Biathlon

I dreamed that my sister had talked me into competing in a biathlon. I struggled through the first leg of the race--the foot race. Every time I dream about running it's always the same: incredibly frustrating and slow, as though I'm running through chest-high water. This dream was no exception, and I fought through the foot race part, arriving at the bike race completely exhausted.

Ahead of me was my sister (in real life a bike enthusiast) and some other unidentified friends of mine. They were already taking their bikes and jumping astride as though they had found the foot race an enjoyable little diversion.

I took my bike out of the rack and followed the signs for the race course. Apparently part of the race was through a building, part of which included a school gym and part of which was something like a small grocery store. I rode into the grocery store room (very small) and navigated around the wire racks, trying not to knock anything over. I was very frustrated because I couldn't see the next arrow for the race course. I rode around and around this grocery room, getting increasingly angry. Finally, I rode over to this door (which had no race arrow) and saw, far ahead now, my friends and my sister. I rode out the door and, sure enough, across the road was the elusive race course arrow, pointing the way up a giant hill.

I started to ride up the hill, but quickly realized there was no way I could actually ride up that monster. I got off and started walking my bike. Suddenly I realized that I was dragging my bike; it was attached to my waist behind me. At this point, I was near tears because everyone had left me behind and also I was struggling to walk, again like I was walking through chest-high water.

I thought that I really wanted to finish the race for personal pride, but I was so tired, angry, and frustrated that I wanted to quit.