Sunday, February 19, 2012

Mission Accomplished!

At the start of all of this I had 3 goals:
  • Don't drown (obviously I didn't because I'm here updating my blog)
  • Finish the event
  • Don't come last

And I'm happy to say I achieved all 3 goals.  I'm exhausted and still standing so that is a good sign I think!  I don't yet know what my finish time was as for some reason I wasn't showing up on the preliminary results.  But my friend Rose had a time of 1 hour 25 minutes (I think) and I came in before her - somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes before her (hard to judge for me and Terence wasn't looking at the time at that stage).

This was the biggest thing I've ever done.  Well this and the Funrazor event I did last year.  I think from a stress point of view they were both up there, but this particular event took a whole lot more effort from me.

I was incredibly pleased to see the sea was nice and calm.  You don't quite realise how far 400m is until you see the buoys spaced out in the sea.  I think the sea swim was by far the hardest for me.  I was tired by the time I got to the first buoy and by the time I got to the second was horribly dizzy.  But I did it.  I managed to overcome my fear (mostly because of the lack of large waves). 

Another thing I was pleased about was that it was a cooler and cloudy day making it far more comfortable being out and about in this kind of setting.  What I was not pleased about was when it started raining quite a bit.  Didn't matter so much in the swimming, but riding a bike out in the rain was just plain miserable and thankfully it eased off by the time I started the running part of my event.

I couldn't run when I got out of the sea because I was incredibly dizzy and thought it would just be incredibly embarrassing if I was to fall over in front of all these spectators.  Bad enough that they make you start your run right next to the barrier where everybody is watching.  And because the sea swim for me was going on forever and felt like it was never going to end I really pushed myself in the bike ride to try and catch up a bit.  I really enjoyed this bit and didn't find it too hard or exhausting.

The run as usual was the hard part for me.  I ended up catching up with 2 ladies from our Saturday training group and it was rather nice running with them.  Well a combination of running and walking to be honest.  

And going over the finish line was an amazing feeling of relief that I was done and feeling really proud of myself for actually doing it.  And I actually did enjoy it.  The sea swim not so much, but the rest of it was amazing.  It was also incredibly supportive which was really nice and helped keep us going.

A few of us are keen to keep going with our Saturday training sessions and hopefully we can find a way to make it happen.  Also Rose and I are thinking that maybe we'll give the next triathlon in Palmerston North a go (yes I'm nuts I know it!).

Then this afternoon we visited Paul and his lovely family and had a BBQ dinner.  Thank you Paul, Jo, Kate and Alice for having us over.  Was so lovely to catch up with you!

Here are some photos of my day:

Feeling rather nervous at 6:50am about to leave to pick up Rose

Starting to set up
Signs everywhere
 
The lovely Joanne who is the triathlon sponsorship winner and part of our training group

Rose and I ready to take on the event! (Well at least we're smiling even if we didn't feel quite as brave)
2 of the lovely ladies who were part of our Saturday training group.

Feeling relieved the sea was pretty calm.


"Let's take a victory photo now in case we can't smile at the end"
A lot of bikes!
 
The piper arriving to lead us down the beach.

With Linley one of our Saturday morning coaches!

Getting ready to face my fear
Rose and I heading off to the briefing.
  
Down the beach we go

The first wave going round the buoy.  They were soooo fast!
 


No way could I run at the end of my swim.  I was so dizzy!
Getting ready for my bike ride

Caitlyn got to meet some spectators

Tired, but happy with how my bike ride went
Off for the running part of the event.  I was hoping my legs would not get sore
 
The finish line is in sight!!!

My cheer squad waiting for me

So relieved to be done.  Lovely to do this with older and new friends!


Having fun on the miniature trains.

Paul showing off his cooking skills

18 comments:

Paul said...

You've had a special day. A great achievement. The start of a promising triathlon career :). It was a pleasure to have you and your family over for a bbq.

Rose said...

Well done Lea! You are now officially a triathlete.

Palmerston North, here we come (hope you're ready for us ;)

Jess said...

Wow. What an awesome effort. You've inspired me to give something like that a go.

Hayley said...

Well done! So proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Julia said...

Am so, so proud of you Lea. You've inspired me to look into Triathlons. I love swimming in the sea AND I love to run so why not?
You did good. Seriously. Well done and Congrats on FINISHING in one piece.

Ellie said...

Wow, you must feel soooo proud of yourself. Congratulations on doing so well. And you had a smile on your face when you were running (how did you manage that).
I am so impressed. Well done again.

All About People said...

A stunning achievement . . .
"Did you doubt her?"
"No, I didn't!"

In time when you look back on the swim - you will learn to love it because even though it may not seem so now - it probably stretched you out of your comfort zone the most!

Respect!!

George Savva x

Maria said...

What a great achievement Lea! Well done :-)

amanda said...

Baie geluk! Ek haal my hoed af vir jou. xxxx

Marcia (123 blog) said...

You are AMAZING! Amazing!

I was smiling through your whole post and I imagine you keep smiling too :)

I love that pic of the sky and the water - such beautiful greyness. Mmmmmm!

I can't believe you still had energy to socialise afterwards - go you!

BridgetPirie said...

Wow, well done Lea. You should be so proud of your self. You looked absolutely great in all the photos too. Well done!!!!!

RosemaryO said...

Wow!! What an amazing accomplishment for you and for all of your team mates. You shoud feel very proud that you attempted something that you felt was out of reach and carried through! Hooray for you!
Rosemary

Unknown said...

Well done ....(clapping) Maa

blackhuff said...

WELL DONE for finishing - I know that feeling when one cross that finish line and I am happy that you did it. You are awesome!
I love the photos you have posted here on your blog - it's great to see what you look like. So what we have in common? The very short hair :) Love the haircut.

Unknown said...

Excellent! WoW! Sorry I'm a little late saying this. But I did enjoy the news and the pictures. The thing I can't see is how much differently you think of yourself for this huge accomplishment.

:-) Marion

Lien - all new adventures said...

Good for you! Golly, I really do need to get back into eventing. I used to do it quite a bit before I had my son.

What an accomplishment for you! Well done, Lea.

Lien.

Hanneke said...

Well done! Are you looking at doing the Womans Tri in Palmerston North? The Woman's Tri are awesome! well worth it! What were the distances, swim, bike, run on Saturday? There is also a sprint tri in Wanganui on the 3rd of March.

cat said...

Well done!