Karen writes: The Saturday Ironman wasnt.

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Kate and me have just been for a walk when we should have been out racing, probably we would have been out of the water and on the bike by now.  We admit that an Ironman race couldn't have been safely run today, in spite of the sunshine when we woke up.   We walked along the lakefront, held our arms out and the wind blowing directly into our faces nearly held us upright.  The lake was a washing machine, the air was cold and my ears hurt.

We talked about how we had read about 'post' event depression. We decided we were suffering from 'lost' event depression and that for a variety of reasons it was important to make every effort to do tomorrows half Ironman if they offer it.  It will make things complicated in terms of extending the accommodation, cleaning before we leave, packing, and getting back to Auckland late on Sunday to be ready for an early start at work and school on Monday.

  • First - whanau, yes, they are behind us.
  • Second - accommodation - the fabulous people who own the lovely house we are staying at say of course we could stay, and they wouldn't charge us for the extra 5 hours.  
  • Equipment - We have our bikes and helmets, swimming gear, but not the contents of our cycle and run bags.  The only problem there is (minor) is that I have some now past their best honey sandwiches in my cycle shirt pockets!  Yuck.
  • Preparation - we really don't feel like it, but we need to treat today like the day before a serious event, eat well, rest, work on our headspaces, tomorrow is a RACE, and it might not be what we had our hearts set on, but it still is a significant effort.
So there is a briefing at 1600 hours, we will find out then if they plan to offer an event, it still wont be guaranteed until they see what state the roads and water are in early on Sunday morning, but hopefully this "weather bomb" will have passed well and truly leaving Taupo at its beautiful best.

Trainer Grant says "hammer it, go for a crazy fast time".  I may well just do that.  So wish us luck, again please, this time for a consolation event tomorrow!

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