It was a grueling last 4 weeks leading up to my longest race. I racked up kilometers in the pool, on the bike and on the road with my running kicks. It was a hard 3 months worth of training that could have prepared me well for the task up ahead but the high heavens threw a hard curve ball that literally struck everybody hard.
As with any race, waking up early was the easiest thing to do. Much easier that day because of the anxiety and tension that was boiling up rendered the sandman powerless. I ate my morning meal of milk and cornflakes, dressed up, and then promptly ate again at the breakfast buffet offered by the hotel. It was no where near fantastic but it did the job.
I was body marked by the time Tito Bong and I met up and just after this photo was taken, we made our way to Lago Del Ray. It was part 1 of the 1.9 kilometer swim that we had to do that day. The length was daunting but I am confident that I can swim it. I swam the whole length the day before and I have utmost belief that I can do it again. I didn’t spend countless hours in the pool for nothing. I did not come here to not meet the swim cut off.
The team prayed one last prayer and we were off. I felt teary eyed again. I felt reminded of why I was doing all of this in the first place. It wasn’t for glory. It wasn’t for fitness. It wasn’t for bragging rights. It wasn’t to win. It wasn’t to prove anything. As much as I wanted it to be any of those reasons, I was reminded that the reason for doing all this was to inspire others. If a chubby lampa lampa information technology professional can do all of this, anybody can.
I made a mistake of joining the front pack of the swim in my last open water attack and I paid heavily for it. I made sure that I was at the back of the my wave. It was funny seeing the guys jousting for position when I was at the back easily inching my way forward. It was a long and steady 600 meters or so until the great big ice berg and served as our turn around point. It was hard navigating the murky water and I literally had to pause to a break stroke or do some form of sighting to make sure I was still on course. A few more strokes and before I knew it 30 minutes have passed and I was out of the big lake and I was making my way to poor excuse of a pool cable park. The water was horrendous. I could not see anything. I could not see anything beyond 6 inches. It was a slow 600 meter swim around the lake and it felt like forever. I got kicked in the face and it felt real bad. It made the swim even more agonizing. I slowly and surely managed to finish the small lake and before I knew it, 48 minutes have passed and I was making my way into transition.
My bike was a whole lot cleaner before the event. There weren’t any mud stains and the mechanisms were as dry as baby power. We got soaked in the bike on race day. Around 3o minutes after heading out of T1, the sky started to fall.
Even the new bike shoes that I got wasn’t spared in the rain. They got drenched and soaked. They are a joy to use though. They were snug and they fit just right. The bike course was pretty flat all through out and it was very friendly to bikers of lesser capabilities like me. The rain slight drizzles made the long 90 kilometer ride a bit more Endure-able.
The addition of the cheering and jeering local towns made the experience a lot more enjoyable. The encouragement and the support that we got from them was priceless. They were the 6th men behind the scenes and they made the experience a whole lot more memorable. I never knew that I was that agile and balanced on the bike until race day. I was snagging the water bottles that were being handed to us with ease and with the grace similar to that of a cat pouncing on a mouse. It felt so pro.
As the rain started to die down, I slowly crept up the transition area. The 90 kilometer bike ride was done and crossed out of the required tasks at hand.
As always, I looked silly on the bike. A lot more sillier this time because I was chewing on my Garmin.
The new shoes I got were a lot easier to un-buckle and made for un-shoed dismount possible; if you could call it that way.
I racked up my bike, ditched the helmet, put on my socks and shoes and then ran. I bumped into Sid just before running off and his words of encouragement were more than enough to push me through. The run started out pretty good. It is a shame that I forgot the name of the guy I paced with. Running along side him made the run a lot more enjoyable and feel a lot faster. We crossed the 10 kilometer mark a little under 70 minutes which meant that we were doing good time. It was good pacing with him. He was a joy to talk to and he was doing strong as well.
We parted ways with around 4 to 5 kilometers to go. I was having problems with cramps already and I think the sudden influx of sugar from the gummi bears made me crash. My run turned into a very slow jog after that. As I recall, I think my Garmin pace went as low as 10 minutes per kilometer but I tried to keep a steady jog all through out. I kept my pace and soon after, I could see the finish line.
World number 4 Amanda Stevens herself gave me the medal.
I was so relieved to be at the finish. Finally, the exclamation point to my journey was complete. I could, once and for all, call myself an Ironman.
Seeing Tricia at the finish line made everything that much sweeter. Thank you love!
A big thank you to Team endure for all the support. Thank you for being there for every step of the way.
We are all winners. We are all finishers. We made it happen.
Congratulations to Melvin, Al and Jun for finishing splendidly and with fashion. Congratulations to Rico and Darwin as well. Even if we weren’t able to share the finish line that day, you guys are still winners for being able to make it to the starting line. Let’s work hard to nail it next time.
Congratulations to all the finishers and all the organizers. It was a great experience sharing the road with you.
