Iron Jack

Whilst running the risk of missing anyone out, some heartfelt thank yous are long overdue in relation to my journey to and through Ironman.

So, in no particular order:

·         Dr Alice – for giving me the encouragement and support to set the goal in the first place – and then to loan me her road bike so I could physically achieve it. Our family thinks you’re just awesome – thank you!

·         LeeAnne – for getting me started and giving me the self-belief to do it.

·         To my bosses, Scott and Glenn and everyone else I work with for the support to get my training done, including the team in Wellington.

·         To George, Rhys and Julie – your phone call on Half Ironman day was spectacular and helped enormously!

·         To Shels and Ben – our oldest, dearest friends who got us into triathlon in the first place – look where we are now!

·         Tupara, Donna, Andre, Bailey and Nieve – I actually don’t have the words for how I feel about you guys, what you’ve done for me, what you’ve been through and for being there on that long day and night, you guys are amazing – looking forward to the next journey together.

·         My family and extended whanau

o   Mum and Dad – I’m here because of you; thank you for your support and for looking after the boys on the day, it took a load off my mind!

o   My brother Bruce and his family – I was stoked that you could be there, and love how much you embraced the day, it is special

o   My sister Deb and her Mike – a very long way away but always on our minds

o   Jane and Tony – my other parents and major support crew, thanks for everything

o   My other sister Sarah and her husband Ben – so cool to have you there – and everywhere on the day! And to Ben for loaning me his super awesome quick wheels for race day! Hope the seed has been laid…

o   My other other sister Nicky and her husband Mark – again, a long way away but always here

o   And the Aunts, Uncles and cousins who were all there in spirit

·         My incredible support crew on the day – hope I don’t miss anyone out, but…Cushla and Nick, Leonie, Sue and Becky, Vance and Lee, Aunty Helen, Rach and Beth, and more!

·         My amazing friend Leah – for giving me a smack on the hand when I really needed it, and for driving over from Rotorua to Taupo at 10pm on Ironman night, in the pouring rain, to make sure I finished! I’ll never forget seeing your face as I come up Tongariro St, it meant the world.

·         The RATs crew – the last two years have been a blast and I look forward to so many more major events in the future – special thanks to Jamie, Steph, Katrin and Sarah for all the help and advice, and all my swim squad buddies, Nicky, Matt, Sharyn and Clarrie.

·         Kelly and Nathan – what can I say, you guys are amazing, thanks for all the training hours, friendship, support and love – we love having you as part of our family; thanks for supporting Mike and my Dad on the day; we look forward to returning the favour next year!

·         KT and Dave – special Ironman work colleagues

·         Alison and Deborah for the rides, friendship and support – it was a very very special time

·         Mary Ann and Nina (aka Mrs P and Nemo) – without you Mary Ann none of it would be possible, thank you so much for your friendship and support; and Nina, thank you for patching me up, handing me tummy pills and all of your advice, it was all very much appreciated

·         Coach Kathy – without you I wouldn’t have made it to the start line, let alone across the finish line! You are an amazing, inspirational person; I love your style and your sense of humour and I can’t wait to work with you again – if you need a super-sensational coach, Kathy is your woman!

·         The Fit Goals crew – training camp was a blast, love the new friendships we have made, and the support on the course on the day was fantastic – Pete, Di, Jodi, Gina, Lynette and more – looking forward to the next outing!

·         The online crew – I have made so many virtual and now real friendships through the triathlon forums on Twitter and Facebook – just to name a few: Donna, Toni, Mel, Matt and so many many more.

·         Canterbury Toni – we met through Facebook and quickly made a connection that has turned into a firm friendship – your journey was made all the more inspirational due to your survival of the Canterbury earthquake just two weeks before Ironman, I’m honoured to know you and can’t wait for the next one!

·         Ironman Mel – you found me and I’m eternally grateful that you did! Love the laughs, advice and stories and am looking forward to many triathlon adventures together in the future!

·         Ironman Stu – well I call him Ironman Stu, he could also be called Graperide Stu, Endurance Stu and pretty much Legend Stu! Met through Twitter, friendship gained through triathlon. Watching him complete Ironman in 2010 was inspirational, and his adventures since have been even more so. Thank you for the friendship, support and contraband! Looking forward to our family spending much more time with yours in the future.

·         Bryce and the Cyclezone team – you guys are amazing! Without you, its unlikely my journey would have gone much further. Thank you so much for sorting out my bike, my riding, my seat…the cycling list is endless! Love being part of the team.

·         Heidi and Marcello – to Heidi for fixing my broken body (and mind) and for Marcello for making my bike look like a speed demon machine! And for the unwavering support from you both.

·         The Reebok and Speedo team for the fantastic sports gear to get me through the training and the day; I’m very grateful for your support, it made a huge difference.

·         The awesome Gu people – thank you for the nutritional support for those last few weeks, I’m so grateful you came on board. I truly believe in your product – it worked for me like nothing else had. It really works and I highly recommend it to anyone else for long-distance training.

·       And while we’re on the subject of nutrition, my awesome nutritionist, Rachel Scriven - really helped me get on the straight and narrow with ensuring I was eating enough for training (I wasn’t) and eating enough during training (I wasn’t) and eating enough afterwards (I was eating too much!) - you were a huge help and the cheeseburger at hour six was inspired!

·         Lawrence and Lisa – for the middle part of the journey and especially the super-spin classes!

·         All my wonderful girlfriends – Donna, Rach, Kim, Louise and Lisa.

·         Tony for the awesome Ironjack logo that fits me to a tee! Mark for the great website. And Lee for the sensational Ironjack t-shirts for the support crew!

 

·         And last, but by no means least, my ever-patient husband Mike, and our two wonderful (ratbag) boys, Oli and Toby. I couldn’t have done any of it without you. Thank you for the endless hours spent looking after the boys so I could train, race and sleep; for the unwavering support, belief and pride; you guys are my rock.

 

I sincerely apologise if I have missed anyone – no doubt I have – but thank you again for all your support. I couldn’t have done it without you!

 

Well specifically, I crossed the finish line and straight into the arms of my amazing, super-supportive husband, Mike. A volunteer put my much-desired medal over me head and wrapped my Ironman towel around my shoulders. I was an Ironman.

I had thought that I would finish sometime between 11:30pm and 12midnight – the cutoff. I finished at 11:46pm and I was delighted. I think that if it hadn’t rained incessantly, and if the constant wetness hadn’t taken its toll, I would have been bang-on 11:30pm. So ultimately I was very happy with the time result.

Mike and I headed into the sodden marquee and I had a few bites to eat of some spaghetti bolognaise. But really, I was too tired and sore to stay there for long, and just wanted to get home to bed. We left the tent and into the warm embrace of my family and friends. I felt so loved and supported, it was amazing. And my gorgeous boys were there as well. Mum had been looking after them all day, and had put them to bed at their normal bedtime of 7pm, and then woken them up to come and see the finish. Seeing their cute little faces made it all worthwhile.

Eventually we started making our way to our ride home – Shelley and Ben’s car. I still can’t believe that Ben completed his Ironman earlier that day and came back out to watch me finish. They helped Mike get me into the front seat – my legs didn’t really want to bend – and after a quick stop at McDonalds to get another cheeseburger, we headed home.

It was a bit of a struggle to get out of my wet running gear – Mike physically had to help me peel off layers of clothing. By this stage everything was seizing up. By this stage he was also completely shattered – after all, he’d been up as long as I had and I still maintain that supporting an Ironman event is harder than actually doing it!

I was determined to have a shower – I wanted to be clean and warm and I had 17 hours worth of grit all over me. The warm water felt amazing, even if I couldn’t move to actually wash myself!

Five minutes later I was in bed – with Mike’s help again to get my compression tights on!

And I have never been so sore in my life. I’ve heard people talk about being so sore that they couldn’t lie down or have a sheet tough their legs. That is exactly what it felt like – it was an extraordinary feeling. I was in absolute agony.

Eventually I dropped off to sleep, but rolling over was harder than when I was nine months pregnant! I kept waking every time I had to move.

At one point I had to get up to go to the bathroom – what a mission! I actually wasn’t sure that I could actually get myself out of bed. My thighs simply wouldn’t work to leverage myself in and out of bed – and on and off the toilet. I must have looked like an absolute clown. I was actually in so much pain that I nearly fainted – and nearly threw up – a sure sign that my body is in a state of shock and in need of repair.

We slept until about 8am and then I finally turned on my cellphone – and nearly burst into tears. I had so many text messages and emails from people, it was completely overwhelming. I logged into my Facebook page and was completely blown away. People who didn’t even know each other had been communicating all day about where I was on the course and what times I was doing. The messages that came through as I crossed the line were truly special. People were logged in all over the world to watch me online as I finished – they were crying, I was crying, it was absolutely incredible. I don’t think I will ever forget how I felt when I was reading those messages.

I finally managed to drag myself away from the computer and we started packing up the units. Mum and Dad were also getting on their way so we inherited the boys back again. We said good-bye to Shels, Ben, Alicia and James, and headed out the gate. I can highly recommend the Chelmswood Manor for Ironman accommodation – the managers were fantastic and the rooms were perfect for us. We have already re-booked for next year (when we will be supporting – not competing!) and I suspect that we will have a running booking!

We collected my bike and the rest of my gear and I organised my finish line photos. The Great Lake Centre was chaos – and filled with Ironman finishers who were walking as stiffly as I was! We were part of a very special club – and our tired, broken bodies were the badge of membership.

I bumped into many of the Fit Goals Team, including Coach Kathy. I think she deserves a blog post of her own which I’ll get to in time, but suffice to say, I wouldn’t have made the start line, let along the finish line, without her and I will always be eternally grateful for her unwavering belief and support.

A final good-bye to the Great Lake Centre and I headed up the road to meet up with the rest of the family who had been celebrating their support efforts with brunch. My support crew had been absolutely amazing, it was so special to have them all there, so it was actually really sad to start saying our good-byes. I’d been away for several days by now and I was so sore I just wanted to get home! An hour later I was there – and crawling into bed for a much-needed nap!

 

By the Monday I was starting to move reasonably freely, although still with a great deal of soreness. By Tuesday the soreness was fading and my muscles felt great. On Wednesday I was overwhelmed by a massive wave of fatigue – I felt like I had been hit by a bus! That passed too, however, and on Thursday I headed back to work and managed a relatively normal day. It was already starting to feel like a dream.