Today was more than memorable it was a day when fianlly I had an almost perfect race!
Roth Challenge started 620am and a messy start I had no idea where i was!I could see the lead pack getting away from me and I tried to bridge it several times but with no luck,so I was stuck in no man’s land until another cap infact the yellow one of Chrissie Wellington popped up beside me.That was a small relief although iwas disappointed, asi realised she ahd missed the lead pack too.We worked hard with several men behind us to come out only around 2 minutes behind the leading male.
Onto the bike and my plan was to stay 10 metres behind Chrissie as long as I can,so I managed to until we hit the big long clibm and I just couldnt stay,the elastic band snapped and that was it i was on my own!
I pushed on and on and hled off Belinda Granger and Catriona Morrison for the first lap,who caught me with a pack of men,so I stayed my distance to see what would happen.
The men lost us and we lost some of them,which is always nice and i was just the three of us girls!With two draft officials watching our every move, they sat 10 metres behind each of us which was our gauge of where we must stay ..exactly 10 metres no less..”yes boss”!
So the bike was fare and even and although Chrissie put around 9 minutes into us we were all a little afraid to push especially me knowing Cat can run so fast I wanted to run well, and knew it would need to be fast!
I took off straight from transition my bolts carrying me superbly they felt so nice and light and so did my legs at first!
I was stuck neck to neck with Catriana and time check at 10km was 39high ohhh thats fast,but it felt easy and my heart rate was low.My goal for the run was to try and do around 124 then if i blow I cant say I didnt give it all!
I clocked Chrissie who was ofcourse still leading at the 12km mark and realsied I had made up almost 3minutes,I did the math and thought shit if I can make up 3 each 1/3 of the race I got her!…very wishful thinking i must add!
I went through 21km inright at 1hr25min just as I had planned,then it was hang on for dear life,I hadnt made mush more time up on Chrissie and began to feel a bit tired so tried to settle down into a good rythm!
By the 30km mark someone yelled out I had 5 minutes to Chrissie,I dont know if it was correct but a guy on an official bike road beside me and said ‘you are making time’!By then i had a second win and picked up the pace for one last time I knew once I had done this it will be my last try to gain a little more.
With 4km to go I hadnt pulled anymore on first and was starting to really feel it in my legs,the dwonhill hurt like mad and I just couldnt ‘go’ so I tried to take it all in and ejoy the moment of a good day at the office!
I rounded the finish chute to a massive crowd I was completely overwhelmed and thought about what had got me there my family, my partner and ofcourse my dad who i knew was with me too today!The clock read 8hrs38min I seriously stumbeld for a minute and stopped all the hand slapping and high fiving,so Icould push a bit to the finish to grab under 8hr40 and I did…pumping my fist..JOB DONE!