Iron Postmortom

Sitting in my coffee place, staring down at the chalked street signs of encouragement, drinking my morning coffee and nursing giant saucer sized blisters, I  am struggling to finish my last Ironblog. (Due to technical difficulties, the publishing of this blog was held up by the Great Wall.)





Completing an Ironman was never an item on my bucket list. It was however on my "If I ever have a psychological breakdown" list. As an Iron volunteer for over 20 years and having watched thousands of athletes finish the race, a number who were friends, I am very aware of the time and energy needed to attempt an Ironman. A family, long hours on the job and a strong to desire to have a life kept me from taking up the challenge. I already had enough challenges in my life and didn't need any more. But to be honest, I lacked the most important aspect for finishing an Ironman. Confidence.

A component that I continued to lack right up to the moment I entered the water to start the swim. As I stood on the beach waiting for start horn, I started chanting what had become my mantra for the past several months, "What the hell was thinking, What the hell was I thinking.........





The horn sounded and I began a slow walk into the water going over in my mind all the excuses I would use for not finishing the swim.

The game plan was to stay behind and wide of the main pack of swimmers, a zone called the "Washing Machine". A churning mass of triathletes bumping, pushing and climbing over  each other in an attempt to gain a few minutes on each other. Not a pleasant place to be for someone who is scared $h1+less in deep water.

One hour and fifty-four minutes later, I "front" crawled (teehee) out of the water in 2507th place . Hey, maybe I can do this.

The weather for the bike was perfect. comfortable temperatures and very little wind. Not many bikes left in the bike lot when I left, but hey! I hadn't drowned and I was getting on the bike.

Having ridden some or all of the course umpteen times I was more confident in my abilities on the bike and I started to pass athletes on a regular basis. Rules allow only 20 seconds to pass another athlete or you must maintain a 5 metre separation to avoid a drafting penalty. 7 hours and 25 minutes later, I was back in transition in 2126th place having gained almost 400 places. Starting to feel like I could do this.

My plan for the run was to try and complete the first half of the marathon in under three hours then gut out the last 21 kilometres relying on ibuprofen to carry the day. My plan almost worked perfectly accept for the two dinner plate size blisters that showed up around the 20 kilometre mark and blew up around the 30 kilometre mark causing me to walk much of the next ten kilometres.

At the 40 kilometre mark, my niece passed me providing the necessary impetus for me to run the last 2 kilometres and look pretty darn good at the finish line if I may say so myself.  Crossed the finish line in 15 hours and 20 minutes in 2068th place with a 5 hour 20 minute marathon.

Before I get too full of myself, I must tell you that an 82 year old nun finished about an hour after I did.  But then you have to consider who her running partner was.

The only thing left to do, is get the tattoo.  Probably won't hurt any more than the blisters did. And to all three of my faithful readers, you have my permission to hit me upside my head should I ever suggest doing something like this again.

A special thanks to Nonie for putting up with all my nonsense over the last year and being my SAG HAG with little or no complaining.