Pavlova Dreaming

If you call me crazy, I won’t take offense. I just finished riding FIVE hours straight on my trainer. I needed to log a long ride, and the rain has been fairly relentless, so I gave into staying dry and watching movies and the Tour of California prologue.

At times the rain let up enough for me to wonder whether or not I was simply being a girlie wimp by staying indoors. But to be honest, I’m a bit spooked by the wet roads. I had a rather unfortunate crash during a race back in September (nothing to do with wet roads, simply an errant water bottle tossed under my front wheel), and five months later I’m still slightly gun-shy on the bike.

So I jammed away for five hours – 5:10, in fact, as I kept pedaling long enough to see the final finishers in the prologue – and topped it off with a 40 minute transition run. Incredibly, I felt great on the run! I had strong, fresh legs – legs that could keep going for another three hours or more. For the first time, I’m starting to have a good feeling about this race!

While running, I thought back to one of the first conversations that MJ and I had about our impending trip to Australia. It wasn’t anything to do with training or the race itself, no mention of heart rates or tempo runs or mental focus. This inspirational chat was all about the dessert we will eat following the main event. There is something called pavlova - a massive indulgent fluffy concoction of meringue, whipped cream and fresh fruit – and when MJ describes it she sounds near-drunk with the prospect of the sugar-rich fruity dream.

There are apparently several sweet treats native to Australia (or New Zealand, depending on who you ask!) that verge on obsession for MJ and various other Aussie athletes residing in San Diego. When MJ travels home, she goes armed with an empty suitcase and a wish list from her friends. On my one previous trip to NZ and OZ I became a fast fan of Milo, a chocolate malt drink similar to Ovaltine. I hear talk of a cookie called Tim Tam and various other unique candy treats. And while I’m actually not a sweets fanatic, I’m really looking forward to my education in decadence down under. Perhaps I should pack an empty bag!