The Chris Manifesto

There are three things I will write about on this blog: triathlon, teaching and diabetes.

Let's try a timeline to provide some background:

January 1984: Born

October 1987: Brother, Tim, is born.

May 1989: Sister, Annie, is born.

June 1989: I apparently cried after failing to make the Australian Ashes team.

August 1989: Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Also known as Juvenile Diabetes. It's significant that my father is a doctor, my mother was a nurse and these two effectively diagnosed me, even if not officially.

September 1989: Canberra Raiders win Grand Final.

October 1994: Dad tells me that some guy won some Ironman event in Hawaii. I dismissed it since Trevor Hendy wasn't involved. If Trevor Hendy wasn't involved, it could't have been a real Ironman.

1995: I Discovered Triathlon after being tricked into watching one after it named itself "Ironman". Decided that while this isn't surf life saving, it is a sport and since it is a sport, I must try it.

November 1997: After two years of training, finally raced the "Eat more Fruit'n'Veg" triathlon in Canberra at Lake Burley Griffin. I got my head stuck in the arm hole of the cotton singlet in T1, crashed my mountain bike on the dismount line and I narrowly lost to my friend from down the street (who went on to race professionally and represent Australia in Elite ITU competition).

January 1998: Commenced boarding schooling (living away from home).

February 2002: Commenced University (permanently leaving home at age 18).

July 2007: Decided I'm not satisfied with where my Double Degree in Business and Law has got me and enrolled in Graduate Diploma in Education.

March 2008: Started dating my girlfriend, April.

September 2009: Represented Australia in the ITU World Championships on the Gold Coast, in the 25-29 age group.

December 2009: Graduated with a Graduate Diploma in Education.

January 2010: Commenced teaching on contract at Balmoral State High School.

September 2012: Represented Australia in the ITU World Championships in Auckland, in the 25-29 age group.

April 2013: Recommenced teaching on a casual/supply basis.  This was brought on by my decision to quit my full time job (34 hours per work, so technically part time) to be able to train full time as a triathlete and hopefully qualify to race ITU Elite races.

So there's the context for everything I will write about.

I plan to write once during the week and once on the weekend until the 2013 Noosa Triathlon.