The weekend saw me and Roger head down to New Plymouth for the fantastic Wells Half Ironman. This is the second time I have done this race, and I have loved it both times. Amazing weather, the BEST race packs I have ever seen, a vibrant atmosphere, a hilly but beautiful bike course and a run along the ocean. What more could a girl want?
Friday saw me doing my usual pre-race ritual. That is, running around like a headless chicken as I always manage to fully book myself up with clients until our designated leaving time, and I like to leave things like packing and organising spare gels/drink until the very last minute. I then like to add to my stress levels by having to Fill Up The Car With Petrol, usually with no knowledge of how much money I actually possess (and some knowledge that like mortgages and 10 carat diamonds, petrol is hideously expensive). Once all of this is accomplished and we are on the road, I kind of feel like I have already just completed a Half Ironman.
Race day dawned a beautiful day, as only the Naki can put on. I have been really focussing on swimming a little better, so I was keen to see if I could stay within touching distance of the front group that would inevitably break away. I successfully did this all the way to the first buoy. While I was high fiving myself in my head, and thinking of how awesome I felt, I turned too close to the buoy and stuck my arm through the netting encasing it. Cue 3 seconds of frantic floundering (while I randomly thought "aaaah, so this is what poor dolphins feel like when they are caught in nets...."), and then common sense kicked in and I extracted my arm the same way it got in. Unfortunately the front girls were long gone, and it was a slower swim all by myself.
Out on to the bike it was hard work all the way. This bike course is honest. Which is a nice way of saying you will work your butt off on it no matter what. I managed to work my way up a few places, and rode back in to transition around the point that I began thinking "I would like to get off my bike now". Coming off the bike into the three lap run, I learnt I was 5-6min behind Hilary. I wasn't sure how fast she was running, but thought I would aim to gain ground on every lap (and hopefully not have a repeat of last year's performance of being 2 seconds too slow in the finish chute). Things panned out a little differently to that, with me catching and passing Hilary on lap 2, and then running scared on lap 3 as I imagined she was right behind me the entire way.
I crossed the finish line in 2nd place, behind training partner Candice Hammond who stamped her dominance on the course with a new course record. It was also good to see fellow VO2Coach'ed athlete Graham O'Grady winning with a new course record in the men's race.
A big thank you to Bob's Bikes for fitting my new Profile Design aerobars on in time to race, to replace the bars wrecked in the crash (and for constantly tuning my bike to my race wheels!).
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