Last surveying of the swim course. Trust me, its there.
Bringing our appetites and smiles to the pasta dinner on Saturday (yes, Saturday).
Swim start at about 4:30AM.
We had a great system. This is how I spoted our support team in the crowd, including the swim.
Who knows what mile it was. Both, the bike and run courses did not have mile/km markers posted.
I really don't know. What I know is, that it was my first trip to the park that day.
This must me mile 26.2. Its was good to be "home."
There were many hugs and kisses. This one is from my dad.
This one from Erica.
And my mom.
With Erica, again.
A post-race debriefing.
Waiting for the last finisher.Phil here (BritTOM)! Well, it's nearly a week since IMUK and my legs are getting their standing/walking functions back again! First of all I have to say that this was one of the most challenging IM events I have taken part in - not because of the race (they're always challenging enough) but because of the conditions surrounding it! Lots of rain, lots of mud, and possibly a poor event site selection by the organisers meant that registering, checking in the bike, getting to and from the swim from transition, and generally getting around the site became a pretty energy sapping process in themselves. It was as if someone had decided to add a fourth discipline.
What about the race day? The biggest difference I noticed to other IM events was the support. There were so many people on the bike and run course who were cheering on every single athlete that passed them. Just great! The swim was good for me this time, possibly a bit overlong or maybe I was going slower that I thought, but plenty of clear water and for the first time ever in a race I spotted my supporters on the shore while I was racing. I had a great bike, I'm probably at my fittest in any IM event I've taken part in, with plenty of miles in my legs this summer. But then a run that will go down in my IM history under survival rather than speed. The story starts three weeks ago when my right calf tweaked on a training run. Lots of care and attention got it back to reasonable working order but basically I started the run with a leg hat needed 4-5 weeks rest, not 4-5 hours of running. Needless to say it hurt, my run was slow (so slow that I didn't know I could run for that many hours!) and my focus was completely on completing the race and not at all on the time. Actually, it was quite refreshing to have the same single focus that I had in my first IM - just finishing was the aim!
Tomasz was at the finish line next to the medal, t-shirt and photographer, which was great. And we soon found Erica and Kasia and my family. In fact it has been a real treat to have Tomasz and Kasia with us for this past week - what a wonderful time we've had with them. We've all had a pretty busy time around the race so I think we'll be sending them home to you pretty tired! I can highly recommend racing in the UK from our home as a base, so if any IronTOMs fancy IMUK while it's based near to us for the next couple of years you're more than welcome to come and stay! So, a hard race, great support, very challenging course (aren't they all) and very difficult conditions, but great company.
Now, finally, let me leave you with a a few British words used on IM events that we noticed that need translating:
Rain=showers, drizzle, downpour, pouring, cats and dogs
Mud=mud, sludge, gloop, dirt, mire, gunk, goo
Galoshes=wellingtons
Sunshine=there are no British words for this (it has never been seen
on an IM race day)
Post-race recovery drink=a nice cup of tea
Portapotty=portaloo
Awsome=brilliant
Thanks=cheers mate
Great going guys=jolly well done (only kidding - no one says that anymore!)
All the best
Phil (BritTOM) - currently in retirement (until the next one)
