Freedom To Surf (Jesse Polock Daughter Story)

Raceing Woes

Rileys pov

Ah, the day is here, no, not my birthday....the Lifeguard Challenge. Yippee! My first one! I have watched and studied past ones and seen fairly clearly what you should not do, so this should go well. Am I expected to win this? No, but am I going to try hard and see where this gets me? Yes.

I do have two advantages in this race: 1. I am younger, which means I am usually faster, then again, so are Lachie and Jethro, 2. This isn't always true, but being younger also sometimes means that I am more hyper and have more energy, which, depending on my mood, could be useful, plus some of the senior citizens *cough cough Hoppo, Reidy, Deano and Harries* can really give you a run for your money, then again, so can I (insert winky face).

Um, anyway, the race consists of a one-kilometre run from and Bondi to Tamarama, then a one-kilometre swim to Bronte Beach, and then a two kilometre board-paddle back to Bondi. So let's break this down; I don't like running unless it is absolutely necessary. Swimming, I like it a lot, not great at it, but again when I need to or someone is danger, I am like The Flash. Board paddling, um.... yeah, I prefer swimming, I am pretty fast at it and mostly when I have exerted too much energy swimming and am really tired. Basically, I am doomed. Maybe, I could pay someone to keep ahead of me and pretend to drown the whole way, for the paddle and swim leg. I doubt someone drowning on land would make me run faster.

My dad has been using this as motivation to get me to run with him, which I will grudgingly say has been helping me, but when he offers to take me running with him tomorrow morning, I can't wait to proudly say "no," and go back to sleep.

Currently, I am getting dressed in my swimsuit and gym shorts. I know some of the boys are working out 24/7, putting on excessive muscle mass and ...Harris is getting a fake suntan, they know people always show up to look at him, and I guess some of the others too. I think it helps that the lifeguards are good looking, so no one is two embarrassed being rescued. I also feel like it makes people who are in trouble want to get rescued more willingly by hot lifeguards. When it comes to me, I prefer to be as incognito on the beach as possible while wearing a blue lifeguard shirt. I don't care as such when I am doing rescues, but it would help if you would not stare at me like that is going to make me move faster. So to remedy this, I am making myself as unappealing as ever.

Everyone on the beach is so careful about sun and not getting burnt to a crisp, I, however usually am not. So, I am slathering sunscreen on me, making me pasty white, this will either draw attention to me or make everyone recoil and look away.

Now, a trick I learnt from studying water races is to put some type of lubricant on me, to help me glide through the water better and spreading some type of friction paste to attach and not slide off my board. I don't think this counts as cheating, does it?

I walk downstairs to the front room, where my Dad, Mom, Tiara and Boo are. They left their daughter with Boo's mom and my brothers are with my grandparents. They might be showing up for the last part of the race, but my parents are going to be there at the end of the race either way, then they have a celebration party planned tonight for my first lifeguard Ironman challenge.

My dad greeted me as I entered the room. "Hey, look what Casper the Ghost dragged in," he said, referring to my pasty white complexion with the sunscreen I basically painted myself with.

"Ah hah, well excuse me for taking care of my skin and too getting burnt-"

"You never cared about it before until today. This isn't related to the race, is it? Too much lubrication and you slip off your board." Dad said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"No, of course not! Anything I slather my body with will hopefully be washed off by the paddle board leg. Now, can you slather this coconut oil on my back? There will be this friction lube on my front to help with the board leg." I said turning around and holding out the coconut oil tub.