Post race

I collect a medal . Shiraz gets offered one but turns it down (the plonker!). BrianTheSnail takes lots of photos – thanks again, Brian. Then I grab some water. Then we try to head back round to the course to welcome home Jim, Melli and a few others. But I’m in serious need of toilet [...]

42.2km Run

I quickly passed Doozer, then the Garmin told me I was running 4:20 per kilometer pace… so I forced myself to slow down… then I hit the pirate supporters with their spray cannons – particularly cunning that the first cannon launched a fine mist while the second directed a strong jet… then on to the [...]

T2

Off the bike and someone eventually took the bike off me… then I stopped to take my shoes off and discovered that my legs were keen to cramp – ouch…. then I ran off and found my carrier bag…. went into the tent… and there was Doozer again – hello! Then someone else joined us [...]

180km bike

First down a narrow bike path with lots of support, then out onto a big road – Shiraz is there to shout at me – hi honey!
Then on to the first group of pirate supporters – excellent supporting! Then I saw my first crash – you plonkers – don’t you realise that this is a [...]

T1

ATO is a genius – he’d taught me to mark my T1 bag with a pirate buff so finding my bag was dead easy – thanks ATO.

This is me getting out of the water – on the bottom right!
Then I went indoors and found Doozer… we had a little chat about the swim, then I [...]

The swim

Calmly I walked in for 10 steps, then pushed myself forwards and tried a few strokes. Then I tried a few more. Then I stretched a little. And so I steadily made my way towards the yellow start line. Then I was over the start line – maybe I’d misunderstood? Maybe the end of the [...]

Race day

I lay in bed but couldn’t sleep. I think I finally dropped off around 3:50… The alarm went at 4.
Breakfast was coffee, cornflakes and more coffee. I also had some sports drink and a little flapjack. Good to see the new streamlined CRAB Don arrive – extremely good effort on the moustache!
Then down to transition [...]

Race week

Crashie and Squishy were first to land on Klaggy beach. They quickly setup an intelligence gathering system and though careful use of pigeons, coded messages and <bouncing> started to generate the excitement for the week to come – thanks team hamster!
Shiraz dropped me off at the airport at 4:30am on Thursday. 6 hours later I [...]

The build up

Candy’s thread in July 2006 said that if anyone was going to enter then they had better “get a wriggle on”… so I entered. Then I got an “Ironman In Training” t-shirt made. And then I got a fleece. I had a lovely autumn wearing my new clothes and eating like an ironman – if [...]