Karen writes: rain, rain, and did I say rain?

Saturday for the Rotorua Half Ironman was predicted to be rainy, not just 'showers', that forecast stubbornly stuck to 'rain', and for a change the weather boffins were spot-on. The day dawned saturated, we swam in the lake in drizzle, and that was as dry as we were all day. But in spite of constant rain, often torrential, it was a really GOOD day.   I didn't think it was going to be however, I was running late for the start, got stuck in a queue at the 2 stall toilet, and eventually raced to get into my wetsuit just in time.  I'd never worn the replacement secondhand wetsuit in the water, didn't know how it was going to work, but at least Kate managed to get me zipped in so I was fairly optimistic when standing with my toenails digging into the sand, not cheery red like Kates, mine were pretty tame in comparison... then we were away swimming.

I thought I was going to have to give up in the first stretch of the swim.   Every time I put my face in the water I struggled with panic, for no good reason I could think of, except that it was colder than I expected and the worry fed the worry.  I told myself that calling one of the boats over would finish it for me, and I couldn't face coming home and admitting to giving up a few minutes in.   I did breast stroke, thinking even if it took forever, at least there would be the bike and run, but then I got sick of that and tried swimming taking a breath with every second stroke instead of every four or six.   I did that for 1500 metres, which for me is an inefficient way of swimming, but every time I tried to swim normally the panic came back, but then with that last 500 to go I got into my usual rhythm and off I went, coming in at 49 minutes which was the same time as I had last year, so if I had swum normally I would have made a good time which is reassuring.  I really need more practice in the deep water!

The bikeride, wow, that was WET.   3 hours 52 with the rain channeling through the holes in the helmet, barely seeing through the glasses to watch the white lines, and squishing the marmite sandwiches into soggy balls to get them out of the bags.  There are only two hills of consequence in that ride, my feeling is they are worse than Hatepe at Taupo, shorter, but harder.   It was really cool to see Sara on the road as she drove to Rotoiti, it was strangely isolating to be stuck in your own little wet world, and triathlon cycling reinforces that, you arent allowed within 10 metres of someone else unless overtaking on this ride.  Got back and I was really happy to be10 minutes faster than the last time.

Running.   Mud and MUD.   The bush was beautiful, but it was hard to appreciate it when the paths were a thick slurry with puddles deep enough to threaten pulling off a shoe, and there were torrents running down the hills through the trees.  The trot up a gravel sideroad was lovely though, and I couldn't help but run with a smile.  There were other people whose faces lit up in reply, they were obviously those who enjoy the fresh feeling and smell of running in the rain as much as me, perhaps secret puddle splashers too...though I have to admit I usually like to have more clothing on than tri shorts and a singlet!   It was wonderfully encouraging to see the whanau turning up at odd places on the course, the girls hanging out the car window to try to take photographs, it did make me reluctant to stop and walk up any of the hills though in case they caught me slacking off which probably helped my pace.  It turned out that we were lucky to get finished, some people missed their second lap because the track was closed off.  That would have been so disappointing.   I did the run in 2 hours 31, taking 12 minutes off last year.

What an amazing experience, so worth it because it is such a beautiful course, and beating that weather was a real challenge.    The nutrition worked, I didn't fall off the bike exchanging my drink bottles on the move, clothes all fine.  The only problem I had was a chafe under one arm, but that wasn't bad for effectively marinating for 7 hours and 13 minutes... and it was great to get a nearly 30 minute time improvement (Kates improvement was MUCH bigger but that is her story).   Next time we do something like this it will be Ironman, twice the distance, I dont really want to think about that right now because yesterday was really good, but really HARD!

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