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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)
A Report On My Pretty Cool Month-Long REAL Wellness Adventure
I spent September in Australia, plus a few days in North Carolina on the way home. While I believe that reports on the theme "my truly cool experiences abroad while you stayed home" are best limited to school assignments in grades K through 12, I thought a brief summary of my truly cool month long wellness adventure might be of some interest. I hope so.
My wife Carol and I stayed in Brisbane, Gold Coast and Canberra. We were hosted by Rod and Karyn Lees (Brisbane) and John and Christine Miller (Canberra), two Aussie quality of life experts of great distinction. We also enjoyed a long weekend reunion on the Gold Coast with long-time co-conspirator in irreverent REAL wellness Grant Donovan, who came over from Perth for the occasion.
The adventure featured multiple highlights and boundless little pleasures on a daily basis, which I will exaggerate in my memoirs. For now, in this briefest of space, I'll mention just five and stick with the facts.
One highlight was a guided tour of Canberra, the Australian capital. This portion of the trip included a visit to Parliament, which was in session at the time and featured robust debates with the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet in attendance to defend their policies against critics in the opposition party. Despite my fascination with the debates, I nodded off after an hour, only to be politely awakened by heavily armed guards, who diplomatically noted that everyone in the visitors galley must remain conscious during these crucial deliberations. Unable to comply, I departed soon thereafter. Other sites visited were the Stromlo Forest Park running track, the Black Mountain Tower and the Australian National Art Gallery. While in town, I had occasion to lecture at a John Miller seminar on occupational health, fitness and well-being. John is pictured below with his wife Christine and my wife Carol.
A second highlight was winning the Australian lottery. Well, not quite but surely the next best thing. I refer to the experience of hearing my name called as the winner of the Grand Prize at the opening ceremonies of the World Triathon Championship. Imagine—6000 athletes from all over the world, each with one entry, and mine was drawn for the prize. I won what has to be the greatest racing bike on the planet—a Teschner SL9—fully loaded (tricked out), a value of around ten grand. Later, I met Peter Teschner, owner of the company, an enthusiast for REAL wellness himself—and got to ride a demo Teschner cycle in the race (loved it). When I grow up, I want to be a poster boy/evangelist for Teschner bikes. If given the opportunity, I might ride down the aisle en route to a podium at a future wellness talk astride the spectacular Teschner SL9 wonder machine.
The third highlight was a dinner party in Brisbane with the top executives of the National Wellness Institute of Australia. We discussed the future of wellness for the people of Australia and the rest of the whole wide world.
Participants were Tom Cuddihy, a senior lecturer in Human Movements at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and Bob Boyd and Rod Lees, distinguished world leaders in REAL wellness promotion. Accompanying Bob, Rod and yours truly were our wives Sally, Karyn and Carol, respectively. Whether this glorious repast will prove to be a turning point in a wellness revolution, arrest global warming while sparking the rise of better human beings remains to be seen. Basically, it was an evening of good food, good company, good conversation and friends flying in from all over or, as one reveler said to me, "I tell you Don, this is the best of times."
The fourth highlight was the race. My account of this thrilling event (well, thrilling for me), a story inspired by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche about the World Championship Sprint Triathlon, was described earlier at this site. If you missed it, click here.
The final major highlight took place after leaving Australia. We stopped off in Concord, NC where I tried my luck in the World Duathlon Championship. In this race, I won a silver medal.
To sum up, it was an epic, triumphant and exuberant trip. I hope your October will be epic, triumphant and exuberant as was my September.
Be well. Always look on the bright side of life.
Domain: physicalSubdomain: adaptations and challenges
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