I arrived in Zurich a few days before the race to give me enough preparation time and help deal with my nerves as a first timer. It enabled me to get my bike set up, inspect parts of the course, have a training ride on the course, a training swim in the lake (which lead to the wetsuit vs no wetsuit debate as the lake was very warm), register and have a pre- race massage. And some much needed rest! The race briefing was held 2 days before and 2, 500 athletes of varying nationalities were packed into a marquee for it. I think it was at this point that I started to get incredibly nervous but fortunately I wasnt the only first time ironman out there! The day before the rac e I racked my bike and prepared all my kit, before having an early supper and bed. On race morning, my alarm went off at 3.45 am so I got ready and had breakfast. We left the hotel at 4.30am to get to the transition area when it opened at 5am. It was still quiet at that time with a few athletes around so we were able to lay out race kit and prep bikes, pump up tyres, sort out nutrition and drinks and have some quiet time. As I left transition with an hour to spare before race start, there were queues of apprehensive athletes still waiting to go in. I was glad we had gone in early. Once I had put my wetsuit on, I made my way down to the start with a friend who was also competing. We were a bit slow in getting to the start, partly due to my nerves, which meant we started in the middle of the pack rather than the front or edge, and it was a challenge to get to the beach because of the number of spectators. Not long after 7am, the horn went and 2,500 swimmers set off on the 4km swim. The swim, which terrified me the most as it is probably my weakest discipline, was actually the most pleasant part. At times, it resembled a human washing machine with 2,500 people fighting for a spot in the water and I got kicked, hit, submerged etc but not as often as I expected and I didnt lose my googles once. Whilst being stuck in the melee was slow, I was able, for a significant part of the swim section, to swim in clear water which was a relief. The interesting part of the swim was having to climb out half way round and run over an island and back into the lake before swimming a second lap. At the end of the swim, about an hour and 15 minutes later, we were hauled out of the water up a ramp by volunteers before running into the transition area to find our bikes. I spent a rather slow 3 minutes in transition making sure I had everything and then set off running my bike out of transition for the 180km ride - 2 laps which included a 7 mile climb called the beast at 70km and 160km in and a shorter steeper Heartbreak Hill at 85km and 175km in. Someone tripped and fell in front of me before getting on the bike so there was a bit of congestion to get out of transition but soon I was on my way. The course was flat and narrow to start with so the main aim was to concentrate on getting clear so I could start to get some fluid and food into me. Unfortunately a bike crash at 35kph about 12 minutes into my 6 hour 28 minute bike leg put paid to any 'fast' time I was going to achieve. Some lunatic (and I didnt get his number) overtook me without giving me enough clearance (2m side and front) and rode onto my front wheel colliding with it. Unfortunately, I lost the battle to stay upright and fell hard but was lucky enough not to get hit by other cyclists or cause a pile up. However, I was very cross and determined not to let my Ironman efforts stall after only an hour and a half, so after checking that I had no broken bones but battered and bloody, I picked my bike up and got back on. My tri - bars were bent and loose so I wasnt able to use them for the remainder of the race, but the rest of the bike was manageable although I stuggled with nausea from the shock at times. It was a somewhat painful 11 hours after that, but I sported my battle scars with pride and they made for topics of conversation with strangers on the rather hilly bike route. Heartbreak Hill gave us all a tour de france moment as crowds packed it and parted just enough to let you ride through which added to the atmosphere, but it was quite a challenge 5km from the finish of the bike leg. The run was possibly the hardest thing of all, I was in a lot of pain when I got off the bike and nothing seemed to work that well so I did a very slow 4 hr 21 minute 4 lap marathon, as a result of all the knocks on the bike and hamstring injury. The course was flat, but very twisty, designed for maximum spectator viewing which didnt make its the easiest of runs. I adopted the approach to run to each aid station which were positioned more or less every 2 km, walk through them taking on water, coca cola and pretzels and then running to the next. I found my self stilll overtaking people, but my elation was short lived when I saw most of them were wearing more wrist bands than I was which indicated they had done a few more laps. My run whilst very challenging was very much aided by some nurofen express on laps 1 and 3 and handfuls of jelly babies at the personal aid station so I was still able to cross the finish line in reasonable style, although somewhat battered. After a spell in the medical tent to get cleaned up, a bite to eat and a shower I was able to regroup with my friends and drink some well earned champagne!
