On 06/12/2011, at 4:16 PM, Angela Houseman - body4u wrote:
Hi everyone, this is Ang here to give you a post Ironman race report. It may be a bit long but I can't put 13 hours of horrendous torture into any less words.
Firstly I have to congratulate Darren on a great race and beating me across the line (on my birthday no less) in a magnificent time of 12hours and 37mins. A bloody top effort and I am very proud of him!
Darren had a great swim 3.8km and was feeling good as he exited in 1hour and 11mins. With great support on the sidelines from Bailey, Hayes and Darrens mum Marie (which means so much during the race) he headed for the transition area. After a cruisey transition, with 2 helpers getting him prepared, loaded up with a shit load of gels, powerbars, electolytes, power blasts etc. etc. Daz headed out onto the first 60km lap of 3 laps of the 180km bike course. I will have to let him fill you in on his thoughts and how he felt during his ride, but he did say that he thought the bike was the toughest leg of the race and the bike leg is his favourite so that may give you some idea of how tough it felt.
After 5 hours and 45 minutes Daz arrived back at transition and handing his bike off to the catcher he began to sort of jog/stumble on jelly legs towards the gear bags and change tents for T2 (transition 2). Another fairly long transition and saying to himself "how the f@#k am I going to get up and run a marathon, before heading out (once again loaded with fuel in his fuel belt) onto the first of 4 laps of the 42k marathon run leg. With his pacing plan in place he was on the final part of what was to be his first Ironman finish. His first objective on the run was to finish and the second was to make sure I didn't catch him (no pressure haha). Once again he will have to tell you how it all felt, but it must have been feeling pretty damn sweet when on the last lap we passed each other he knew he had a 2km lead on me with only 4km to go - he was taking this one!!!.
As Daz ran up the red carpeted finishers chute with the crowd roaring and hears those awesome words "Darren Robinson YOU ARE AN IRONMAN"
Well, enough of the well done Darren - whatever!!! Lets hear my version of the same race haha.
After about 3 hours sleep on Saturday night the morning had finally arrived. With our bike and run gear bags already in the transition area there really wasn't a lot to get ready. So force down a little bit of food, get the family up and organised and we are in the car by 3.30am and on our way to the transition area.
We get a great park right near the main transition and swim exit and make our way to check in. It is a really relaxed atmosphere and the sun hasn't come up yet. This is the scene we have witnessed on TV heaps of times, athletes pumping up tyres, checking their bikes and preparing themselves for the day ahead.
I am surprised that I am feeling pretty good and not overly nervous. We have ourselves set and its time to head over to the beach and toward the swim start.
The sun is coming up and it looks as though the day is going to be another warm one with not a cloud in the sky and a little bit of wind. Kisses all round to the kids and Marie and we make our way across the timing mat and onto the beach. Surrounded by 1400 other athletes all decked out in black wetsuits, white swim caps and goggles what an amazing and scary sight. Darren in his usual optimistic style is telling me how flat the water looks but to someone like me who has had a couple of near drowning episodes if there is a bloody ripple on the surface its rough!!!
The air horn blares and the race is on - a quick kiss and Daz is off, no mercy will be shown birthday or not, and I begin to make my way into the water. Staying wide on the right hand side I am hoping the currents of the previous days will help to drag me towards the end of the Jetty which is the longest bloody wooden jetty in the southern hemisphere. I am not an open water swimmer and I struggle to see where I am going and deal with my anxiety but I chant to myself "just keep swimming, just keep swimming" until a lifeguard on a board paddles next to me and says "honey you are miles from the jetty, you need to get yourself back over there" - well thank you very much, my panic sets in as I tread water and see how far I have drifted away from the jetty, the water is rough with swells that keep bobbing me up and down like a bottle floating in the sea. I begin to pull hard and turn towards the jetty getting smashed in the face and copping a number of mouthfuls of sea water. I begin to feel seasick and eventually have to throw up, lovely! I am seriously considering getting rescued at this point as I feel like i have been out there an eternity, but I remember chatting with a triathlete the day before and he said 'whatever you do when you feel like quitting think of how you will feel the next day' - its enough to make me keep thrashing my way around the top buoy and start to head back toward the beach, which is still 2 friggin kms away. The swim never gets better for me and I am so disoriented and dizzy that I am almost sure I am not going to make the cut off. This shows how my perception was so far off as I was actually doing an ok time for me. Anyway I finally get to place my feet down on the sand of the beach and I can't even woohoo as I am feeling so nauseous and Marie and the kids said I was very grey. I struggle up the sand and Hayes yells out Dad is 12 minutes in front - I am surprised but don't really give a toss at this stage.
Transition 1 is a long one with the help of volunteers to get me ready for the bike leg. I head out to my bike and am still not recovered from the sick feeling of the swim - I hope I don't crash mounting my bike - that would just be sooo embarrassing. All is good though and I am on my way. It takes ages for me to feel a bit better and I notice that it is quite windy and warm out here so I should start to hydrate and get a bit of food down. I hear "go Ang" and see Daz wizzing past and work out that he is going a few kms an hour quicker than me which is what I had estimated. This is a promising sign for me as I realise I am holding my own. At about 45kms into the ride my neck and traps start to get really sore and I am not quite ready to deal with this so early in the bike. I pop a voltaren and hope that will dull the pain- it doesn't! Through the roundabout at the first 60k lap turn around, smiles and cheers from our faithful family support group. Lap 2 is tough and I have to pop another voltaren to deal with my upper body issues. I see Daz again and he looks like he is out on a Sunday cruise, all he needed was a bread stick in a basket on the front of his bike the bastard! I complete my second lap and head out on the last - this is one of the hardest points for me heading out on the last lap (I thought it would feel great to know it was the last) but it didn't. The sky has darkened slightly and the wind has increased even more, there are a few spots of rain and it looks like this could change the day a bit. It doesn't last long and the sky brightens again and the temperature hits 35 degrees again with the wind still relentless. Chanting required again - this time "just keep pedalling. just keep pedalling". 2 more voltaren (not a good thing but who cares) and I finally approach the dismount line. The officials smile and say well done, my response, "does anyone want a bike". I pass the bike to a catcher and have a bit of a chat as I wander through to transition, then I hear "Dad is 54 minutes ahead mum, come on you can do it". 'Hayes'- you gotta love him!!! The surrounding crowd all start laughing and Bai and Marie give me a cheer of encouragement. I have to say right at this point I am so looking forward to going for a run believe it or not.
A very long T2 and I head out on the run. Yes yes yes I am on my way home, I am doing something I like and am good at and it feels great! I make my first run up the main street with the red carpet and finishing chute and hear people cheering for professional athlete Jason Shortis a triathlete legend. He is running beside me and we have a little chat, he is finishing (coming 3rd in the elites) and asks where I am at I say just starting my marathon what a birthday present, he leans over gives me a running hug and wishes me happy birthday and all the best just before heading left into the sacred finishing chute. At this point I realise I was keeping pace with Jason and my pace is on a 4.26k. Wow Ang you'd better pull it back a bit but shit it feels good. I do begin to pull back my pace a bit but am feeling great. I run past the kids and catch them by surprise so they run on the beach down from where I am screaming go mum! I see Darren and realise he has an 8km lead on me. Not impossible, but not going to be easy. Pick up my first black wrist band to indicate lap completed. 2nd lap its nice and hot out there and the supporters on the course are great fun and things are looking ok. Water, ice, oranges, watermelon is all I want at this stage, gels make me want to puke and electrolyte I am sick of even though I still do drink some. I see Daz again and I have made up 3km in the first lap which makes him 5km in front of me so still going good. Second black wrist band and into the 3rd lap. It is amazing how in an instant things can change, in about 200m my left achilles and the top of my right ankle seize up. Then in another 200m my guts decided to go into a knot and my race was taking another wonderful turn. Thank god this course goes along the beach front and there are lots of toilet blocks as well as the wonderful porta loos - oh my god let me tell you these are not pretty 11 hours into a hot day but desperate times take desperate measures, so don't look, don't smell and get out as quickly as you can. This process went on for about a 5km stretch until I had nothing left. I must admit the amount of people out on that run burping and farting (very gutsy I wouldn't have been game) was hilarious, but no one gives a toss. I finally got my third black wrist band and headed out onto the last lap about 3km behind Dazza, the kids and Marie gave me another cheer and informed me dad was about 20 minutes ahead of me. I give them all a final kiss and I'm off. Well Ang this is it my one last effort to try and catch him and I knew it was going to be within the last 5k if I could get him so we could finish together. I picked up my pace in pain and very depleted and began my chant "just keep running, just keep running". I was heading up the long straight toward the last turn around before heading back to the finish and I was doing everything to stop myself from walking when I thought I saw Darren, I kicked up my pace (and spiked my heart rate to 180bpm which my run garmin revealed later), I gained distance and then reality hit hard - it wasn't Darren, f@#k, f@#k, f@#k, about 3 minutes later I see Daz heading back about 4km from the finish and I'm at 6km it's just too much for me, so I yell out congratulations and he yells back "Ang we are going to make it". I get to the aid station I am broken and have nothing left and it dawns on me that I am actually going to get to the finish even if I walk the rest of the way, after my slowest split time it takes a big effort and some friendly encouragement from the supporters to get my legs turning over into a jog again and head for that last wrist band yeh an orange one - my favourite colour that day! As I run through the checkpoint where they hand out the wrist bands I yell "give me a bloody orange one!". The crowd on the sidelines know orange means you are heading up the finish chute this time round and they start to get behind you, I am starting to grin from ear to ear and when I veer left onto the red carpet and into the chute ironman logos on both sides of me, the crowd banging on the fencing, I am giving high fives all round, I am alone in the chute for my finest moment and I hear "Angela Houseman you are an Ironman" followed by the cries from Darren, Bailey, Hayes and Marie as I cross the line in 12 hours and 56 minutes with a little jump of joy. Darren comes over to give me a congratulatory birthday hug and kiss and thank god it is finally over!
Lots of Love Ironman Ang xxx
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