The main theme was that it was a total mess and everything was going wrong. I remember thinking I was going to write an email to the race director expressing my disappointment. I know that the actual race will be well organized without devious players. I guess I've been nervous that I won't be ready. A couple days ago I had a really terrible workout where I could only run about half of the 2.76 miles I planned to run. I think that has allowed some doubt to creep in. I still have two weeks to get ready so I should be prepared for the race. I'm really excited for race day. Hopefully it is nothing like my crazy dream!
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