Karen and Kate's journey to Ironman and beyond

After a troubled lead-up and in spite of being drastically under-trained, my 2015 Ironman actually went fine on the day.  15 hours, 16 minutes, this was half an hour slower than last year, but not my slowest, and most important of all, I felt fine afterwards and had no problems the next day.  Most memorable for me though was not the event itself, but the experience of going without the usual support. I learned a few things.  1) Iron people are helpful, I had no trouble finding a lift early on Saturday morning down to the startline.  2) I should always ask if the hotel room has a fridge, I didn't even consider that it might not and had 2 days trying to feed myself out of a small chilly bin. At least the hotel let me refresh my freezer pads, but my nutrition was, shall we say, restricted. 3) Being by yourself, while it has the advantage of not having to look after anyone else, is also not as much fun. Crossing that finish line after all of that effort, with a sea of un...

I went for a final run, left while it was still dark on the most beautiful, mild Sunday morning you can imagine to plod out 18 km. That may be the last exercise I do until I get to Taupo.  The sun started to come up, I kept stopping because I thought 'this is it', but then ran a bit more, a bit more, a bit more until suddenly it was there. A run like that reminds you that it isn't just about the events, or the fitness, or the sanity restoration, being outside can be just plain glorious. I had to laugh, it might have been early in the morning but there seemed to be an awful lot of other people out too, taking photos, eating breakfast on various points looking towards the sunrise, or walking. So there is nothing more to do, no more fitness to be gained, no new equipment or nutrition can be tested. There are just the finishing touches to be made to the packing and organising.  Right now there is what seems like a huge heap of clothing and equipment on the floor of m...