Saturday 11th October
Had a decent night’s sleep (complete with the cold sweats I always get the night before a race!). Woke at 4am, got breakfast, dressed and was out of the condo by 4.45am. We were picked up in the parking lot and got down to transition at about 5.15am, it’s really busy but again very well organised, we made our way to the tennis courts at the back of the King Kamehameha Hotel where the body marking was going on, after that I made my way round to the transition area. Nick had to go a different way and we got separated, I spent the next 15 minutes frantically looking for him, when I found him he had somehow got into the transition area (don’t ask me how, but you know what he is like), pumped up my tyres and sorted out my drinks on my bike (what a star), now all I had to do was wait for the start.
We looked around transition for a while and saw Craig Alexander & Norman Stadler sorting their bikes out. Also around was Paula Newbury-Fraser and I managed to get a photo taken with her.
Left the transition area just as it was starting to get light you can just feel the excitement (and fear) in the air! Nick & I find a quiet spot where I sat down on the floor and started listening to Muse on my IPod, it’s weird watching everything going on but being removed from it by not being able to hear it, it does calm me a lot though!
At 6.45am the first cannon goes off for the Pro start, time for me to take my gel, get my skin suit on and hat & goggles in place, Nick gives me a big hug, a kiss and wishes me lots of luck and sends me off towards to water. I start to walk into the sea along with all of the other competitors there isn’t much talking going on now, just a few friendly smiles exchanged. There’s a Hawaiian Priest who is giving a blessing to us all and also a band playing Hawaiian music. I swim out towards the start line, find a place that I am happy with and tread water for about 5 minutes (I’m starting to get a bit cold – my teeth were chattering!).
We looked around transition for a while and saw Craig Alexander & Norman Stadler sorting their bikes out. Also around was Paula Newbury-Fraser and I managed to get a photo taken with her.
Left the transition area just as it was starting to get light you can just feel the excitement (and fear) in the air! Nick & I find a quiet spot where I sat down on the floor and started listening to Muse on my IPod, it’s weird watching everything going on but being removed from it by not being able to hear it, it does calm me a lot though!
At 6.45am the first cannon goes off for the Pro start, time for me to take my gel, get my skin suit on and hat & goggles in place, Nick gives me a big hug, a kiss and wishes me lots of luck and sends me off towards to water. I start to walk into the sea along with all of the other competitors there isn’t much talking going on now, just a few friendly smiles exchanged. There’s a Hawaiian Priest who is giving a blessing to us all and also a band playing Hawaiian music. I swim out towards the start line, find a place that I am happy with and tread water for about 5 minutes (I’m starting to get a bit cold – my teeth were chattering!).
BANG the cannon goes off and I start swimming, the swim was OK, didn’t really get into any trouble, I even tried to draft a little! At the half way point I checked my watch – 39 minutes, so I was on target for 1 hour 20 minutes as predicted. The water seems even more salty as I start to reach the pier so I am really looking forward to finishing. It’s quite cool coming into the finish as there are lots of scuba divers on the bottom of the sea looking up and waving at all us swimmers.Swim Time 1:22:12
I ran up the ramp (well more of a walk!) and made my way to the fresh water showers (I remember these from all of the Ironman DVD’s that Nick & I have watched) they are just a bunch of hose pipes dangling down. I give myself a good rinse, collected my bike bag and run into the changing tents. I get everything I need and start to make a dash for my bike.
T1 5:50
I’m now on my bike and on my way I see Nick almost immediately and then head out for the first loop of the town, lots of support on this bit! I got to see Nick again as I ride back through the main part of town before heading out onto the Queen K Highway! Everything feeling pretty good and I settle into a nice comfortable pace and I am pleased that I am overtaking quite a few of the other competitors. About 10 miles into it though I feel a twinge in my left glute, I block it out and just reassure myself that once everything has warmed up it will go away. The wind is not to bad at the moment just a slight head wind to battle with. Reached 30 miles and I was beginning to feel quite a bit of pain in my glute now, I had just passed Hapuna Beach and knew that this was going to be the toughest part of the course as it was a gradual uphill climb into the wind up to the Hawi turn around point, I saw the lead male Pros go past in the opposite direction (I knew that they were approaching because of the helicopter above). I was still passing quite a few people out on the course and was trying to stay as focused as possible. Reached the 60 mile turnaround point and was by now in a lot of pain. The first bit from Hawi was down hill thank god but with lots & lots of gusts of wind. By the time I reach 75 miles the pain had become unbearable, the wind had really got up by now, but I was faced with an even bigger problem in that I could only push down on the pedals with my right leg and I couldn’t apply any pressure with my left and to make things just that bit worse I could only get into the aero position for a few minutes at a time as every time I bent over it pulled too much on my glute and was causing pain that was too much for me to bare. I clocked my time going from 80 to 85 miles – 30 minutes – I was doing 10 miles an hour!! I did shed a few tears at this point but then just got on with it, what else was there to do! The last 40 miles I didn’t go past anyone but it seemed like the entire field was going past me. 
On my last couple of miles I see all the pro men running back into town, Craig Alexander is in 1st place and I passed him at about 24 miles, I also saw Chrissi Wellington who was running out towards the Energy Lab, I managed to shout “Go Chrissi” as loud as I could, I think she heard me as she gave a big smile. I did the bike in just under 6 hours 30 minutes (45+ minutes longer than I thought), but I didn’t care I was so relieved to finish it. As I entered transition, I carefully got off my bike and was very reluctant to hand it over as at that point it was the only thing supporting me. The bike got took and I staggered into T2! Total Bike 6:27:09
I collected my run bag – I have to say it is so well organised – they had about 20 volunteers just holding up arrows on boards telling you which way to go, as we all know this is very helpful due the the fact that your brain isn’t quite working right at this point and even the simplest of tasks, like walking in the right direction can be hard! Sat down in the changing tent, I was handed a cup of water, while being covered in suntan lotion and also being helped to sort out what I needed & didn’t need out of my run bag.
T2 6:13
Left T2 and thought OK I have 9 hours to finish this run in! I tried to smile as much as possible to all the helpers and surprisingly it did make me feel a lot better, so I thought right “keep smiling no matter what!” Saw Nick as I had just started out on the run, he asked me if I was OK and what had happened on the bike, I mumbled a bit of a reply to him and then made my way up Alii Drive. This part of the run course was really good, it was a 5 mile out and back, with lots of support from locals and family & friends of other athletes. It was such a relief that I was able to run as I did fear that it was not going to be possible. At the 5 mile turnaround my glute was beginning to ache a little but it was bearable. I ran back into town and then up Pallini Drive (quite a steep hill), saw Nick at the point and he ran with me for about 30 seconds to get the low down on how i was feeling, it was good to see him and it lifted me a lot, as I headed out on the 7 miles stretch along the Queen K towards the Energy Lab. I saw some familiar faces running back into town along this stretch, Harold & Irene from Holland, they both looked really strong and I was so jealous as they had only got about 4 miles left to go!
I kept my form as much as possible and was going steadily past people, I had decided earlier on that walking the aid stations was the best plan of action, a slight change in pace was giving a bit of relief to my butt! The aid stations were great though the helpers were so enthusiastic and gave lots of encouragement out. I reach the energy lab which apparently earlier on in the day had reach a soaring 108 degrees, see there is some advantage to being slower out here! I left the energy lab and collecting my glow stick before heading back along the Queen K Highway again – this was the home straight 7 miles left to go. It got dark very quickly and before I knew it I was running in complete darkness and all I could see was the glow sticks on other athletes and the lights from the aid stations in the distance. 21, 22, 23 miles markers went by and I was feeling a little soar now and was down to shuffling along the road. At 25 miles I hit town and started to make my way towards Alii Drive, I was smiling from ear to ear now as the crowds were great.
When I approached the finishing straight Nick was there waiting for me I gave him my hat, glasses and glow stick and he gave me a GB flag. I really wanted to make the most of this bit as I had gone through so much earlier on in the day so I just jogged in beaming from ear to ear holding the British flag above my head. It was great the crowds were deafening and then I saw it – the Ironman finish line, I heard my name being called out and I really couldn’t believe that this was the final bit of my journey.
I kept my form as much as possible and was going steadily past people, I had decided earlier on that walking the aid stations was the best plan of action, a slight change in pace was giving a bit of relief to my butt! The aid stations were great though the helpers were so enthusiastic and gave lots of encouragement out. I reach the energy lab which apparently earlier on in the day had reach a soaring 108 degrees, see there is some advantage to being slower out here! I left the energy lab and collecting my glow stick before heading back along the Queen K Highway again – this was the home straight 7 miles left to go. It got dark very quickly and before I knew it I was running in complete darkness and all I could see was the glow sticks on other athletes and the lights from the aid stations in the distance. 21, 22, 23 miles markers went by and I was feeling a little soar now and was down to shuffling along the road. At 25 miles I hit town and started to make my way towards Alii Drive, I was smiling from ear to ear now as the crowds were great.
When I approached the finishing straight Nick was there waiting for me I gave him my hat, glasses and glow stick and he gave me a GB flag. I really wanted to make the most of this bit as I had gone through so much earlier on in the day so I just jogged in beaming from ear to ear holding the British flag above my head. It was great the crowds were deafening and then I saw it – the Ironman finish line, I heard my name being called out and I really couldn’t believe that this was the final bit of my journey.
Total Run 4:19:19
I crossed the line and was greeted by 2 helpers who asked me if I was OK, I answered “God Yes!!” They said it was great that I was smiling so much and my answer was “how can I not smile, it’s over , I’ve finished”. I made my way round the athletes’ village where I collected my medal, t-shirt and kit bags. Met up with Nick (we gave each other lots of hugs & kisses), he got me some Pizza and I ate it as I lay down on the floor. I was beginning to feel a little sick now so went and collected my bike and had a slow walk back to the condo cheering on all the other athletes coming in to finish.
Total Time 12:20:43 1190 of 1736 Age Group 48 out of 68
It had been a very interesting day and I thoroughly believe that you learn so much about yourself and what you can achieve when things get really tough.
My ultimate goal was to come out here and finish the race and even though I didn’t have the race that I wanted and finish in the time that I knew I could do I still tried to make the most of it. As Mark Allen put – we should all feel a great sense of gratitude when doing an Ironman distance race as there are millions of people in the world who will never be able to do one due to their circumstances or capabilities. It has been such an epic journey for me (13 months build up to be precise) I just wanted the final part to be as memorable as possible....and it was! 
On a final note I would like to say how much it means to have all the support I get from all my friends (& family) at Stafford Tri, Kay at Mammoth who has been putting me back together week after week in our physio sessions and most of all to Nick who has been there for me every step of the way and has given me the belief to know that I can accomplish anything that I want to.
Cheers all, now I’m off the Waikiki Beach to have a rest, drink cocktails and eat bad food.
Finish line video here
http://ironman.edgeboss.net/wmedia/ironman/video/2008/kona/webcast.wvx?starttime=14:51:38.00&endtime=01:00:00.00
My ultimate goal was to come out here and finish the race and even though I didn’t have the race that I wanted and finish in the time that I knew I could do I still tried to make the most of it. As Mark Allen put – we should all feel a great sense of gratitude when doing an Ironman distance race as there are millions of people in the world who will never be able to do one due to their circumstances or capabilities. It has been such an epic journey for me (13 months build up to be precise) I just wanted the final part to be as memorable as possible....and it was! 
On a final note I would like to say how much it means to have all the support I get from all my friends (& family) at Stafford Tri, Kay at Mammoth who has been putting me back together week after week in our physio sessions and most of all to Nick who has been there for me every step of the way and has given me the belief to know that I can accomplish anything that I want to.
Cheers all, now I’m off the Waikiki Beach to have a rest, drink cocktails and eat bad food.
Finish line video here
http://ironman.edgeboss.net/wmedia/ironman/video/2008/kona/webcast.wvx?starttime=14:51:38.00&endtime=01:00:00.00
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