I have done it.
My last training session was on Wednesday night, with a 90-minute Bikram Yoga session just to heat things up and relax the body.
It was a great end to the training I have been doing.
One thing I noticed was that I had a lot of extra time on my hands on Thursday and Friday so, to keep me busy and preoccupied the night before my race, I cooked a chicken roast with all the trimmings for six.
I tried to be good and keep to small portions so I wouldn't be too bloated on race day, but that flew out the window.
I had extra everything with a glass of wine to wash it all down ... when I am not allowed something I just can't help myself.
Friday night flew by and I had now reached the day.
I was sure this was going to be a fat day so as I crawled out of bed to rain belting down on the roof I slowly made my way to the scales.
To my surprise I was going to have a skinny day. I weighed my lightest since beginning training, even after my food massacre.
The rain was slowly easing up and MJ was in full swing getting all of the race day equipment. Having someone who knew what they were doing really helped to keep me calm.
After breakfast, we began to tick everything off the list and then we hit the road ready for Lake Hayes.
The weather was, to say the least, not the best, but it didn't worry me as I had trained for the conditions.
As we were on our way to the lake we got a peek at all of the riders for the Alpine Classic. This really gave me the boost I needed to get racing.
As we reached the showground I was starting to get excited. It's a strange thing, but never did I once feel nervous or scared. This was my race. I wasn't out to win the event, I was just there to race against myself and do the best I could.
I got my bike ready and then it was time to put the kayak on the lake - to my surprise there were only two others paddling at this event.
This made me happy ... I was either going to come first, second or third.
After the briefing there was a pilates warm up. It was great to be part of such a large group of women taking part in the event, with women from all walks of life in all shapes and sizes lined up to start.
The three of us kayaking headed to the lake and waited for the countdown.
To my surprise, I was way ahead of the pack.
My arms were burning, along with my lungs. I told myself "Calm down take it easy, you have the whole race to complete". However, my competitive side took over. I was going to come off the lake first if it killed me.
I am very happy to say I was off the lake first and running/walking/waddling up the hill to transition.
The short run nearly killed me but I was now on my bike and was very glad to be there.
I pedalled as fast as I could while still warming up my legs.
This whole time I was trying to keep the best technique I could and keep my breathing in check.
The main thing was to keep pedalling at all times.
I reached the turning point and I was now warm. I was flying back to Lake Hayes and even passed a couple of ladies, to my surprise.
I knew the run was coming up and I still had a slight ankle injury, and I could hardly breathe, but I was going to do it if it killed me.
I was back in transition and heading off on the run.
There were a couple of things that kept me going through this event.
One, so many people had read about this journey I'd better complete the thing. Two, MJ running from transition with me to the beginning of the Lake Hayes track really kept me going and pretty much got me through the run section.
To be very honest, I had to run/walk this section. There is no way I could have run the whole thing after the kayak and bike, but I kept going. I was bright red, my asthma was kicking in and mucous and drool were leaking out of my head. It was gross.
At this point, the third and fourth reasons as to why I could not give up kicked in.
One, I was lucky enough to be able to do this so I needed to embrace it, mucous and all, and two, my partner was waiting at the finish line and if I didn't come back it wouldn't look too good.
As I reached the turning point, all the ladies heading back were so supportive and telling me only one minute to go, or 30 seconds up the hill!I made it. Now I only had to get back to the transition area.
I had a tactic for the run/walk. Walk up all hills and run flats and down hill ... I made it to the finish line in 1hr 30min.
I was happy with the effort. I had given it everything I could.
I even came second overall in the kayak individual racers ... too bad there were only two of us.
I truly loved the training and hard work I put into this event. I was even out road biking on Monday night and kayaking again on Tuesday.
I think I will have to do the Real Women's duathlon next weekend.
This might help me with my running!It has been an amazing journey and it was a little sad reaching the end, so now I must find my next mission.
A big thank you to Mary-Jane Spring my coach/trainer, my partner Luke, Jim, Judy and the whole Outside Sports Team, the Traverse team of Geoff and Pascal Hunt for putting on events like this, to get people like me outside and into sports and fitness.
My biggest thanks go out to all of the ladies who took part in the event and gave it everything they could. See you all next year.
- Justine McCall
