Saturday 13th October - RACE DAY Kona 2007

Saturday 13th October - RACE DAY
Up at 2.30 because I couldn’t sleep and gather my things together. Got on my funky little tri outfit with my sponsors names all over it and caught a cab to the start. First thing is to get body marked where you get stamped on both arms with your race number from your shoulder to your elbow in big black numbers. Then I headed into transition to pump up my tyres and put my drink bottles on my bike and give everything a last minute check over. I put on some 6-hour sunscreen and headed out to find everyone. I had about 30 mins before I wanted to line up and get in the water. It was already getting hot. For the past 2 days around 2pm it clouded over and the temp would drop a little. I was really counting on that because according to my plan I would be starting my run around that time.

Load of pictures later I headed off to get in the water. Because it is a mass start you have to seed yourself according to your ability. I wanted to be in the middle about 2/3 of the way back in order to take advantage of the draft.
The pro race started 15 mins before the age groupers and we were off at 7am. I was amazed at how I couldn’t see a thing. The water was just white due to all the arms and legs thrashing about and it was like this for about a hundred metres. There was a bit of jostling but is wasn’t too bad and I got into my rhythm quickly. Because of the swell it was hard to sight so I wasn’t sure how I was doing. I got to the turnaround point in 40 min, which meant I was dead on target. I had enjoyed the first half of the swim but could feel my Zoot suit scratching the back of my neck. This only got worse and as much as I wriggled it around the damage was already done and the salt water was making it sting. My swim back into the pier took 50 mins and I felt tired. I felt like I was putting in lots of effort and not getting anywhere. I caught a couple of draftsbut the field was really spread out and I was finding it difficult to get someone going the right speed. I was also conscious I was outside of my estimated time and was trying to make it up.

Out of the water in 1:30:27 in 1587 position. I ran straight into the showers they set up and there was load of volunteers so someone had my bag ready for me. I stripped off my Zoot suit and had my tri suit on underneath. Rob was waiting in transition for me and was filming me getting my shoes and helmet on and asking me about the swim. It really bothered me that there were very few bikes in transition. I am not a strong swimmer but this made me realise that I had missed the main pack. I got out on the course and did the loop through the town. Because I was 10 min down on my plan I really went for it, a tactic that had worked well for me at IMUK. I knew that in order to meet my target I needed to do 38min 20km splits.

I achieved this on the first 2 and was at 40 min for the 3rd one. I was finding the bike really hard going and it was so very very hot out there. There was a strong head wind and I was ill prepared for how desolate the scenery was. I was finding it easy to stick to my nutrition plan of eating a gel every 20 mins but I was becoming increasingly worried about my plan and how far I was down. It was also very apparent that the main pack had gone and I was closer to the back, something I had never experienced before in a race. This was really getting to me. The bike course is out over what is called the lava fields and that is exactly what they are. There isn’t anything to look at except black rock. There weren’t any spectators and the only human contact was at the aid stations. I gave up saying hi to people as I went passed them, this clearly wasn’t a friendly race, which was something I had really enjoyed about the UK race.

At around the 60km mark I developed cramps in both feet and this spread really quickly into both calves. I loosened my shoes, I tried moving my feet around, I even tried cycling with the sides of my feet but nothing worked. It was impossible to push any of the big gears and I had to stay in the lower ones. Anything too hard and I had pain shooting up both legs. I was slowing down and people I had over taken were now catching and going past me at speed. I was beginning to become really demoralised. At body marking you have your age written on the back of your left calf. I could now see that women in their 40’s and 50’s were going past me which frustrated and infuriated me. I would try and make a move to pull them back in and would have to almost stop pedalling to ease the pain in my legs. I wanted to cry with complete and utter frustration, as I knew my Kona goal was slipping away.

The course is an out and back and I experienced a head wind for the entire way. I knew that in the afternoon the wind changed direction and it wasn’t unusual for people to experience a head wind both ways. On the way out there were times I was down to 10km an hour due to the hills and the strength of the wind. It was infuriating to watch the KM’s tick by so slowly. Every metre felt like a KM. I could see people flying back in with the wind at their backs and that spurred me on. I knew I needed to get to the turnaround and get some respite from the wind that was sapping my energy.

I got around the corner and picked up speed heading back but the wind had already changed so Iwas getting a side wind rather than a full on tail wind. It was better than a head wind and I was going to take it. It really picked up, so much so I had to miss one of my feeds simply because I couldn’t take my hands off the handlebars. It was so bad out there one of the pros was blown off her bike.

My back was aching quite badly because it was too windy to use my tri bars and my upper body was stiff with the effort it was taking to keep my bike upright and on the road in the incredible wind. The respite I had hoped for only lasted around 40 minutes before I was faced with the headwind once again. I was still suffering with cramps in my legs and I could feel my skin burning as I caught the sun and the sunscreen was starting to wear off. I was feeling really low and thought a lot about pulling out of the race. It isn’t like me to give up but I was already so physically exhausted I wasn’t sure I could make the cycle back let alone run the marathon.

My average speed by this time had dropped and I was finding it difficult to focus. I had a few brief moments where I would get some strength but these didn’t last long and each time it took a little more out of me. I was continuously being over taken and this was really messing with my head. The only saving grace was that Eric the cameraman had filmed on the way out when things were not as grim. I was thankful there wasn’t anyone around to witness my rapid decline. I got back to transition 1:15 later than planned but by this stage I was in survival mode.

I came off the bike in 6:59:52 and in 1504th position. I had a long T2 as I tried to decide if I could continue and gave myself a mental kicking to get out there and finish the race. Rob was filming me come out of transition and I managed to hold back the tears of pain and frustration until I had passed him. I broke down where I saw my friends and they helped me to get going again.

This was the only day where the clouds hadn’t come over so the respite form the sun was not going to be had. I was now also thinking about the prospect of having to finish the race in the dark, something I hadn’t thought would happen to me. I almost pulled out of the race again when the same old cramp under the left side of my rib cage appeared and I had to walk it off. I got going again and made the turnaround on Alii drive, I even managed to pick up the pace slightly on the ay back to town.

It didn’t last long and once through Kona I had no idea how I was going to run the remaining 16 miles out to the Natural Energy Lab and back. My friends were at the top of the hill and I started to cry again saying I couldn’t finish. Sam, Antoinette and Corinna ran with me for a while and Sam continued on with me for about a km in bare feet, which got me going again. I kept telling myself I had to keep running because walking would take too long. Everything was hurting and I was in considerable pain from severe sunburn and chaffing. I was managing to get a gel down every 20 min and was trying to get as much water and ice down as possible, but I knew it wasn’t enough. It was just impossible to drink enough without getting more cramps.

Eric the cameraman found me on the run and I was really struggling, but I guess that makes great viewing. I kept running but I wasn’t getting anywhere, I have never run so slowly in my life. Mentally I was just taking it one step at a time trying to distract myself from the ever-increasing darkness that was falling and the huge number of people running back into town.

I held out getting a glow stick for as long as possible, I was in denial that I was going to have to run in the dark, but the worst was yet to come. I had incorrectly read the run route and thought the turnaround was at the top of the road to the NEL. As it turns out it was about 1.5miles down a hill on another road. It almost destroyed me. My pride was the only thing stopping me from pulling out and it was all being recorded on film. I put on a brave face, held back the tears and kept putting one foot in front of the other.

It was so dark along the route you wouldn’t see the other runners until you were right on top of them. I was running alone and it was so tough but knowing I was on the way back kept me going. It was getting grim and there were people still heading out of town, but some were in really bad shape. People were throwing up and collapsing on the side of the road and as cruel as it sounds it gave me strength to know that there were people in a worse state and it kept me going.

About 10km from the finish I started to run with this Canadian guy. We were both in a bad way but having someone next to you makes a huge difference. I was lucky that the times I wanted to stop, he kept me moving and I did the same for him. I don’t know if I could have finished without him. We even managed to pick up the pace slightly as I was getting slower and slower. I just had nothing left.

Corinna and Antoinette were waiting about a mile from the end and ran with me. I couldn’t even speak by this stage and their words of encouragement fuelled me for the last mile. Sam was waiting for me in the finishing chute and I was so pleased to be at the end. I crossed the line hand in hand with my new Canadian friend. I don’t even know his name and I lost him as we were both swept up by our respective friends in the finishing area.

I did the run in 4:16:36 and finished in 1368th place with an over all time of 12:56:08.

I did an interview but I don't really remember what I said. I went and got into the water to ease the pain in my legs and went and collected the most impressive medal in the world! I knew something was wrong when I couldn't eat or really walk without support so asked to be taken back to the hotel.

Things went down hill pretty quickly and in the space of about an hour I was pretty much out of it and on my way to hospital. I was put on a drip straight away and given drugs for the pain and nausea. The doctor ended up giving me 3 bags of saline and I was only in for the night. Not exactly how I had planned my Kona race to go!