One year as a triathlete. One epic year it has been.

I was back at the Gold Coast last weekend to celebrate my anniversary as a triathlete by racing the Gold Coast Half Ironman. It was known from the forecast that it would rain cats and dogs. And it did! At the swim start I had a chat with Dylan Rock. He was looking confident and ready for it. It was a pretty quick swim in calm waters of Calypso bay, but somehow I went a minute slower than last year. After a year of training, I would have expected some improvement, but it seems my new swim technique may have some issues. When I came out of the water and everybody screamed “Cave man!” Had to be extremely careful running on those slippery wooden planks. Gerald had an unlucky fall.

When I sat on the bike, I took about 10kms to build into it, undistracted by those who went flying in the first 10k. I was feeling strong, kept high cadence, and started passing riders. The ride in the rain has never been this enjoyable. The only time I felt it was dangerous was when coming to a narrow section of the road over a bridge. Due to foggy sunnies, I missed the sign, and found myself on the wrong side of the road on course for a headon collision with another rider. Lucky I could swerve through the cones and there was no one on my left side. Unfortunately there were a few crashes in the race, one head on, and a couple of those who went off the road. I heard someone’s handle bars came off on a turn, and another one fell in a grassy drain gutter. There were bike numbers every 10meters on the road. Water bottles, puncture kits and heaps of sunglasses – expensive

ones!

The last section of the bike got quite windy, but I was feeling strong to ride through it. Finished the bike 7min faster than last year, but with a lot more left to run with. Unfortunately my shoes were soaked in rain – a perfect recipie for blisters. As soon as I came out of the transition, I heard things like:

“Go the cave man!”

“Hey mommy... look Sponge bob!”

“Looking good Giiii”

But the best one has to be... “Free love...” Haa! Haa!

The course was quite muddy in some sections but heaps of people gave me hi five and cheered, which kept me going. Paced myself in the first lap, got a bit tired by the second, and lost my form 15kms into the run. It was all HTFU and suck it up princess after that. Saw loads of familiar faces in the race including Tom, Gerald, Karen,

Cameron the Ratdog, Sunnygirl, Karen, Brent, Kimberly, Arpit, Pete Goldie.

Finish chute was heaps fun. I danced and high five'd with the amazing spect

ators

including Stef Henson an others who were out there cheering in

that rain. Stoked by half an hour PB, I was pretty happy.

Then I saw a crazy girl who finished just behind me do a cart wheel across the finish line! Then we locked our arms and did a bit of round and round bush dance. Tom’s mum was cheering at the finish line as well.

Huge respect to the vollies and the spectators who coped up with rain for hours to support the competitors. Couldn’t have been a better way to celebrate anniversary. The souvenirs include heart shaped tan lines from the heart shaped sunnies, and blistered feet. Love this sport! :-)