We stuck to our plan and held back, probably only a minute
of two. It was quite a site watching 1000+ people get in the water. And then I was in too. Bit crowded at the
beginning but quite quickly I had space around me, at one point I had so much
space I briefly wondered if I was actually last. But I knew I wasn’t and just
kept going. The swim was better than I expected, I had a good space around me
for more than half the time and I didn’t get any hard thumps or kicks. I found
it quite funny – all these people thrashing around. Parts of the course were quite
hard to navigate; the route wasn’t as expected from the paperwork and the
yellow buoys were hard to see as we were all wearing yellow hats too. Most
sections were quite wide so there was lots of room to spread out. I lost a bit of time trying to site and I got
stuck behind people a few times, on several occasions I had loads of space and
someone would just come out of nowhere and cross my line, very annoying. A few
scrappy moments jostling for space - I probably won more battles than I lost.
The last stretch was nice and straight and I found a good rhythm and just went
for it. Soon enough I could hear the crowds and the commentator and I was out
of the water. I’d helped a girl get into
her wetsuit in the morning and she was in the changing tent with me and told me
we did it in about 1hr20 – that’s exactly what I’d hoped for, so a good start.
The helper in the tent was actually a hindrance, I had a
plan and she was messing it up but I knew she meant well. I lost a few minutes
in transition as I had to stop her and get back to my plan. You need to be
comfy before you get on a bike for a 112 mile cycle – I checked the time as I
cycled out of T1 – 1hr 30, still on time. Straight away I noticed my feed bag
was wonky, turns out one of the straps had broken, I stopped twice to try and
sort it out, tried sticking it with a plaster but to no avail. I was worried it
would fall off and I’d lose all my food, I then remembered my spares but
realised they hadn’t made it into my pockets. It was also annoying as my knee
kept catching it. So I spent the first few hours keeping it steady but then
gave up. I realised it wasn’t likely to fall off and I’d had enough of energy
bars and swapped to bananas anyway.
I enjoyed the cycle; some of the villages had really pulled
together and were amazing. Drums, cow bells, stereo’s, Mexican waves, saucepans
- you name it they used it to cheer you on. It was a warm and sunny day, the
roads were closed so they couldn’t go far anyway but they really embraced it. One village stole the show and made one of the
hills a joy to climb. I was enjoying myself, this was my day, if they waved and
cheered I waved and cheered back, they loved that and you always got an even
bigger cheer for doing so. Our names were on our race numbers and i had several
chants of Mel-an-ie, Mel-an-ie – I couldn’t help but think “no one has
shortened it to Mel”. A few sets of kids
wanted to do slap hands, I tried it twice but gave up; one nearly knocked me
off and one hurt my shoulder! The feed
stations were well manned and I soon got the hang of swapping bottles around.
About 2.5hrs into the cycle I heard someone say “well done
on your swim” I looked round and it was Carsten! He didn’t have such a good
swim and had just caught me up, it was good to see him, we had a quick chat and
off he went, I put a spurt on but knew I’d suffer trying to stay with him so
let him go. An hour later he passed me again, he’d had to stop and I’d obviously
passed him.
I clocked my time at 56 miles (half way) and it was 3hrs
30…I was pleased with that and it meant I could go a bit easier on the second
lap. Though a 7 hour cycle would suit me fine.
4hrs in and some fit looking people on really nice bikes,
tear drop hats etc were still overtaking me, I considered if I was being
lapped. I asked one what he was doing at the back and he said “trying to catch
up, I’m a lousy swimmer”. I played tag with a Scottish guy called Matthew, I
overtook him for the last time around the half way mark, he was out to enjoy
himself and felt right at home cycling hills in cloudy weather. I hope he made
it round. It would have been nice to remember people’s numbers but by the end
of the day I could barely remember my own.
I chatted with others and I stayed in good spirits all the way. My
shoulders and lower back ached so I sat up more on the second lap. I tried to
do some maths and freaked myself out that I had slowed up so much I’d miss the
second cut off time, I should know better than to do maths, still it made me
speed up a bit. I took a celebratory gel at 100 miles, this was new territory
for me now. All was well until about 103
miles and then I’d had enough. My feet were really sore and I couldn’t wait for
the end, I kept thinking I’d see it round the next corner but the corners just
kept coming. Finally I knew where I was and could hear/see the end. I dumped my
bike and headed for the changing tent. I’d
made it and I had plenty of time for the run. I was very very happy.
This changing tent was mixed, luckily there were some
barriers I could duck behind and change my shorts. No one came to help which
was good. I didn’t rush, a bit of a breather was nice and again I wanted to be
comfortable. Quick leg stretch and off I
went. My trainers felt soooooooooo comfortable; like soft puffy duvets on my
feet, that was heavenly after the pain of the bike shoes. I’ve not thought of
the run as a marathon, it sounds too long and scary, it was just 4 laps. Once
I’d mingled with all the other runners I noticed most people had already
collected 3 or 4 arm bands (you pick up a different colour every lap) and I
realised I had a long way to go. But I was overtaking some with none or one so
that was a good sign.
The first lap was really hard to get into for both body and
mind but again the crowds were pretty good and some were fantastic. By now
though I’d had enough smiling and waving and I wasn’t very cheery, plus there
were just too many to say thank you to. I would have liked some peace and quiet
to be honest. The sun was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, it was
easily 28 degrees, a bit hot for me. Fortunately the trees and buildings
offered some shade and it was a relief to get out of the sun. The course had
some cobbled stone sections which weren’t particularly nice and a slope or two
but nothing too bad. We ran through town, in a park and along the river Danube
so plenty of spots for people to watch. I stopped at each feed station to take
on water, I wanted to drink pints but knew I couldn’t, I was drinking too much
though as my stomach felt bloated and sloshy.
Mind games had begun – I knew I had time to walk the entire
way if I wanted to – but I didn’t. I haggled with myself that I could run two
and walk two, but that didn’t seem very brave or Ironmanly, but I think I’d used my bravery and ironman
spirit in the swim and cycle and who would call me chicken for walking? I
wanted to run the first three laps as I’ve done 18miles in training a few
times, I decided if I couldn’t manage to run the fourth lap, that was ok. So
that was my plan.
The second lap was better, I’d found my groove and was
feeling more perky, there was a spot in town with lots of supporters and a blasting
set of speakers, that made me smile and go faster each time I passed it. I still drank at each station just a little
less.
Lap three seemed to go on forever and by now I was walking
the feed station and a bit more after it. Thankfully the temperature was
cooling. I could cope with people sunbathing, having bbq’s, drinking beer etc
but we had to run passed a lake where people were paddling in the water, I was
so hot I just wanted to take my shoes off and jump in with them.
Lap four, the final frontier, the amount of competitors and
spectators had considerably dwindled, and so had my motivation. I decided to
swap from gels and water to coke and water. It seemed to work, I think I got a
buzz off the sugar. I decided I wouldn’t
walk until walking became faster than running. But then I just ran out of energy,
willpower, everything and I had a walk. I power walked mind, no dawdling. I had
a cup of cola in one hand and a cup of water in the other, sipping from each
alternatively. I had a nice chat with a
German guy for a while too, but then he needed to run. I knew if I walked it
would just take longer. During training I liked the idea of a 5hr run, some
people don’t achieve that when they do a marathon on its own, I knew it was possible but not if I kept
walking and it was just as painful on the legs if not more so I dumped the cups
and started to run again. It was hard to
get the legs going again and I was practically dragging my feet along, I
remembered a friend referring to the “Ironman Shuffle” and I thought this must
be it! I had a word with myself and picked up the pace. I think the walking and
drinking did me some good as I felt better and a bit stronger. I was passing
others too. Some people were struggling and still had a long way to go, I felt
sorry for them.
And finally there I was at the last feed station; the
volunteers manning them had all been brilliant. I had a chat with one of them,
he told me to turn my race number round to face the front so everyone would know
who was coming down the finishing chute. I set off, knowing I was on the home
stretch and feeling good.
When you get back to the beginning of each lap you go Left
to do another lap and Right to finish. It was my time to turn right, this was
the moment I’d dreamt about for the last few months. I picked up the pace and
there were enough spectators left to make a noise, so much so I could only just
hear the commentator say “Melanie Pitches, you are an Ironman”. I crossed the line and stopped, someone put a
medal around my neck and someone asked if I was alright, I just nodded. It was
a relief to have finished. Someone led me away to get a drink and finisher
T-shirt, I realised I hadn’t checked my time, I turned back and saw 13.53 on
the clock, I had to look again, I thought they must have forgot to add on the
swim or something but the volunteer confirmed that was my finish time.
Not only an ironman but a sub 14hr ironman; I was really
pleased with that. It was a long day but I really enjoyed it. The training had
paid off, the body held up quite well and the mind stayed strong. I thought
about Carsten a few times, I expected him to be way in front, had I known he
was only 10-15mins in front I would have run faster, but he said if he knew I
was only 10-15mins behind so would he!!
We’re just glad we both finished, no DNF’s for us.
Total time: 13hrs 51mins
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