Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay Chasing Childhood Dreams

On March 6th, 2016 I competed in my seceond EVER Ironman 70.3 triathlon with hopes and ambitions of qualifying for the Age Group 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. For those of you who are not sure what a 70.3 Ironman triathlon entails it starts with a 1.9Km open water swim, then we run into transition grab our bikes and ride for 90 Km and then we finish with a 21.1 Km run. It has been a childhood dream since I won my first Cross Country as a 10 year old girl to one day represent Australia in sport. 4 months earlier I'd decided to fully commit and put everything into trying to qualify, even if it meant waking up at 3am to train before going to work

to teach.

RACE DAY It's 6.10am and my race starts at 6.30am, I walk down to the waters edge with nerves starting to build throughout my body. I jump in to the water for a 5 minute warm up. As I exit the water I see all the competitors lined up along the beach, some laughing and joking around with friends but other serious and focussed. I found a quiet space on the sand all to myself, I shut my eyes and shut every noise out along with it. I picture lining up ready, sprinting as fast as I can until I get to the water, I picture nothing else other than swimming, riding and running the strongest I have ever done. I also mentally went through exactly when I'd take my nutrition and what I'd be doing in transition. I also pictured me finishing strong and in first place. OK I'M READY! I'VE TRAINED MY HARDEST FOR FOUR MONTHS AND IT'S TIME TO TEST WHAT I'VE CREATED. 10 minutes to go until the race starts so I move over into the linup with the first wave of Age Group Triathletes. BANG!!! The gun goes and I don't have control of my body anymore, I'm away and first into the water out of my rolling start line. I was so focussed I didn't remeber to start my watch until 200m into the swim. I'd got out of the swim in 2nd place in my age group 90 seconds behind the leader. I had a super speedy transition and was on the bike in first place.

The bike! This is my strong leg and it was time to make up some time here before the run. Hello hills, I've been waiting for you. The bike course has a total elevation gain of 1000 m. I wasn't sure what position I was in my AG at this stage because there were 2 other ladies ahead of me who had AG race numbers.

Time to get off the bike and onto the run as fast as possible. The weather said that it 'felt like' 42 degrees so by the time we started the run it was really starting to heat up. The first 10Km we were running into a head wind which was good because we had some breeze, however, this meant on the way home we had a tail wind with still air and no shade. There was no space in my head to let me think about the heat, I had to focus on getting to the next aid station and keep the core temperature low by using ice. I looked at the time with 6km left on the run if I wanted to go sub 5 I had to do the next 6 Km in 33 mins so this gave me a goal to get home.

THE FINISH

I thought I was in second position by 10 minutes to another age grouper ahead of me but as I turned the corner to the finish line Pete Murray annouced that I was the winner for the 25-29 Female AG. I could see the winners tape ready for me to run through. I look down at my watch and realise I've gone sub 5 hours as well. As I stepped over the line and picked up the banner I couldn't help but shed a tear or a few ;). I'd done it!!! YIPEE WORLD CHAMPS HERE I COME!