The Marathon in WA!

We left Sydney airport Wednesday morning and arrived in Perth that same day to a lovely warm place and drove Busso, arriving in the arvo to the house we were staying in, which had a beach 500m from the front door.

With the flight we gained three hours and so soon after unpacking we prepared our bikes and went for a run and a little swim near the famous "jetty".

Busso is an absolutely beautiful place with a slow, casual and relaxed feel. The days leading up to the race were absolutely brilliant with little wind, no rain and a perfect temperature. Each day the wind got a bit stronger and by Saturday we hoped that the wind we got that day was going to blow itself out before the race.

The forecast called for a thunderstorm on race day but we actually got it the Saturday night so going to bed I had hoped to awake to a nice sunny morning. Oh no, I was wrong. The storm stayed all night and it was pouring with rain. Driving all the way to transition where we checked in, we were told that the race was delayed until 6.30.

I stood in the 10 degree temperature waiting for the lightning and rain to go away so I could put my nutrition on my bike and get the wetsuit on. The rain eventually did stop but it was still cold, overcast and very windy. We walked to the water where there were waves you could surf on.

We set ourselves in our positions and the cannon went off and we were swimming. After about 200m I was in a clear space and trying to focus on my technique, finding it difficult to do as the waves were so big that each breath I swallowed a litre of water. So I decided to breathe on the other side where I saw the kayak lady paddling with me in pink and I knew I was in front.

After swimming out past the jetty and turning around a big buoy, the water was even rougher. I nearly was thrown into the jetty by the waves. A few orange caps swam past me so I decided to follow them still having the lady on the kayak following me. Coming back along the jetty whilst swimming I heard people calling out my name (it was Margreet, Wendo and Fee). I was going to wave to them but I reckon I would have ended up elsewhere if I had a stopped so I kept going.

This side of the jetty felt very long and I couldn’t wait to get to the finish. I saw the rope to follow and a pink cap caught up to me and passed me but I knew I was nearly out of there so I kept it to my swim as it was going to be a long day.

Coming out of the swim in 58 I ran up to transition with Angela just behind me we entered the tent together and I beat her out of there by a couple of minutes knowing she was going to pass me at any moment. But it took about 12km for her to get me and the other girl was only a few minutes ahead so I rode that lap with Angela until she and another guy got a yellow card for drafting. I smiled a little, and then I noticed something wrong with my shoe. It felt like it was getting loose so I asked the draft buster to call a mechanic for me but I kept riding.

With the strong winds, I was riding some parts at just 22km an hour and really pushing. Luckily it was flat so when I got into town I saw the Shimano tent and stopped. I took my foot out and all three screws were loose. I was also lucky Angela had the drafting penalty but I lost the guys I was riding with as it took about 5 mins to fix my cleat. I got back on my bike and was off again feeling really angry about what happened but I felt really good and at each turnaround I saw that I was getting closer to the lead girl.

I knew Angela would be chasing me. I caught and passed the lead girl and I can’t tell you how great a feeling it was knowing that I was winning. I had the lead female motor vehicle in front, the video camera man and the photographer and I flew back into town with Don calling out "Here’s the first female, Lisa Marangon."

I had a grin from ear to ear and was so pumped. I was on the third lap about 5km into it when Angela passed me and she was riding really strong. I started to feel bad and wasn’t able to keep up her. I ended up in the head winds on my own, doing that whole lap by myself and having Marilyn Mcdonald fly past me as well.

I got to the end of that lap and Dingo caught me (we came out of the water near each other and came in off the bike together) getting onto the run behind one of the cyclists with a pink third flag (that was one of my goals for the race) keeping that for about 20min then another girl passed me,

I kept getting stomach pains and needed to go to the loo but I would get to one and nothing would happen. I did this about five times (wasting a lot of time). My pacing on the run was ok but I felt really dehydrated and my right hip flexor was giving me quad and knee issues but I tried to run through the pain.

I stopped to walk for a little bit, it got better, then I tried running again and it got worse. With all these things happening I kind of mentally gave up but kept saying to myself I will make the top 10 so I would run again and seeing the other pros catching me I ran and walked and ran and walked til I got to the last turn around and said to myself "just finish off home". Not far to go, I gritted my teeth and finished strong.

Coming in at 10.26 and knowing I was top 10, I was very proud of myself. I really enjoyed this ironman and again experienced some new things. Keeping the feeling I had when I was winning will boost my determination for my next one. Take care and see you all soon in training!

Lisa Marathon

ps the after party was great!! ( -: