Here we are, it's 5 am in Natal Midlands the weather is glorious, the
sun is just about to start rising and we're in the car on the way to the
race. For the record, first half Ironman
distance tri, and I'm stoked. I've been
training hard (at least so I thought ) for this and by all my reckoning should
be tough but I should do ok.
My mind is racing flashing back and forth
to training going through my pre race checklist ticking off everything. Did I train enough, did I bring my HRM, water
bottles, and did I pack the wetsuit? Where
are we? I'm sure the dam was on the
other side when we came for the race numbers?
OH MY GOODNESS! This can't be
happening. There is no way I could be
lost. It’s just a 5 min drive from the lodge, why is this taking so long? OK, calm down, get your bearings and start
over. Luckily I have a pretty good sense
of direction so I manage to get myself back on track in no time, this time a
lot more focused on the task at hand... getting there.
We arrive and the tension is just
unimaginable excitement seething from not only the athletes but spectators as well.
Other competitors asking, “ is this your first race? And you chose this one?” Almost as if I was insane, but my mind is just
in the zone. Hear nothing but my heart
beat in my ears, see nothing but the track. I think...
Man, I got this. Swim? Takes me about 35 min to swim 2kms, has been
for a while now. The cycle? Piece of
cake, did the 94.7 in 3 hours, I should breeze through the 90km as well, and as
for the run? This is gonna be easier
than I thought. I've been running 21km
in under 2 hours. All in all I should be done in 5.5 to 6 hours. Don't know what the big deal is?
This is all going through my mind when I
hear Stace saying... “dammit the batteries to the camera are dead”. That of
course doesn't phase me, except I hear the MC announce the decision on
wetsuits, " I repeat the water is wonderful, wetsuits will not be
allowed" OH SHIT! This, I had not prepared for. For those of you that don't know, the wetsuit
is meant to keep you warm in cold water however it has certain side effects. It
is almost as if your mother herself is holding you up in the water, pulling you
through the water. Sort of like aiming you and almost moving you forward
magically without you using any effort. I'm not sure if this is all
psychosomatic, just boosted confidence, or if the wetsuit actually does play
some part but hearing wetsuits were not allowed sent me into a spiralled panic
I just couldn't avoid.
This was my first
open water swim EVER. What if I get
tired? What do I do? How will I get through this? My HRM starts screaming at me. Heart rate in
range! How is this possible? I haven't
even started, this is when I realize it is actually telling me to get my shit
together. So breathing starts, focus,
calm, everything is under control. Phew, that was close. All under control now, got my groove back all happy and ready to go.
Again I see nothing
hear nothing just pure focus.
And we're off water really is wonderful,
refreshing, clear and calming. I am a bit intimidated by the sheer volume of traffic
in the swim, I calmly fall back and wait for it to thin out. That's it, I'll come up from the rear and
make up time with the cycle and run. Game plan worked perfectly, swim finished really
strong started the cycle without a glitch.
Then 300m into the cycle my chain starts slipping. Ugh! I don't have time for this now, I'm
pretty strong how can this effect me? I
mean I have a 7 speed bike, I'll just avoid this problem one. The first 2 laps go off without a glitch. I'm 80 km's into the cycle, it's 36 ͦ C and
it's only been 3 hours since the start. Man,
I am tearing it up, made up with time and then some. When suddenly catastrophe!
I hear the words ringing in my head, "good morning Mr Gamiet, this is your
wakeup call!!!”.
And what a wakeup call it was. My left
quad decides it will never let my leg bend at the knee again. EVER. It
just stops working, no notice no warning.
My right quad, on seeing this decides umm not fair, if he's not doing
anything why do I have to? So... it too says the hell with this, you will be a
stick man. You will loose all use of your knees until we are treated better.
From this point forward, you will move like a zombie, as if your joints are nonexistent!
Now in all fairness, I did abuse the legs a
bit in trying to make up time, and for the legs to cramp that bad could even be
understandable. However having both legs
cramp while your feet are clipped onto the pedals is not exactly the most ideal
of situations to be in. In all honesty I
would have to admit, it must have looked like a giraffe trying to get off a
bicycle... so I'm willing to bet, anyone seeing this probably had to stop
whatever they were doing until they could get their uncontrollable laughter to
subside. I was moving at 30km/h, trying to stand, sit
and get off the bike at the same time. And no matter what I did the quads kept
pulling me back saying... “Oh! where do you think you're going mister?”.
I manage to hobble my way through the cycle in another 2 hours,
when time came for the run, I was exhausted.
My original thought of... Ag will probably be done in 6.5
hours has
drastically changed to; DAMMIT, JUST FINISH ON YOUR OWN STEAM!!!
Every aching step I took made the cramps worse. Every second dragged into years, my legs
screamed. Oh goodness is there no end to
this madness? The only thing driving me
forward the reason I was doing it, all that was in my brain ... finish
for the kids ya damn wuss. Stop being a little wimp and finish.
Eventually with 5 minutes to spare I see the light at the end of the tunnel, almost
hear angels again, the finish line. Eventually
the end is near. The funniest thing
happened right there in the last few hundred meters. It was
the strangest sense of accomplishment, gratification, pride; I couldn't believe
how good I was feeling.
 |
| . |
Even my legs stopped screaming just for the last few meters. When
I crossed the line, it all just made sense... life, just made sense. No failure
in the world could be as bad as the failure to try! I felt like I could, like I
had,
like I am... a triathlete.
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