Journey of 70.3 miles… WE DID IT!! :)

Wow, what an epic weekend we had!! It kicked off with a 2:15am start on Friday (not so epic), but we wanted to be on the road by 3am.

It happened to be Zannie’s 30^th birthday on the day of our 12hr trip to East London, so we made sure everyone knew it was her birthday – ensuring she wore her birthday badge and party hat :)  

We arrived in East London in good spirits and headed straight to registration and expo followed by the race briefing. It turned out to be a long and very exhausting day! But we got all the admin done, shew.  

The Sat before race day, we went for a swim in the sea – getting the feel for the waves, followed by a cycle along the running route. We felt a little more confident about everything, but equally terrified. I started having serious doubts as to why I was doing this… (bit late now Jen!)

 

Race day was here. Up at 4am, ready to head through from Cintsa to East London. There was such an incredible vibe and buzz around. We finalised all our stuff in the transition area, then headed down to the beach to watch the first groups head off. We said goodbye to Ty – he looked like a little boy being sent off for the first day of school – he wasn't so amped for what lay ahead haha. As much as everyone rags me for having F.O.M.O (fear of missing out), so does Ty (this explaining the ONLY reason Ty was here). And for someone who did very little running and swimming training, he showed us how its done – achieving a sub 6hrs! (not fair really!)

I loved the swim!!! I haven’t swum properly since my Midmar Mile days back at school, but its definitely proving to be my stronger point in triathlons, so I'm going to continue training in the open water.

I unfortunately exited the water with a very bad headache. I thought maybe some food and drink would sort it out, but no such luck :( I had to endure a pounding head for 90km. I didn’t push too hard on the cycle as I was worried about over doing it and not having any energy left for the 21km run.

The bike leg was done and I decided it was time to head to the medic tent to get some meds for my headache. They kicked in at about 8kms into the run. I definitely felt a whole lot happier on the 2^nd lap.

At the 3km mark into my run, I ran past Ty – he was minutes away from it all being over. I was HUGELY envious!!!!!!!!!!! I had to dig deep several times during the run. It was actually more a mental challenge than anything!

The vibe on the run route was INCREDIBLE!! And in true Team VIBE! style I was hi-5ing the crowd, singing along to songs, making loads of friends along the way and always having a smile on my face.

I did however have a tiny little 10second cry at 1km to go. (such a girl, i know…) I had been out there for just short of 8 hours so I think it was more an exhaustion cry haha.

I passed my Mom and Ty with 500m to go and the look on my face explained it all… exhausted, but IVE.DONE.IT!

What an amazing feeling running along that red carpet!!! :) :) :) I DID IT! I’m an IronLady! ( not to mention the huge relief that I could finally sit down and drink a coke). SO awesome that I got to experience this with my little brother and fellow crazy triathlete friends.

I have the raddest bunch of family and friends. Countless amounts of messages of encouragement, and most of all, having my Mom cheering me on the whole way. Mother Bird is a legend!!!

I can’t believe it’s all over. I’m feeling a bit empty this week… Think I need to set the next goal – but first some down time with my friends :)