Race day After a good night sleep I did 40min yoga in the garden, meditate for some 12min and organised my things. The previous day we (Tom and I) had already left our bikes at the transition area of the race so there was not much to do now.
I was having some tea in the kitchen when I saw Tom, his dad (thanks for the support, pre-race hug and motivational words, mr Denis Sr), Mark and Yonas coming. Smiles of seriousness on our faces, the air was dense enough to be cut and saved for later (we all were going to need it during the race). We all left the house and headed to La Santa where the tournament was going to take place. It was probably one of the longest drives in my life :)
After the quick morning bike check, words of wisdom and hugs I was already half body in the water waiting for the scream of the starting gun. My heart was pounding, my mind was clearer than ever. I focused on the moment, smiled at the landscape of bodies in wetsuits, water colours and breeze, I felt the sun on my face and took my jump into the water. THE SWIM was a real human battle as I was constantly slapped and kicked and pushed by the bodies around me… I supposed I was doing the same to them as well, so no hard feelings were there. Although I lost some time orienting in the whole situation, I finished energised and ready for the rest of the race. THE BIKE was the part everyone was afraid of. And the segment I was feeling less prepared for - although almost an year of training (with some months of alcohol disruption and bad food in between) I had trained on a static bike only (needed to save cash) and have known my race bike for 6 days only. My “monkey shoes” (vibrate 5 fingers) as Mark called them seemed to do the job well. Although long and really exhausting uphills I was feeling just fine. Just on the highest point of the route I saw a friend of mine I briefly had met in Kalufa - Fumyia waiting for me! It was an amazing power boost, thank you, 私の友人! The rest of the bike race was just a patient fight with my own body and mind that in my humble opinion I could say I won. THE RUN was just enjoyable - I was feeling great and had started to really sense the magnitude of the whole IronMan race. People were cheering (thank you immensely, Anisha and Angie for being on the finish line), I saw Tom which (for me) was a mood booster (thanks, mate, for the “less talk, short steps” advice which kinda saved me :)) and hearing Mark´s “you are doing great!” meant the whole world for me in that moment. FINISHING was amazing, I was happy, complete, zen and…hungry… Returning my race chip the lady on the counter congratulated me for my position (18 in my age group) which made me feel kinda emotional - ok, I was alone for a moment so I let myself cry a bit :) I barely remember anything tangible from this day but I sure remember all the feelings and emotional cocktail I had became - I (hope) I will never forget that and to be sure - I will continue racing.