Mum and Dad arrived 3 weeks before the Ironman, so I was still in full training, though tapering on the long runs and rides.
March 23rd finally arrived and we were blessed with near perfect weather. The dreaded water was calm - hoorah! I stood at the back on the beach and waited for the other 2000 competitors to go in before making my entrance. It was the right thing to do, and I got into my rhythm fairly quickly and wasn't too bashed around. I was so excited that the day had actually arrived and I was pumped for anything! I excited the 3.8km (2.4 miles) swim in 1.30 hrs, a 15 min PB from my pool times! To say I was estatic was an understatement!
Jumped onto my bike and headed out on the 180km (112 miles) ride - two laps of the Eastlink motorway. It was easy heading out coz we had a tailwind, but after the turn-around point …oh boy! I lost any gain I'd made on the way out, cycling into the headwind. The second lap was even worse since the wind had picked up. However, I came in at my estimated time of 7 hours so was pleased with that.
Coming off the bike and into the run, your legs are usually like jelly coz you're using different muscles. My long training runs had not been good due to the increased distances on the bike. However, I felt great and powered out on the 42km (26 mile) run. This was a one - direction run (rather than laps) and I had friends out there from the start to the finish - it was awesome! You have your name on your bib so even people you don't know are encouraging you by name. I ran the first half with a Japanese guy and the time whizzed by, having someone to talk to. I'd thought that if I could get to the halfway mark and still feel good I would be happy. A lot of my Step into Life members were out there cheering me on at Chelsea and at Mordi I had the family waiting and the SIL Mordi crew. I was powering along, doing 5.30 min k's - unbelievable!!! I felt so good and I was loving it! The last 10 k I had one of my friends running alongside me and we were chatting the whole way, it was so good.
By now it was dark (I finished at 8.38pm) and as I headed to St Kilda I could hear the music pumping out and could see the finish chute. Couldn't stop smiling! My goal was to finish between 13 and 14 hours and I came in at 12:56 hrs!!! Mum and Dad were there and my gorgeous boys and I crossed the line to the famous voice of Mike Reilly saying …"Caroline Morgan… You ARE an Ironman!" One of the best days of my life!
Even more amazing was the fact that I pulled up so well afterwards. You'd never have known I'd done an IM the next day - most I had was a sore toe! And I was starving! For 3 days I isn't stop eating, having burnt up 10,000 calories on the day!
We have been here for nearly 4 years now, we have just sold our house in the UK and will probably get Citizenship in September. Hence, this is a good time to end the blog of "Morgsinoz".
