I have spent a lot of time in the pool lately, not being able to run and cycling needing a bit more planning and time swimming is the easier option. Staring at the black line as you do lap after lap gives you time to think and the mind wanders...
Song lyrics are a favourite keep me going, often random and with no real clue as to where it has come from they just get in my head and loop. At the Windsor triathlon last year i remember on the bike course singing in my head (thankfully not out loud) the chorus to "it's not fair" by Lilly Allen. Good song sure but not that good!!
Other daydreams are around conversations that i have had and what i could or should have said had i been a bit sharper or more interested. Then there are answers to solutions at work and home that come with the clarity you acheive when the mind is empty. In that way swimming and running are, for me, very meditational. Repetitive actions with little thought really required, unlike cycling where you need to stay mentally focussed and sharp, and i just zone out.
The daydream that has been recurring most of late is the ambition to be a writer. The thought of writing a novel is just amazing. I find myself playing with plot lines and searching for the story that i could write that has enough substance to be a novel rather than just a short story. I have written short stories before and even went to the step of sending them to a publisher for review and consideration. I had a really good critique letter back suggesting that if i had 40-50 such peices of work they could be considered. That was about 10 years ago and in the intervening period i have started maybe 50 but only completed to my satisfaction maybe 2 further short stories. I also started a novel (ha!) a few years back, i have around 29,000 words written, and i guess that to complete that should be a first target.
Now that i am injured maybe it's time to remind myself of where it was heading and perhaps look to work on it some more.
The funny thing is i have never daydreamed about winning races or anything like that. I have daydreamed about being a pro-athlete but that is such pie-in-the-sky that it is ridiculous and more a case of not wanting to get old than anything in reality. I still have sporting targets i want to hit e.g. sub 3hr marathon and and ultramarathon but they are targets to be trained for.
Writing a book is a very different target, now i have time maybe it's time to do something about it....
