KTC's IronWoman, Fi Huxtable (aka the Pocket Rocket), and her trusted stead (Spangles) race at The Outlaw near Nottingham on the 8th August....over to you Fi: -
"Seriously? 4 am? Oh no..." Yes - breakfast time on Sunday 8th Aug. I'd like to say it dawned fine and fair, but in all honesty it was dark and cold. There's nothing quite like having breakfast in a damp tent, shivering by the light of a head torch. I can't remember much else about the early morning; the usual Ironman stuff goes on... it's too late to eat anything else, you panic a bit about the contents of your transition bags, you panic about whether your nutrition will have been eaten from its place on your bike by a squirrell or something -the usual suff you can't do anything else about. By 5am the sun was coming up (Yay!) and bathed the mass of bikes and nervous people with the promise of a good day. I wriggle into my wetsuit that was still wet from yesterday's 1500m swim (seemed like a good idea at the time) and Russ and I head over to the race venue. Plenty of time for a banana, energy drink and lots of cuddles before getting in the water at 5:45 and floating around watching the amazing sight of another 1000 triathletes slipping down the concrete causeways into the rowing course.
6am And we're off! This is probably the best organised mass deep water start I've ever experienced. Very little fighting, plenty of feet to follow. Life is good. The swim is one loop of the rowing course so not much chance for even me to get lost this time. The only down side were the islands of weed that scattered the margin of the course. Still, the water was OK, green with goose wee as I was reliably informed on the bike, but I'm sure there was also lots of triathlete wee too by the end of the swim. I was out the swim in 1hr 17 (v. chuffed) and on the bike by 1hr 20 (my previous best swim time).
The bike was ace! Not a hard course by IM standards. There were no nasty climbs, no super-fast descents, but enough of a test to see a number of competitors pull out / cry by the side of the road. The feed stations were brilliant, the marshalls were really enthusiastic and there was enough spectators all round the course to really help you along. I was aiming for a 7hr bike leg. I came in in 6 hrs 29 mins. I even managed to high-five Russ without falling off my bike!
I must admit I had not done enough running training this season. The marathon course was easy, and I should have posted a fast time, but I didn't. I had too much fun to really run - there were some amazing supporters out there. Funny, but the food station at the top of the lake before the home straight on each lap seemed to be attracting a lot of attention with lots of runners needing to stretch and take on a lot of fluid it seemed. Turns out it was sponsored and "manned" by the Hooters girls. I eventually finished the run in about 5 and a half hours.
The thing I love about this sport is the amazing feeling you get when you run down that finish chute, knowing that you've done something that's really quite tough. Personally, I smile the whole way round. Spectators think I'm a bit mad, but what other sport is there that allows you to do something that makes you smile for a whole day? I crossed the line in 13:42:46 with a massive grin as the organiser yells "You are an OUTLAW!" Amazin'. Do this race next year if you want to try the distance without the cost associated with an M-dot race.
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