First Triathlon and First Marathon!!
5th of April 2009 Nelson Mandela bay hosted the 5th Ironman event in Port Elizabeth..
What a fantastic day for racing with temperatures reaching 35 degrees, A beautiful sunrise to kick off the day with the 1500 competitors standing on hobbie beach breathing down each others necks...
I was standing right in the front for the swim start cause i knew my swimming was quite strong coming from a surfing back round. There were quite a bit of nerves for me cause i have never swum with so many people in my life....I had a good start following just behind the pro's, getting out the water and running along the beach to start the 2nd lap killed me a little bit but as soon as i started swimming again a was fine..I came out the water in 52mins and i think i was the first orange cap, i ran up to transition with the crowd screeming was such an awesome feeling. My transition was really slow think it was 4min something, just cause it was my first transition ever and i also had to load the sunscreen on....My bike ride was'nt to bad finished it in 5.18hr, i just remember soaking myself with water on the bike and within 3min i would be bone dry again that how warm it was..The last lap for the bike i wanted i bar from one of the aid station but they had run out of bars so i just relied on gels for the whole bike ride and 2 salt tablets ever hour!!
My run transition again was really slow think it was 5min something...For the first 4km of the run i could'nt really find my feet until i had my first sip of coke and then it was like i was a different person again..My family was there supporting me every time i ran passed them, it was so great having them there. I remember hitting the wall around the 25km mark but my mind was to strong to give up and walk. I did'nt walk once in the Marathon but i had a really slow run finshing in 4hr....
My run transition again was really slow think it was 5min something...For the first 4km of the run i could'nt really find my feet until i had my first sip of coke and then it was like i was a different person again..My family was there supporting me every time i ran passed them, it was so great having them there. I remember hitting the wall around the 25km mark but my mind was to strong to give up and walk. I did'nt walk once in the Marathon but i had a really slow run finshing in 4hr....
Before getting to the finish line was the best feeling of my life, when i saw the finishing line from the road the time was 10.28.54 i just started sprinting to try get under 10.30hr. As i landed on the red carpet all you hear is people screeming and all you are thinking is wow i really did this i am an Ironman. YES
My finishing time was 10.29.34, 8th in my age group and 66th overall.
I will be in South Africa again next year to better my time and quilify for Hawaii. Look forward to it.
Swim 52.53
Bike 5.18.21
Run 4.06.59
Total 10.29.34
Lovely work mate :) 8th to 1st next year buddy and some big island time!!
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