I was really nervous about this swim it brought back memories of last year and the violent washing machine. this year with more people it just felt scarier. Starting a swim with 900 odd other people at the same time is extremly daunting. I made sure I found a good spot off to the right near the jetty. not too far from the front. stood in the cold water listening to the National Anthem got a few goosebumps. Then had to wait 5 mins for the people at the front to get behind the line. It was cold and I was getting impatient. then all of a sudden the hooter sounded and off we went.
I sprinted for the first 200m's just to try and get some free water. It was very hard to get any free water and I got boxed in a few times but I've definitely toughened up on the swim I didn't panic at all just started swimming over people if I got boxed in. (I figure its ever swim over them or they swim over me)
I knew I was swimming quite comfortably, it was very difficult to see the buoys being 900m's out to sea so I just settled into a steady pace and followed people in front of me. that didn't work so well as the entire field headed either way left or way right. apparently that looked very funny for all the specatators.
when we got closer to the first turning buoy I got boxed in pretty badly again and I was swimming faster then those around me. this guy next to me kept hitting me repeatedly in the head every time he turned his arm over. after the 6th time I got very frustrated (and my head hurt) soooo (not proud of this but) I stopped a bit shoved him away from me and said some not so nice words (F%^# off could have been what I said :) oops)
heading back into the shore i checked my watch and knew I was on target for a good swim. it was cold and congested with so many people out there but I really enjoyed the swim felt comfortable and manageable the whole time.

Swim faster, I know I can def swim faster, I feel like I could have pushed it a bit harder but didn't want to spend too much energy on the swim. I'm really proud of finishing 154th out of 960 odd people!

wetsuit just slid off like a dream!
It was cold my toes were numb so had a little trouble getting my shoes and socks on. the good thing was it was raining so my feet were sand free! I struggled putting my sunnies in my trisuit pocket (ended up not even needing the sunnies

I think for a half I should have had my sunnies in my bento box ready for when I needed them

Apart from the rain on the first lap it was absolutely perfect bike conditions. some super fast bike times out on the course!

first lap, it was pouring with rain, I was so glad I'd put my shoes and socks in plastic bags in transition but soon enough my nice dry shoes and socks were soaked through. didn't make much difference though it was just rain. I settled into a good pace and my nutrition/drinking was right on target. I was aiming for a 90+ cadence and I stuck with that for the first lap.
I knew I'd had a good swim as alot of the faster guys flew past me and I got a few comments wow good swim etc.

2nd lap, I wanted to push a bit harder then the first lap and I did that, this is where it started getting really congested and busy, there werej ust packs flying past everywhere. I was doing my best to avoid drafting it took alot of work to avoid. reminded me of Noosa. I played cat and mouse with a friend of mine and a new friend number 930! We must have passed each other 20 times on that second lap. It was fun though we had a funny comment for each other everytime we passed. it made the ride go quicker. last yer I remember really struggling at th 50 - 60k mark. this year I had no problems with the distance, I just tried hard to keep my cadence up and my speed high.

3rd lap - I got the drinking wrong, it was alot cooler then I'd been training in so I think I drank too much. I needed a toilet stop but decided nope I was giong to ride hard to transition and go to the toilet there. probably wasn't the greatest idea but I did ride faster back to transition.

Ride faster

wow got to be the slowest transition in history! I even changed my socks, but I was thinking I've had a good swim and a good bike will just do my best to make it through the run so will make sure I've got clean dry socks on for the run. I had to go to the toilet in transition to. finally headed out on the bike

try not to need a toilet stop

Lets just say I started out the run with my fingers crossed thinking please just get through this. I headed out on the course and actually felt really comfortable for the first lap I think for a while there I was actually running roughly 5.30min k's! Felt great, was alternating between water and carboshotz drinks at the aid stations. Came back into town to start my second lap and felt my calf go, was very close to tears and had a few moments thinking just stop and go find the medical tent its ok to just stop if you are injured.

Then somewhere inside me came another voice that said no, remember the text from your friend this morning, I also ran past one of hte wheelchair athletes, he'd had to change from his race wheelchair to his everyday wheelchair because his back wasnt' holding up. He was really struggling but kept on going. So I did a big suck it up buttercup, and thought if they can do what they do then i can damn well finish the half and I can get that finishers towel.

So I did just that I sucked it up and kept on going, it wasn't fast and it probably wasn't pretty but I ran those last 14k's and I'm extremly pleased that I ran them faster then I did last year with a very injured calf.

Just like last year I was positive someone was moving the jetty further and further away. (the jetty is the finish line so you can see it when you run back towards the finish line each lap of the run)

At the last turn around with 3.5k's to go I knew I could do it and that lifted me some I grabbed coke from that aid station and headed on to the finish line. I even managed to pick up the pace and I ran hard the last 1k to the finish line. I was in a huge huge world of pain in my calf but I was the whole time thinking the faster I get there the sooner I get to stop running!

Try not to injure myself and interupt my run training. I would love to go into a race with an uninterupted run schedule.

Ran down the finish chute into the arms of lots of my friends hugs! Milled around chatting to people headed to the medical tent and got some ice for the calf.


Calf injury. interupted run training. lack of belief that I would actually get to the finish line was probably not helpful either


I know Im not fast but I'm super pleased/proud of this race, I was 15mins faster then last year, on all three legs but most importantly I was faster on the run even injured.

It was just so much more manageble this year. out on the bike I made the decision to commit to the Ironman at the end of this year.

I really love this race the atmosphere is fantastic and its so well run.

I was extremly please to cross that finish line and get my finishers towel! I worked hard for that ;)

the after party was absolutely brilliant! Not sure what felt worse the next day the hangover or the muscles :)