We've both just re-read the last blog posted on here, and oh boy - what a difference a few weeks makes!
I'm proud to say that Matt and I are now both Ironmen... and I don't think I've ever been prouder of anything in my whole life. Here's our Ironman story, hopefully it'll inspire a few of our 'fans' to get out there and take on the impossible!
As you might have guessed from the last blog, I was feeling pretty nervous in the build up to the big day. We'd worked so hard for this, and we both didn't want to let ourselves (or each other) down. Matt woke up every day in the last week with chronic hypochondria consisting of a broken foot, a bad back and blood poisoning. Whilst I was checking the Taupo weather forecast online on an hourly basis.
In the final few days before heading down to Taupo we distracted ourselves by getting super organised on the packing, so that when it came to picking up our hire car on the Thursday morning we were ready with labelled bags (for each transition), Ironman worthy food in the chilly bin and disassembled bikes:
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| Sarah's small bike = perfect fit for the boot! |
Our drive down went without a hitch and we were soon in Taupo and reunited with Pete and Clare (Matt's parents) who were finishing their (second) holiday of a lifetime by being our support crew.
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| Ace support team |
Taupo was Ironmantown - the place was full of posh bikes and muscles. We spent most of the Thursday and Friday trying to avoid all of the hype, whilst getting registered, wetsuits dipped, bikes checked in, and of course grabbing a 'bite' to eat at the infamous pasta party on the Thursday night.
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| 1700 Ironmen in waiting |
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| Sorry, 1701! |
Soon enough it was the dreaded night before and we were having a slightly more restrained home-cooked meal at our motel.
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| Pete and Clare enjoyed a couple of beers whilst we nervously chugged water |
I won't dwell on the night's sleep beforehand. Let's just say I probably got a total of 3 hours sleep in between multiple loo visits (shouldn't have chugged so much water), listening to gale force winds outside and fretting about having to surf the lake rather than swim etc etc. Somehow Matt slept like a log...
Too quickly, the alarm was going off at 4am and my nerves really went through the roof. More preparation to do (big bowls of cereal, more hydration, applying race tattoos) and we jumped in our race vehicle (Carrie the Van) and headed down to the (now still) start.
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| Lucky numbers |
I wish I could describe to you all the feeling that I had as we put our wetsuits on beside the lake. Terrified, exhausted, emotional and really really cold all come to mind. I wanted to be anywhere but there, yet the race was coming to get me and it was too late to escape to my old life (where a 10k run was pushing my limits!) As Matt hugged me and told me it would be OK (not quite sure how he knew) two fellow female athletes in their 50s approached and held my hand and told me it really would be OK (no idea how they knew either) and for the first time I felt part of something pretty special. This was going to be an amazing day - I just needed to start swimming and keep going.
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| The swim start at sun rise - spectacular |
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| We were in there somewhere! |
The course was more or less 1900m along the width of the lake and 1900m back. We soon spread out and all of my fears of getting kicked and punched melted away as I found my rhythm as the sun came up. Matt meanwhile was enjoying being in the thick of it - this from the man who couldn't swim front crawl 18 months ago!
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| Apparently we looked like a shoal of fish. Or penguins! |
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| I was having a good time I promise! |
The bike 'ride' stretching ahead of us both was a distance of 180km (112miles). This was the bit of the day that had terrified me the most in the build up. The furthest I'd gone in training was 150km which had left me in a crumpled heap begging for mercy. To contrast, Matt was looking forward to this bit (we'd even had to talk about him 'holding back' and not getting 'carried away') and I'm sure will have been positively beaming on being reunited with Willie (his bike) after T1.
The ride started with a hill (great) but I was amazed to find that it was NOTHING compared to the Waitakere Ranges and Hunua hills which we have spent our weekends scaling. Call this a hill - pah! Easy.
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| I really did enjoy this hill. Really. |
Matt meanwhile was well on his way out to Reparoa. Loving life, he was cruising along (the back wind helped with the cruising and the loving) at speed.
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| Cruising and loving life. Really! |
A few things stuck out for us both on the ride. How well our nutrition plans worked - little bottles of what tastes like baby food wasn't appetising but kept us full for the entire ride. How much we needed to drink. How often we needed the toilet (OK, maybe that was just me). How annoying the 10m distance from the bike in front was to avoid the drafting penalty (you have to do the whole ride, on your own, under your own 'steam'). How nice it was to see the crowds, and especially our support crew in Taupo at the half way point.
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| Matt looking like Team Sky should snap him up! |
We both really enjoyed it. The sun shone, the head wind was manageable, the volunteers were amazing, the supporters uplifting and the scenery beautiful. I kept myself busy with admiring other people's bikes (universally posher than mine) whilst Matt got a crush on the elites (men, not women). Yes, my bum did get beyond excruciatingly painful and for the last 30km I was in a state of shock that my legs were still spinning. But it was mainly fun, and certainly didn't feel like 8 hours (also known as your average 9-5 working day!) and just under 7 hours for Matt (part timer).
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| Coming into T2 - whilst some cheeky chap overtook me on the inside! |
The volunteers at T2 were just as lovely as their earlier colleagues. They soon had Matt changed into his vest and shorts ('you should probably put your visor on dear, its rather sunny') and he was bounding off (after another visit to his sunscreen ladies).
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| Literally bounding! |
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| Looking fresh |
Matt's lead had extended a bit by this point but undeterred I kept on chasing and started running straight out of transition. I was just delighted to not be sitting on the saddle of satan anymore. Running a marathon felt attractive in comparison to anymore time spent on the bike!
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| Yay for running - much more fun than this cycling business |
If we'd appreciated the volunteers up until this point, they really came into their own on the run. Every 2/3km there was an aid station with all sorts of goodies to keep us going (power bars, gels, pretzels, crisps, coke, energy drink and good old water). I decided to stick with water (coke on a run sounds like a terrible idea to me but I'm told its what the pros do), a couple of gels and pieces of power bar/cookies. Matt managed to restrain his 'free food' overeating tendencies and stuck with orange segments, energy drink and an extra special caffeine gel towards the end (more on the effects of that later).
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| Lovely volunteers! |
The best thing about the run though were the supporters. We were treated to just over 26 miles of warm fuzzy feeling. There were signs everywhere: some funny - 'Never Trust an Ironman Fart', 'Toenails are so last season', some poignant - 'Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever', 'You're my heroes' and some personal (including to us!):
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| He did cope! |
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| Still a Norfolk Broad |
Whilst we didn't have a whole gang of friends and family there I felt as though I knew everyone who called my name (thank you Ironman NZ for printing our names on our race numbers), shouted encouragement, told me I was looking strong and even tried chatting me up (a few lads had had a few too many Speight's).
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| Actually feeling strong (how?!) |
Somehow there was never a quiet or difficult moment. We both just kept running, kept thanking the supporters and volunteers and kept smiling (and even a bit of dancing for the crowds from Matt).
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| A thumbs up to my father-in-law |
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| ...as well as bossing him around - 'hurry up and get to the finish - Matt's flying!' |
Suddenly Matt really was getting close to the finish. With about half an hour to go he decided it was time for his caffeine boost. I saw him from the other side of the course shortly afterwards: 'SARAH!!! GET PUMPED!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!! I'M PUMPED!!' A little bit hyper, Matt was having the time of his life, shouting to the crowd, whooping and hollering and picking up the pace for the finish of his life.
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| YEAH!!! |
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| 'Matt Cope, you are an Ironman' 13:21:41! |
I like to think that I didn't need caffeine to pick up the pace. In the dark I was still grinning from ear to ear and waving my glow stick at all those faces which I'd never see again but meant the world to me in that moment.
Running down the finishing chute was the biggest rush of my life. Overwhelmed, overjoyed and immensely proud I felt full to bursting. Hard work pays off. You really can do anything you put your mind to.
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| Just metres from the end |
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| My version of 'pumped' |
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| On top of the world 14:40:00!! |
He was there for me when I got there 1 hour 20 later so I bypassed the free food and massage to enjoy a huge hug from my husband.
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| Huge grins! |
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| Still grinning from ear to ear |
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| Is this mine? |
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| The full Ironman team reunited (including the bikes) |
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