Tim's Day

I had an awesome day. I got what I wanted most - a Kona medal and I can't begin to describe how it feels to have it.

As far as my race is concerned, I was happy with my swim - particularly in light of the times of other people who also were slowed a bit on the return leg by the current. To be honest, I felt it was simply because I hadn't done much swim training :) until looking at the results.

[Note: Some non-wetsuit wetsuits chafe - some about the 1.5km mark of an Ironman in salt 9water! Ouch!!]

Onto the bike. It was a bit chaotic for the first 20km or so because of the volume of athletes. Lots of drafting simply because there was nowhere to go. As we got into the hills outside of town and the wind picked up a bit, there was a sorting out of the competitors. The wind though was far kinder to us today than in the few training sessions here last week.

I felt great until about 60km and then my bike became challenging. For the rest of the
ride, I struggled with huge highs and massive lows. I thought that my nutrition was good. I thought the heat was bearable. I was drinking a lot, taking salt tabs and downing my gel mix. At times I was flying with little effort, and others I battled to keep moving forward.

The rollercoaster nature of my ride left me somewhat deflated and it took about 10km of running before I could talk myself back into a more positive frame of mind. Still, my heart wasn't in the run until I could see the top of the road leaving the Energy Lab and passed the 30km mark.

At that point I was fully into getting to the finish line and stopping - though not quite as immediately as Jacqui did (I'll leave it to her to explain what happened in her race).

The final few kms were helped a lot by my loyal supporters on the day. Stephen on the bike out at the Energy Lab during the dash to the line - and Margreet, my brother and one of my sisters who really helped me deal with my many demons.

I have had tougher Ironman days. But as my time targets moved further and further away, and the desire or ability to hammer myself faded, I was able to enjoy my race more than any other. [That being said I think I would have been able to muster some joy at a sub10 performance too.]

One final thanks and it's a huge one - thanks John .. you've pushed, annoyed and encouraged me to be a better athlete and when I keep my head in the game, I think, a better-than-average triathlete. You've been a huge help and a huge inspiration. I will miss training with you and the group.

Not to discourage anyone but today's race was my eighth ironman - it took me seven attempts to get here and a solid six-and-a-half years of fairly consistent training too.

I'm not sure what lies ahead when Margreet and I hit the ground in Vancouver. We've already received a booking ahead of Ironman Canada 2009, with the objective of returning to the Big Island later that same year. Tonight of course isn't the time to look that far ahead.

Thanks also for all the messages of support from everyone back in Oz and around the world.