My reason why
The first time I came across Ironman, it was in 2011 and I was training for my first marathon. The 42.2km marathon distance was incredibly daunting and I felt so proud of myself, but I was also terrified. I was on YouTube looking for running song inspiration and I came across a video of Ironman, although at the time I didn’t know it was an Ironman. It was a video of athletes collapsing during a race to the Eminem song “Til I Collapse”. I jumped to the comments so quick and after a google search, I was in complete awe: a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and a full 42.2km marathon. I wasn’t a swimmer, nor a cyclist and I knew very little about triathlon and yet there was something about Ironman that drew me in. I promised myself I would become an Ironman one day and vowed to do it before I turned 40. I went on to complete my first marathon and I felt like I could conquer the world…but not the Ironman ( not yet at least). I was scared of cycling and swimming and the problem with fear is that it is easy to put off something when you are scared. At one point, I had given up on my dream entirely and I had convinced myself that if I really wanted it, I would have done it. Did I really want to do an Ironman or did I just want a challenge? Fast forward to the Summer of 2023 when my husband, Andrew, asked me if I would ever do an Ironman. I told him with 100% certainty that I was not interested in ever doing an Ironman. EVER! Don’t ask me how I went from that to registering for a FULL distance Ironman only a few weeks later ( I don’t think I know the answer myself) but on August 1st, I made one of the most impulsive decisions of my life and signed up to do Ironman Frankfurt for the following August, which happened to fall on the day before my 40th birthday ( no coincidence there). I had no idea if I even wanted to do an Ironman, but I was ready to conquer my fears. Sometimes you must do the things you fear to find the things you love, and I had no idea if I was going to love triathlon, but I was throwing myself into the deep end.
Training
The ONE thing I had going for me was my dedication to training. I’m not talented but I am a hard worker and when I commit to something, I give it 100%. The first 4 months of my training was focused on Valencia Marathon, which I had signed up for well before I had any plans to do an Ironman. While marathon training, I did a bit of swimming and cycling but most of that time was spent running. I finished Valencia Marathon in 3 hours and 57 minutes and about a month later, I officially dove into Ironman training. I chose a 32 week training plan by Phil Mosely on Training Peaks and stuck to it with nearly 100% consistently. In the beginning, I swapped out my runs for swims and cycles because I had a running niggle (which cleared). I missed a few cycles while on a trip to Australia and I also got sick once and missed a run and a swim. Other than that, I completed all my sessions (and sometimes added extra), was injury free and overall felt strong. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of fatigue, because my goodness, I have never felt fatigue like I did during training. Training for an Ironman is HARD, it is time consuming, and it takes over your life. I only realise now that my real achievement was not just completing an Ironman, it was training for one. As training went on, I slowly got stronger, less scared and I fell in love with the sport. Years ago there was something that drew me in to the Ironman and maybe I knew, deep down, that I was going to love it all along.
My goals and predictions for race day
Going into the day, I didn’t have any time goals. Obviously, my goal was to finish in under 15 hours because anything over that is classified as a DNF ( for Ironman Frankfurt), and I knew that I needed to race smart to avoid a DNF. I also knew that I could be cutting it close. The thing about an Ironman is that it is meant to be done at an easy pace (at least for a beginner) and I was a bit panicky over this because I didn’t think there was any way I could go that easy and get under 15 hours. However, as the day got closer and I got stronger, my training plan estimated I could do the Ironman in 14-14.5 hours. Training Peaks had a slightly different estimate for me at 13.5-14 hours. Both estimates counted on perfect conditions though, so calm waters, wet suit legal, no wind, no rain, no heat and perfectly executed nutrition. You have no idea how many times I played around with the numbers, estimating my finishing times in all three disciplines with best-case and worst-case scenarios.
My predictions going into the swim were roughly 1:20-1:30 (on the slower side of that if it was non wet suit and choppy waters). My biggest worry going into the swim was that I would let the adrenaline get to me and swim it too fast. Overall though, I felt confident with open water swimming and had very little worries. My predictions for the cycle were all over the place. I lack cycling experience and had no idea how fast I could go compared to training. I did nearly all my training on rough roads that were more hilly than the ironman course, and when you take into account traffic as well, I was a lot slower in my training rides than I expected to be on the day. I just didn’t know how much faster I could go while still keeping my heart rate low. I was predicting a 7.5 hour bike ride but my husband thought I could easily do closer to 7 hours. I decided that on the day I would keep my average heart rate around 142 ( low end zone 2) and hope for the best. As for my run, for some reason, I thought, with nearly 100% certainty, that I could pull off a 5:00 marathon. I wanted to keep my heart rate under 150 (my zone two heart rate is roughly under 155) and I do get a fair amount of cardiac drift so I knew I needed to really hold myself back on the run to keep my heart rate low. I thought 5 hours was a realistic marathon prediction and it would give me time stop for the toilet or at aid stations. My predictions for transitions were T1: 10 minutes and T2: 8 minutes, but that was based off nothing because I had never done a triathlon. My final prediction was 14 hours and 13 minutes, which was in line with what my training plan thought I could do. As long as the weather was perfect….
A few weeks before the race, the athletes guide came out and I got to see the official course for the first time. One of my biggest worries going into the ironman was that the course would be shortened (as I am writing this, Ironman Canada had their swim cancelled completely and Challenge Scandefjord, another full distance triathlon, was completely cancelled due to an unsafe bike course). I can’t even imagine the devastation the athletes must have felt but safety always comes first. I was aware that this could happen and tried not to think about it because it was out of my control. What I was not expecting though was to open my athletes guide and discover that the Ironman bike course was ALREADY shortened by 2 kms due to road work. In the moment, I was devastated. I felt like I wasn’t doing a full Ironman distance if the bike course was only 178kms. However, after looking it up and talking to a few people, it’s common for Ironman to do this and it seems that the 180kms is a give or take distance (although Ironman will always say 180kms regardless).
Going into race weekend
We arrived into Frankfurt on the Thursday before race day ( Sunday). The weather was hot and sunny but race day was calling for rain. I was a bit worried that might come with wind and thunderstorms ( I didn’t want the swim to be cancelled) but overall I wasn’t bothered about the rain since I trained in it a lot. At the race briefing on the Friday, it was announced that it was highly likely the swim would be non-wet suit. Again, not ideal but I wasn’t overly bothered. My swim time would be slower BUT in a lot of ways it is easier to swim without a wet suit. You’re less restricted when swimming and T1 would be easier. The day before race day, I checked the weather a few times and saw thunderstorms were predicted for the swim start. That did worry me but it was out of my control so I tried not to think about it. Going into race day, I had been sleeping really well ( I had been all year actually) so when I was tossing and turning the night before, unable to fall asleep, I wasn’t concerned about sleeping (I was more terrified of what was to come).
Race Day
My alarm was set for 3am, although I had been awake since 2:15am with nerves. I had managed about 3 hours sleep and was happy with that. I got out of bed at 2:50am to start my day. I like coffee first thing in the morning but on race days, I like a red bull and that is exactly what I drank. It was a surreal moment, sipping my red bull, listening to the rain falling outside, and here I was, after months of training, getting ready to do an Ironman. I had a quick shower to warm up the body, brushed my teeth, put my hair in braids and got dressed. At this point Andrew was already awake and getting ready for the day. I quickly ate two waffles and made us both two pots of porridge with banana. We took those to go because it was 3:45am and it was time to leave the hotel. As soon as I walked outside, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t feel as cold as it was (temperature was in the high teens). I didn’t know it at the time but humidity was at 94% for the day.
The shuttle bus pick up location was about a 15 minute walk away and we arrived for just after 4am. There were already shuttles leaving with people and we jumped on the next one and even managed seats. I felt oddly calm all of a sudden. There is so much anxiety going into a race such as getting sick, injured, sleeping in ( as if that would ever happen). In that moment, none of that had happened and here I was on my way to the start line of an Ironman. However, when we arrived, the nerves kicked back in. Andrew and I entered T1 around 5am and found our bikes. I put on my repair kit, nutrition, bike computer and my two water bottles filled with Precision Hydration. At 5:30am it was announced that the water temperature was 26.2 degrees and it would be a non wet suit swim. The rain was falling heavy at this point and I waited in the queue for the toilets for ages before going one last time before the start of the race.
It was about 6am when they started asking athletes to make their way down to the start line. I ate a pack of SIS chews, handed in my street wear bag, made sure I had my swim cap and goggles and walked down to the beach. I thought about getting in for a warmup and even dipped my toes in to feel the water but was worried I would be standing around shivering afterwards. The pros were being introduced and it was still 30 minutes before the age groupers would start. Andrew and I could see the age groupers filling up the corals and decided to head that way. The nerves were really kicking in now, as we said our final goodbyes and wished each other luck. Andrew went into a faster coral and I placed myself in the 1:15-1:25 group. It wasn’t long before the pros were off and the countdown for the age groupers started. We did the traditionary Viking clap and just like that, the age groupers had started.
The Swim
It was a rolling start for the age groupers, and it took 12 minutes before it was my turn to enter the water. I felt weirdly calm, but it also felt insanely surreal. I couldn’t believe I was about to start an Ironman. It took weeks of training to get me to this start line and here I was. I felt like I was going to cry but I didn’t have time because it was my turn to go. I started my watch and ran into the water. It took me about 5 seconds before I could dive in and start swimming. Or more like being tossed around by hundreds of other swimmers. It was intense with arms and feet hitting me from every direction. I tried to forget about the other swimmers and focused on sighting. I noticed a lot of swimmers were going wide on the buoys (probably to escape the washing machine effect) but I prefer to follow the buoys as straight as possible even if it means getting hit by other people. The lake was a really nice temperature, and I could see the bottom from time to time, which was a nice change from what I’m use to. I found myself passing people out as fast as I was being passed out. I wasn’t finding anyone to draft off and decided to focus on my sighting. I found the buoys easy to spot since it was cloudy and the rising sun wasn’t blocking my view. The first loop of the swim was 1500 meters, and the second loop was 2300 meters. As I got closer to the shore and the Australian exit, I could hear the announcer and the crowds, and it hyped me up. My watch beeps every 500 meters, and I heard it beep to say that I had hit 1500 meters. I knew my sighting had been perfect. I got out of the water and saw my pace was 2:05 min/100 meters and thought that was way too fast (it actually wasn’t. I looked back at my stats after the race and my heart rate was low). At that pace, I was on track for a 1:20 swim and for a non-wet suit swim, I was worried that I was pushing myself too hard. When I got back into the water for the next loop, I told myself to slow down. I also decided that I needed to find someone to draft off but this proved to be hard. It felt like everyone was either too fast for me or too slow. I ended up behind these two guys who were going a bit slower than I wanted but decided to stick with them anyway ( and besides, I did want to slow down). I noticed they were swimming a bit wide on the buoy line but decided to stick with them anyway. After a bit though, the pace was feeling too slow so I pushed ahead of them. I was on my own for a few hundred meters and it was nice not to feel like I wasn’t in a washing machine for a bit. I soon caught up to more swimmers and tried to draft a bit here and there. As we turned around the last buoy, I could hear the crowds again and I started to get nervous for transition and the cycle. With about 300 meters or so to go, I got a horrible leg cramp in my left foot and calf. I occasionally get leg cramps but not often so I was a bit surprised. Without the wetsuit for added buoyancy, I must have been kicking my legs more than usual. I stopped to stretch my leg, thought I had done the job and tried swimming again but nope, I had to stop again and stretch it out further ( which isn’t easy while treading water). Once I had properly stretched out the leg and started swimming again, I was afraid to kick and cramp up again so the last 300 meters were slow. As I was finishing up the swim, I kept reminding myself to look at my watch so I would know my final swim time. Well, what do you know, I got out of the water, heard the announcer say my name, saw crowds of people cheering and I completely forgot to look at my watch. I did manage to hit the button on my watch to end the swim and start transition though. Final swim time: 3940 meters in 1 hour and 27 minutes at 2:13/100m pace. My sighting was off for the second loop and I had slowed down a bit (the leg cramp probably didn’t help). Overall, I am happy with that especially for a non wet suit swim.
Transition 1
My goal for transition was NOT to rush it but to be efficient. T1 was uphill through sand, and I made the decision to walk it. I would say about half the people were running it and the other half were walking it. It was amazing to see everyone cheering us on. I got to T1, grabbed my bike bag, took off my swim cap/goggles, put on sunscreen ( even though it was raining), ate a bar, put on my race belt, helmet, sunglasses, socks and shoes, grabbed my nutrition and handed my bag off to a volunteer. My heart was pounding worse than at the start of the swim. I walked to the bike racks, remembered where my bike was (somewhat , because I walked past it the first time and had to back track), grabbed my bike and walked past the bike mount line, jumped on my bike, clipped in, started my bike computer and was off. T1 time was: 9:33.
The Bike
The bike course was a 2-lap course, going in through Frankfurt before heading out to the countryside. It was a lot more scenic than I was expecting, even in the rain. The first thing I noticed, after starting my cycle, was that my heart rate was high. My heart was pounding from nerves but I also saw that my bike speed was 30kms/hr. I slowed down and looked at my speed again and it was still at 30kms/hr. WHAAAT??? I slowed down even further but my speed was STILL at 30kms/hr. I gave up at that point. Adrenaline does funny things to the body (like making it impossible to slow down). After a bit, I started to calm down and my pace dropped to a reasonable speed. It was raining, the air felt cool and I felt good. I felt good except I had swallowed so much water in the lake that my stomach was cramped up badly. I had experienced this in training when swimming in choppy water so I knew to expect it on race day. It was a lot worse than training and I started to worry but tried to remind myself that the feeling would pass. My bike computer was set up to remind me every 30 minutes to eat a gel/bar (I aim for 40 carbs every half hour on the bike) and I am so glad I had that reminder because my mind was distracted and time was going by fast. I remember looking at my bike computer and seeing that I was already at 40kms and it felt like I had just started. The roads in Frankfurt were smooth and fast. There was only one hill that I really noticed (“the beast”, which we did twice) but it wasn’t very punchy. The total elevation for the course was 1200 meters but it felt flatter than that. Plus, there was NO WIND!! Between the rain cooling me off, the lower temps, no wind and fast roads, I was doing well compared to my training rides. The course starts off flat, but once we hit some of the “hills”, my pace averaged out to about 26kms an hour and stayed there for the entire cycle. My heart rate was sitting even lower than usual around 138/139 (high end zone 1). I decided to stay there even though I could have pushed it a bit. I was cycling faster than I anticipated and figured that it was better to hold myself back. At some point on the first lap, I nearly lost my bib number TWICE. I noticed it happening to a lot of people (must have been the rain) but I had to stop twice to reattach it. It was the only two times I stopped on the bike course.
Because I had only learned how to ride a road bike this year and was doing my first triathlon, I had made the decision to do the Ironman on a road bike (with no aero bars). I was one of the only ones without aerobars and I was worried that on race day I would get frowned down upon from other cyclists, but I was wrong. Everyone was so friendly and the cyclists passing me out were cheering me on. The crowds cheered me on extra as well. In Europe, women only make up 10% of the athletes in an Ironman, so you can imagine how crazy the crowds were when they saw me, especially the women supporters. It was amazing!!! I had the biggest smile on my face for most of the race.
The second lap went by even quicker than the first and at no point was I feeling tired or bored. The cycle was my favourite part of the day. However, I started to notice that the km markers were not matching up to what my bike computer or watch showed. I don’t know when this happened, but they were off by 5kms (my bike computer was always 5kms behind). Because it was a two-lap course, I could see the km markers for both laps and Ironman had put a km marker up for 180kms even though they had previously announced it was a 178km bike course. Was ironman trying to convince us otherwise? I was a bit confused. The last section of the bike course brings you back into Frankfurt and was nearly all downhill. I let myself coast to give myself a bit of a break before running a MARATHON. Overall though, I felt really good and I enjoyed the cycle. My cramps were mostly gone away from the lake water and I knew once I started running that they would go away completely. My neck and back felt great (that bike fit I got in the Spring was money well spent!!!!) and I had nailed my nutrition. I had been drinking Precision Hydration on the bike course as I needed, although the last aid station had run out, so I took a bottle of water knowing I had salt tablets in transition. My legs felt weirdly fresh and, as I made my way into Frankfurt for the final stage of the cycle, I started to get excited. I knew I had it in me to run a marathon. I WAS GOING TO BE AN IRONMAN. I saw the sign to turn right for T2 and then out of nowhere, I could see T2. Except my bike computer said I was only at 175kms. NOOO. That’s cutting it too short, Ironman. I checked my watch and it also said 175kms. Dammit. I had another 5kms in me and I wish I could officially done the full 180kms but a part of me was still hopeful that my GPS was wrong. As I got closer to the dismount line, I stopped in plenty of time. I wasn’t going to attempt a fancy dismount. I could hear the announcer call out my name and I was in disbelief . The cycle was the part of the ironman that worried me the most and I HAD DONE IT. My final time was 6:45. It would have been about 12 minutes longer if the distance was the full 180kms. Even at that, I was well within my 7.5 hour prediction. In fact, never in my wildest dreams did I think I could get under 7 hours. I was feeling GOOD!!!!
Transition 2
As I was walking into T2, I could see the run course to my left. It’s a 4-lap run course and I was looking around for Andrew already. I felt confident that he would finish the bike but there was still a worry that something mechanical had gone wrong, or that he had crashed ( the roads were slippery from the rain). I didn’t see him, but my focus was now on T2. I racked my bike, remembered to grab my bike computer, found my run bag and went into T2, sat down and got ready to run a marathon. I remembered to take a salt tablet since I had only been drinking water for the past hour. I handed my bag off to a volunteer and started running. T2 time: 8:13.
The Run
I knew from my brick sessions in training that I was going to feel great. I don’t get that heavy/wobbly leg feeling that some people get after the cycle. I had just been cycling for nearly 7 hours and to be using different muscles for the first time felt incredible. Not to mention, the crowds on the run course were INSANE. Hundreds of people lined up on either side of the course, high fiving and screaming my name. I could feel a lump forming in my throat and really had to hold back tears so many times that first lap. I knew I was capable of running a marathon, I knew I was going to become an ironman, my cramps had gone away, I felt strong and hundreds of people were cheering me on. And then the best thing happened at 3kms. I saw Andrew. The 4 lap course passes over two bridges and has a couple out and back sections, so I knew I would see him at some point, but I was relieved to see him so early on. I was crossing the bridge and he was running along the path below me. I screamed his name and he looked up. We both gave each other thumbs up and went on our way. I was feeling great.
Along the bike course there were 28 aid stations and each aid station had a line up of drinks and food: water, salt water, coke, Precision Hydration, more water, bars, gels, oranges, apples, bananas, crackers, pretzels, more water, cups of ice and ice cold sponges. The aid stations were incredible, and the volunteers were even more incredible. I found out after that there were 3000 volunteers at Ironman Frankfurt, one for each athlete. At each station, I fell into a routine. Two cups of water (one to throw on me and one to drink), a cup of coke ( I had never tried it before but it worked), some fruit and some pretzels. Oh, and ice which I threw into my sports bra. I used the sponges to cool off my head. It wasn’t a hot day but the rain had stopped, it was humid and the temperature was 23 degrees. I know too well how important it is to keep yourself cool during a marathon and I made that a focus at every aid station. They also had showers around a few spots on the course which I ran through. My shoes got soaked but it felt like home where I did nearly every long run in pouring rain. Every lap I took a salt tablet. I took gels as I felt I needed them. I had 3 of my own and also used the Maurten gels they provided on course. I had tested Maurten in my training and they settle well with me, although I like the texture of SIS beta fuel a bit more so that is what I brought with me for most of the day. In training, towards the end of my long sessions, I found myself getting sick of gels and I wasn’t sure how my stomach would handle them on the day but I was surprised to find I was still enjoying them ( as much as you can) and my stomach was handling them well. Actually, I felt like I could eat even more and I picked up bananas, oranges and pretzels at every aid station and had ZERO stomach issues. I have no idea how many carbs I was consuming an hour on the run but it was more than I had done before in training or in previous marathons. Mind you, I was running a slow pace which makes digestion easier.
As for my pace, I was completely unaware of it. I was looking at my watch to check that my heart rate was under 150 but I wasn’t paying attention to anything else. At the end of the first lap, I saw Andrew’s parents and the kids. They looked so cute cheering me on. On the second lap, I saw Andrew again at the same place as last time (me on the bridge and him under the bridge). He was a lap ahead of me and we were still roughly running the same pace, however this time when I gave him the thumbs up, he told me he was struggling. I started to wonder if I would feel that way in another lap. The adrenaline had worn off a bit but I was still feeling good. Throughout the marathon, on each of the last three laps, I needed to stop for the toilet which was annoying ( I was drinking a lot) but I knew I was making good time so it wasn’t an issue. I hate that feeling of stopping and having to run again though. It’s reminder of how tired you are. Towards the end of each lap, with 2kms to go until the next lap, you are given a coloured wrist band to keep track of where you are on the course. At the start of each lap, you have to run by the turn off to the finishing chute which was hard mentally, but it also meant you were one step closer to finishing.
It was on the third lap that it started feeling hard for the first time. It first hit me when I saw a sign for 22kms but could have sworn I was on 24kms. I looked at my watch which confirmed that I was, in fact, at 22kms. My legs felt tired. It was also around this time (maybe a bit before this) that I looked at my watch for the first time to see how long it had been since I started the Ironman. It was around the 11 hour mark and I was confused because I thought I only had two hours left which would have gotten me in under 13 hours. That wasn’t right. I did some quick math and realised that I had roughly 2.5 hours left of running, not 2 hours. Again, I was feeling disheartened but, at the same time, I was also feeling excited because I knew, if I kept running, I would finish around 13.5 hours. That was much faster than I anticipated, even with the slightly shorter bike course. It was this that kept me moving forward and I kept telling myself that it didn’t matter how slow I was running, I just needed to keep going. I didn’t see Andrew at our regular spot on the bridge. I knew he was struggling so I wasn’t worried and I had a feeling I would see him later on at some point. And I was right. I ended up seeing him at one of the out and backs. He was walking/running and told me I would soon catch him. It was another couple kms before I saw him in the distance at an aid station and caught up to him. We ran together for a few moments. I asked him if the bike course was short for him and he told me it was 175kms, confirming what I already knew ( I know it’s only 5kms but it was bothering me). He told me that he did the bike in under 6 hours and felt great on it but he was really struggling on the run. He had about 3kms to go before the finish and told me to go ahead because he couldn’t keep up. We kissed, I congratulated him and I ran ahead. It was from this point onwards that it really got hard. The thing about an Ironman is that when it is easy, it is effortless and when it gets hard, IT GETS HARD!!!! I went to the deepest, darkest place I have ever been. Going into the 4th lap was mentally one the hardest moments of my life. 32kms onwards is hard in any marathon, but I had been racing for over 12 hours and between the kicking in the swim, cycling for nearly 7 hours and now running a marathon, my legs were shot. It was a feeling I had never experienced but with every step, I thought my legs were going to seize up. I could feel an insane build-up of lactic acid and for the first time since starting the marathon, I started to worry I wouldn’t finish. I thought about the YouTube video I had seen 12 years earlier to Eminem’s song “Till I Collapse” and thought about the lyrics. Well, NOW I get it. With every step, I felt my knees give away slightly. I was struggling to hold my weight. I had promised myself I would run the whole marathon except for aid stations. Up until this point I had been stopping at them momentarily to drink water/coke and grab food but I had told myself before the race that if I needed it, I could walk them. And that is exactly what I did but as the lap went on, I found walking to be almost as hard as running and I couldn’t do it anymore. Every time I stopped, my legs felt like they were going to collapse, so I made the decision to run the rest of the aid stations.
With 2 kms to go, I knew what was coming and I started to feel excited. In the distance, there it was: the final wrist band. The volunteers had lined up on either side of me and gave me the biggest cheer as they put the final band on my wrist. My legs felt weak but suddenly nothing hurt. The adrenaline was pumping through me again. I WAS ON THE FINAL STRETCH. I WAS GOING TO BE AN IRONMAN!! The lump in my throat came back and it took everything in me not to cry. Those final 2kms felt great. I had the biggest smile on my face. I saw a race official and screamed that I was about to become an Ironman (he saw me after the race and congratulated me). As every spectator cheered for me, I cheered back even louder. I must have looked insane. At the last aid station, I skipped everything but the ice. I could see the end of the final lap coming and started to get myself ready. I checked that my trisuit zipper was done up (it’s an Ironman rule that it has to be up for the finish) and I made sure that my bib was positioned well on my front. I still had some ice in my sports bra that hadn’t melted, and I didn’t want lumpy photos, so I threw those out. And then just like that, I was approaching the final turn into the finishing chute. The crowds were insane and when they saw my bib they started to sing “Oh Canada” as I ran by. On either side of the chute were spectators lined up with their hands out. It was the most surreal moment of my life. I was in absolute disbelief, elated, my heart was pounding, I had a lump in my throat and was on the verge of crying but was also screaming at the top of my lungs. I reminded myself that about 50 meters from the finish there is a first timers bell that I was meant to ring but when I looked ahead for it, I saw Andrew cheering me on and completely forgot about it. Oops.I had pictured this moment so many times over and over in my head and here it was. Only a few hours shy of my 40th birthday, I was about to become an Ironman. A year of training , of highs and lows, of tears and happiness, of self-doubt, pain and exhaustion . Everything I had endured was for this one moment and here it was. I could not compose myself as I was screaming through the finishing chute. The runner in front of me was crossing and I stopped a few meters behind him to let him have his moment. On either side of me were cheerleaders, the finishing chute was lit up and the stands were full of spectators cheering. I put my arms up in the air and, as I ran across the finish line , I heard the announcer say “Tara O’Rourke, first timer from Canada, you are an Ironman” (except I didn’t really hear that. Andrew got it on video. I only heard my name and the rest of it was a blur).
Finish time: 13 hours and 34 minutes with a marathon time of 5 hour and 3 minutes.
I am an Ironman
The moment I crossed the finish line, I think I went into some sort of shock. I couldn’t figure out what I was meant to do and someone guided me towards a volunteer holding a medal. She placed the medal around my neck and congratulated me. Then she asked me the same question I know every athlete gets asked after finishing an Ironman: “ Do you need medical?”. I felt really good though. My legs that once felt like they were going to give out, weren’t in any pain. I told her how great I felt. She handed me off to another volunteer who walked me over to the athlete’s tent, congratulated me, asked me a lot about how I felt ( I think he wanted to make sure I didn’t need medical). When we got to the athlete’s tent, he showed me around. There was a room for massages, showers, volunteers walking around with trays of water, food stands, a beer stand, a sitting area. After I said my goodbye to the volunteer, I drank some water and scarfed down two pizza rolls. I was starving and they tasted so good. Then I heard someone call my name and I turned around and it was Andrew. I love that we both got to do an Ironman for the first time together. We started exchanging stories immediately. We could have stood there forever but I needed a shower ( I have never felt so disgusting). I collected my streetwear bag and took a shower. The water stung my badly chaffed skin and washed away all the dirt and sweat. After my shower, I got dressed in fresh clothes and even though it was warm, I was shivering and was glad I packed a hoodie. I collected my finishing top and thought about getting a massage but the chaffing on my body was so raw, I didn’t want to be touched. Andrew and I saw that they had a BBQ and grabbed a wiener ( hot dog), a baked potato and potato salad. Andrew grabbed a beer but I had zero desire to drink. He couldn’t work out if it was alcoholic or not though. After we ate, we collected our run bag, bike bag, bikes and handed in our timing chip. With more bags and gear than we could carry, we slowly made the 10 minute walk back to our hotel, stopping briefly at the finish line to cheer on the last finishers for the day.
When we got back to the hotel, it was already 10:30pm. I was wrecked but I also couldn’t sleep ( I can never sleep after a big race). It took me a few nights before I started sleeping so you can imagine how much adrenaline was pumping through me in the days that followed the race. At some point during the first night, I felt the pain return to my legs and they felt raw, like someone had taken a knife and cut me open. It was a type of pain I had never felt before and I started my 40th birthday absolutely cripped, although, by the morning, the pain in my legs had subsided enough that I could walk (barely).
Aftermath
It’s been a few weeks now since I completed my Ironman. During the last lap of the marathon, I swore to myself that I would never run or do another triathlon again. That was short lived because by the next day, I was already dreaming of my next Ironman. Andrew signed up to do Ironman Kalmar for August 2025. I have decided to focus on the shorter distances for next year and will likely do a full distance again in the Summer of 2026. It’s funny how quickly the pain of the day fades. I don’t even remember training being THAT difficult or time consuming (even though I know it was). A year ago I was embarking on my Ironman journey, scared and naïve. What an insane journey that was. I had no idea what I was capable of, how hard I could push myself or the mental strength I had. I remember there was a day in April, about halfway through my training, when I realised I had made a huge mistake by signing up to do an Ironman. There was absolutely NO WAY I was going to be able to cycle 180kms, never mind after swimming 3.8kms and then following up with a marathon. I didn’t give up though (even though I really wanted to). I kept going and slowly week after week, I could see myself improving. I wish I could go back and tell myself that everything was going to be okay (it would have saved me a lot of tears) but it was also those moments that made me stronger. On that last lap of the marathon, when I thought I was going to collapse, it was the weeks of perseverance and mental strength that got to me the finish line. I had trained my mind to do the Ironman in the same way that I had trained my body. The Ironman motto is “Anything is Possible” and as corny as it sounds, anything really does feel possible now. I can’t wait see what is next for me and what else I can achieve because after becoming an ironman, I know I can do anything. And if all else fails, Ironman has given me bragging rights for the rest of my life!
I AM AN IRONMAN!!
Until my legs give out 