Thursday morning before the race Lisa and I headed out on a 40km ride on our TT bikes. We were both feeling pretty excited and were looking forward to heading down south. I was pretty well organised so once showered , packed my gear and headed on down. I couldn't get into the house till 2 so I went straight down to registration, then had a wander thru the expo. It wasn't great but certainly a 100 times better than last years. By then Dad and Brad had arrived so I went and hung out with them for awhile. I was really keen to get all my gear unpacked and to settle in so at 2 I headed on down to the house we had booked. There was a car in the drive way so I rang the owner. Unbelievable.... I wasn't due to go in till TOMORROW!! How stupid am I??? Lucky for me and Sarah Jane who was also sharing the house, my training buddy Lisa had a spare room , so off we went and spent the night with her. After unpacking we went out on a nice easy paced 8km run. The sun was a blood red colour due to some more fires further south. Hopefully these ones are not as destructive as the ones poor Margaret River suffered last week.
Friday and Sarah Jane and I were finally settled into our accommodation that was to be our home for the next few days. In the morning a few of us from the squad met for a short swim.... and now it was just about rest , rest , rest.
Resting at the coffee shop counts.... right???? SJ , Lisa, Brad and Dave chillin out at Fat Ducks cafe. A great meeting place for cyclists and coffee lovers. Who ever thought of a coffee shop inside a bike shop is a genius!!!
Saturday and really all we had to do was check in our gear. I was still feeling pretty calm and relaxed. Will had finally arrived so we just relaxed and waited... not long to go now.
Resting at the coffee shop counts.... right???? SJ , Lisa, Brad and Dave chillin out at Fat Ducks cafe. A great meeting place for cyclists and coffee lovers. Who ever thought of a coffee shop inside a bike shop is a genius!!!Saturday and really all we had to do was check in our gear. I was still feeling pretty calm and relaxed. Will had finally arrived so we just relaxed and waited... not long to go now.Sunday morning and I got up at 3.30, had some breakfast and headed down to transition. You can really feel the excitement and tension in the air. I have to say this was probably the first time I started feeling a little nervous. The toilet line took ages to move and by now it was getting close to transition closing so I was starting to stress a little. As is the custom , all good things come to those who wait. I think i was one of only 3 or 4 left in transition so it was cutting it pretty close so I headed down to the jetty where I hooked up with some of the other guys.
Waiting on the sand is like you're in a time warp . You see everyone around you, you feel the sand in your toes but somehow you feel like you re not really there. I kind of felt i was on the jetty looking down..... and then ... the siren goes off.
The swim start was a bit of a surprise. I was ready to be hit, punched and kicked but it never happened. I had a good swim to the turnaround swam around and then the next thing I look up and I had been pushed what felt like miles away from the jetty. There was a fairly strong current and it took quite a large group out with it. Would love to know how far I actually did swim because it felt alot longer ... But in the end I got to the swim finish... 1hr 8mins ...4 mins slower than last year. Not good if I want to reach my goal of breaking 11 hours!!!
5 mins 22 in transition with those wonderful volunteers who help you with everything and then it was out on the bike course and straight into a head wind. I felt good for the first lap and a half and then it just felt like it was getting hotter and hotter ( which it was) . The wind was picking up as well as the temp and then for some strange reason my right foot just felt like it was on fire. Now this had happened to me only once before on a ride where Jenny and I had to stop because I thought my foot was about to drop off!!!! But I didn't want to stop now!!! So I gradually pulled my foot out of its shoe and rode for about 5 kms like that. John Dominican passed me and told me to pour water over it which I did when I reached the next water station and that seemed to help. It certainly was a good feeling when I finally took that last roundabout , had the wind at my back and headed on back town. Again a little slower than last year with 5hrs 40 mins on the clock.
As I ran into the transition tent for the second time I was the only athlete in there! They all cheered and clapped as I came running in... they made me feel like a rock star.Transition time 4mins 1.
I went into the run feeling pretty good. Unfortunately I got slower and slower , very , very ,quickly. This is where it was hurting and you could see the hurt all around you on the course. People seemed to be walking that much earlier. Last year they went thru 3 tonne of ice, this year....10 TONNE!! Amazing. I saw quite a few people vomiting and some just sitting by the side of the road not going anywhere. But although I was getting slower I wasn't going to give up. I had written a quote on my arm from Sir Winston Churchill.. "Never, Never , Never Give Up" and boy did I have to look at that and read it ALOT! With only 7 kms to go I knew I was going to finish... maybe not in my goal time but finish all the same. Rounding the corner I was getting ready to get my band, ( you get a black one for laps 1 to 3), orange in colour and that was my ticket to the finish chute. All of a sudden I felt a surge of adrenalin and couldn't wipe the smile off my face running to the finish. 11 hours and 31 mins which placed me 2nd in my age group ... gotta be happy with that. Straight into recovery and there was Will and my two gorgeous nieces Kirra and Jess waiting to give me a big hug. This year family members had access with a pass to the recovery area which was a fantastic idea. I could recover properly this year as opposed to last year where I just wanted to see Will so rushed out of the area as soon as I had got in there. Eventually I headed home but not for long. Showered and dressed and back to the finish line to see the finishing hours of the race. It was an awesome, awesome atmosphere. We were singing and dancing and cheering everyone over the finish. If you ever go to an Ironman either as a spectator or athlete , do yourself a favour and get to the finish line... you won't regret it.
Just about everyone in the squad had great races. Special mention though to the gorgeous June who won her age group and a spot to Kona while also breaking the course record.. 50years old and finished in 10hrs 38... how awesome is that!! Ross who on his first Ironman podiumed in 5th spot and to all the others who did personal bests... what a team!!!
The next morning we headed down to the Kona roll down. We all knew that June had won her spot and we wanted to be there to cheer her on. I was there to see if there was a chance... any chance of me getting a spot to Kona. Sadly it was not to be!!!
In the afternoon we headed back to the jetty to watch Rosco and Andy have some fun in the beer mile. You can only compete if had raced the day before. Ross wasn't looking the best and thought I might have seen some more "vomit carnage" but lucky for us all that was not the case.
Presentation dinner in the evening where I got to get up on stage and collect my trophy and then home to bed ... a very tired lady.
I've now been home a week and weirdly enough am missing the training and catching up with the guys. I have pulled up relatively well compared to others ( maybe I didn't try hard enough..ha ha ) . So over the next few weeks its steady as she goes then after New Year start ramping it up again because............................................................................. I'm off to do Ironman Melbourne in March!!! Yep you read right. Got a spot with Tri Travel after I had put my name on a waiting list. So wish me luck on my quest
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