3hrs 55mins!

That is the time it took me to complete my Olympic triathlon at Pacific Grove, Monterey on Saturday 13th September. Check out my results Bib No. 841.

I can’t believe it’s over, the past 31/2 months have really flown by. I am really going to miss the TNT East Bay Tri Team and wish to thank every one of them, coaches, mentors, captains and team mates for their support, dedication and the driving force they all gave me to get me to the finish line.

However all this really and truly would not have been possible without the rest of you, family, friends, neighbours and generous donators. Through your words of support and financial contributions you got me to the very day I had been feeling would never come and that I wondered if I would ever get through (at least in one piece!).

So again, a huge THANK YOU to you all.

To recap, my journey began in May ’08 when I signed up to take part in an athletic event for TNT to help raise much needed funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I originally had a marathon in mind, maybe the Womens Nike in San Francisco, never in a million years did I ever think Keiron (my fantastic husband) would ever persuade me to sign up for a triathlon.

The first day of training arrived quickly, everyone was there and ready to take on the challenge. Coaches, mentors, captains and team mates galore, we rocked!

Our first training experience, a swim, not to bad I thought I can do that, however I found my swim style needed some adjustments if I was going to get to the finish line, in this lifetime at least! Next a 15mins run, piece of cake, no problem, however, I have never been so exhausted in my life, it nearly killed me.

I then suddenly realized that my life was never going to be the same again, swimming, running and biking as I knew it was all going to change. For next few months I would no longer be able to sleep in at weekends, no longer be able to enjoy wine and late nights out with friends, training for my triathlon and raising money for LLS was now my focus

And so it was, the hard work and fun had started.

The first month of training went by quickly and without to much concern of what lay ahead. The second month, pretty much more of the same, however, my fundraising wasn’t going as well as I had hoped and training was getting harder (especially the swims) but I was still committed. I wasn’t going to give up now, in fact when recommitment came around I decided to challenge myself further, I’d now do the ‘olympic’ race, a 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run.

Now, the third month, it was starting to get hard, training, fundraising and time commitment, plus the added concerns now creeping in on whether I would be fit enough to even finish the swim, let alone the whole race.

So then suddenly the race was nearly here, two weeks, a week and then before I knew it, the day before and I was picking up my timing chip, race cap and number, there really was no turning back now. My pleas for donations had been generously answered and I kept on being told I was ready and that it’s better to be 20% under trained than 2% over. Could I believe this, I was soon going to find out!

Race day was here, a very early start of 4:30am, but just enough time to shower, eat breakfast and last minute checks, then off to meet my TNT team mates at 5:30am so we could all cycle in the dark to the transition area about 3 miles away.

It was certainly a nice cycle along the path through Monterey town centre and along the ocean. It’s actually surprising how many other people are up at that time!

We all arrived at transition and started to set up our areas where we would quickly change for our upcoming events. I put on my wetsuit and waited for 8:45am, wave 7. I was with all the ‘pink’ capped ladies and didn’t we all just look gorgeous! :-D

It was recommended to ‘acclimatize’ in the water before the start, I have to say it was pretty freezing even in a wetsuit, however it was the best thing I could have done as it froze my hands, feet and face but heck did it get my adrenaline pumping, … I was ready.

All the pink caps (including me) entered the water and started swimming our 2 laps. It was like being in a garden of roses and believe me some of those ladies were pretty ‘thorny’; I said ‘thorny’ ;-) because if you’re in their way they’ll just swim right over you.

My swim actually went a thousand times better than I ever could have expected, I even lapped a couple of purple caps from the previous wave and I swam my fastest mile ever!

When I came out of the water I was greeted by what seemed like a thousand people waving and shouting support and it was all directed towards me!

Next the bike, 4 laps ahead of me. I felt pretty good; I’d been around this route before on a training day, so I knew where I was going. Coming out of transition and onto the bike route the commentator announces your name and suddenly a huge crowd of TNT supporters was there, cheering me on with everything they had. It was wonderful, I felt like I was in the Olympics.

Then finally it was time for the run, 3 laps. I have to say the run was hard, very hard. I’ve never been a great runner and actually figured that if worst came to the worst I could jog or even walk my way around the route. But again without fail a crowd of TNT supporters was there, along with lots of other people who I didn’t know, shouting ‘GO TEAM’ and my race number.

It was now my final stretch of the run, as the supporters cheered I pulled out a ‘Union Jack’ flag, the national flag of my native country Great Britain. I felt extremely proud to raise the flag above my head and run to the finish line, again hearing the cheers of supporters around me.

I had made it. I was given my finishers medal and received more hugs in a 5ft sq space than I get all year. It was just smashing.

So, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone for everything you have done to get me here today. I am sure I’ll do another event with TNT in the future, so please look out for my emails and website updates. And don’t forget all donations no matter how large or small are very, very gratefully received.

Take care, lots of love

Kerry