swim competition...prize: hello kitty candy

dream segment from sunday:
i'm standing, alongside other swimmers who are lined up to my left and to my right. each of us is standing on a small white towel, about several inches (maybe a foot) away from what looks like the concrete edge of a pool. i'm focused looking at our leg and feet positions...everyone seems to know how to start, but i'm uncertain of the right start position. i am moving my legs and feet trying to find a comfortable but appropriate position for my feet, looking at others' to get an idea of how to start. but since everyone's positions are not entirely uniform, i try to place my feet in a way that feels right for me. whilst doing so, i am aware of how close i am, while getting in my position, to the edge, being careful not to touch the water before the competition begins. only a second after this note of cautiousness on my part, the sign of the competition beginning is signaled. everyone jumps into the water, as do i, somewhat sloppily in form. i am aware that everyone around me seems to be trained or confident in what they are doing and that i am not. we are all swimming in what at first appears to be a pool but branches out into what looks like an ocean or other vast natural body of water. not long after we have begun, i am thinking that there is no way that i can win the competition, but i really want to try and do so.

i don't remember if much happened between swimming and reaching the shore, but eventually, i do reach the shore of an island-like place. there are people waiting there, non-competitors, including a bunch of my friends. i'm the first one on the shore, because i won! i'm walking around on the first floor of an open courtyard area of a small, two-story, plaza-like building, shaded by trees. i am picking out hello kitty-shaped candies that are moon-shaped and colored a deep blue hue. i'm told to do so, because it is my prize for winning the competition. being estranged from hello kitty at my "mature" age in waking life, i suddenly am fully confronted with and embracing the fact that "i really do like hello kitty!" i'm pretty sure ashley is one of the friends there, or that i thought of her at that moment. funny.