The race started and I was fully expecting a washing machine and some bashing and crashing. I was very surprised that it didnt' eventuate. yes there was a little pushing and shoving and a few people swam over me and I got boxed in afew times and swam over people. But on the whole it was a very relaxed swim. (In fact I was swimming thinking wow the half ironman swim is more violent then this!)

I found some feel to follow quite early on and sat on them for a bit. realised I was going too slowly and swam around and found more feet. I LOVED this swim, the drafting was fabulous, I felt like I was being pulled along alot of the time.

My neck and shoulder really gave me alot of pain and trouble all through the swim, but there wasn't much I could od about it so I just tried to pretend it wasn't hurting, didn't work all that well but I just sucked it up and got on with swimming.

Swimming out to the end of the jetty was great I did get boxed in a few times and had this guy that could not navigate to save his life next to me that kept swimming diagonally into me. I kept pushing him away and ended up swimming over the top of him to get away from him.

rounded the end of the jetty that was abit tricky got a few hard kicks and fists but got around and started heading back in. it was a bit harder this side of the jetty the current seemed to be a bit stronger. but I just put my head down and followed some feet.

the best hting about this swim is that you don't really need to sight every time you turn your head to the right there is a jetty right there. if the jetty isn't there then you are off course :)

I heard my name being yelled and spotted some really good friends up on the jetty yelling their guts out for me! that helped and I waved back (yep I waved in the middle of a swim race :) )

made it back to the beach and checked my time! I was pretty happy with that. ran up the finishing chute and saw my family and my little nephew xavier with his future triathlete outfit on! that was great. they were all yelling, my brother in law has the loudest voice! I had people yelling my name all over the place! it was brilliant felt like a superstar :)

swim faster! not much else I could do differently I was happy with the swim. It was roughly the time I guessed I would be able to do.

I ran into transition, saw my friend turtle handing out bags and yelled hey turt! she saw me immediately dropped what she was doing ran over to get my bag and ran with me into transition tent (is that outside assistance hehe!)

I wasn't really concentrating and I ran straight into the guys tent! (oopsies) totally by accident of course and I was just so concentrating on what I needed to do next that I didn't even see anything :)

was very quickly directed in the right direction to the girls tent. Turt was fantastic helping me rip off bathers and throw on riding gear. I made the very wise choice to put on my sun arms as well. I'm soo glad I did.. would ahve burnt to a crisp otherwise.

Remember to bodyglide!

180k's is a very long way :) I felt great riding out of transition, my family was right there yelling for me. and a little further down all my friends were screaming away. There something awesome about Ironman cheering! you feel so much better when there are people screaming your name!!

I headed out onto the course feeling quite good, the bike was comfy and I was doing all right. I'd been told to hold off eating or drinking anything apart from water for the first 20mins to let your stomach settle after the swim. So I did that. then started on the nutrition plan. 1 gel every hour and some solid food on the half hour. I had planned a bottle of endura every hour too but it was alot cooler then expected so I just went with drink when I feel like I should (probably not that technical or smart but it was what I decided to do)

The first lap I felt good, I didn't really have a goal time, but I wanted to do it in under 7 hours. My plan was to keep my speed over 25kph. I did want to keep the cadence over 90 but I knew the wind might change that so didn't want to stress over cadence just focussed on the speed.

So the first lap I was still excited about doing an ironman, was checking out where all the aid stations where, my stomach was not feeling fantastic 30ks into the bike, I needed a toilet and wasn't happy about having to stop so early in the race. I waited till the next aid station had to wait a few mins for someone to come out of the dunny and made toilet stop number one~!

And off I went again. First lap was uneventful swapped a few bidons over and had the speed up. My first lap was 2hrs 12 (I think) Oh and all lap I had people flying by me. thats the sucky thing about having an all right swim, all the good riders fly past me when they get out of the water. oh well.

I was entertained reading all the signs on the road and road side. Coming back into town was awesome! had people all over the place cheering me on. that definitely lifted me up. my turtle friend got the crowd singing Happy Birthday!! then I went passed a commentators tower and I heard "Here comes Melanie, from WA, She's looking fantastic in that pink outfit! looking good keep it up!"
that got big cheers from the crowd and a big smile from me! then went passed my family and my little nephew in his Future Triathlete jumpsuit! Very cute.(will post a piccie of it)

I definitely saved up some of that energy for the next lap of the bike and off I headed out of town. still feeling pretty good! although the stomach was not behaving too well. I had John Butler rolling through my head. it was a great song to have going through my head. really helped. the aid station people were all really entertaining and I was definitely entertained by all the other people out on the bikes.

turned out on to tuart drive and It seemed to get a bit longer this time and less entertaining. my stomach started gurgling pretty badly and I had a few mini spews. I think the endura in the bidons on the course was too strong. I stopped drinking it for a while and tried to dilute the contents of my stomach with water but not too much becuase I wasn't feeling the greatest.

made it to the halfway part of the course where the special needs bags were stopped to pick up a panadol and mini bodyglide and a toilet break. (number 2) this toilet stop helped big time. I took two tums and used the bodyglide (too late unfortunately should have done that in transition oopps!)

The tums were a godsend and really helped settle my stomach down, that and toilet break I was back on track for nutrition! few. So didn't need to worry about that anymore. My neck and shoulder were really hurting by this stage though. kept the panadol just in case it got worse. I had a bit of a moment of this is going to be too hard I can't do this. and I did consider stopping! I then thought well you idiot you are 30k's from the startline so how are you going to get back if you stop now. I said to myself "You CAN do this.. and you are GOING to do this" and off I went feeling much better.

I saw my friend Jerry stop at the aid station with special needs and we had a bit of a chat he was struggling a little with the bike leg but was smiling away when he saw me.

the wind picked up a bit on this lap of the bike and it was a bit tougher heading back to town. Once again I just lit up when I got through town, everyone was cheering soo loudly for me! Just what every princess wants cheering just for her! I got a loud wrap from the commentators about my pink outfit again too! I think this lap was 2hrs 17

Headed out for the last lap this is where it did get hard and my neck and hsoulders were really hurting. I was not impressed that someone had made this lap longer (yes I know it was exactly the same length but my god it felt longer) It was longer and more boring, I had some really good songs going through my head allthe time on this lap though. "Woooahh you're halfway there..living on a prayer, take my hand and we'll make it I swear" just kept rolling through my head for some reason though.

I thought I was being really funny several times when I said things tot he people on the aid stations either they didn't understand english or I was not funny because I got no reaction (I seriously thought I was funny!) One of the guys from my lbs was one of the mechanics on the course for some reason he didn't wnat to swap jobs with me :)

I tried the anzac cookies on the course on this lap and my god it was awesome!! had one more toilet stop no 3!sheehs not impressed by this stage.

the first two laps my ave was well over 25k's but this lap I struggled to keep it over 25k's my neck was hurting and the wind had picked up. I think everyone else out there just kept me going strong. well as strong as I could go anyway.

The last 20k's were really hard work. into the wind and it was a bit lonely then, no one coming back out onto the course to keep me entertained. But I just kept pedalling back on into town. I think the last lap was 2hrs 21

Ride faster, Never drink endura again. try and fix a neck issue before racing an ironman

A very lovely Busso lady Evelyn was my volunteer helper in transition. She was fabulous! I'd love to thank her in person if I got the chance! I stripped off the riding gear and on with the running gear. bodyglided and suncreamed my gels all fell otu of my singlet pockets grrr. But back in they went had a quick swig of a drink and off I went out of the tent.

Put zinc in my run transition bag and make sure I put it on even if its overcast and not sunny stupid sunburny skin. probably not chat so much :)

I was damn glad to get off that bike and start running. I didn't feel so bad starting to run, my neck stopped hurting so it wasn't too bad running. my stomach felt alot better too odn't know if that was because of the tums or because it wasn't hunched over squished up on a bike anymore.

Anyway I headed off down the coast with a whole range of people some running some shuffling some walking. I ran passed a girl in pink and said love the pink! she didn't say anything back so I shrugged and kept on going. there were thousands of chalk messages on the pavement so I kept checking out all the different signs as I ran over them. was surprised to find a few for Princess Mel! that was exciting. One was a hopscotch course! eeek didn't attempt that the first time I saw it. just giggled and ran over it.

The aid stations were fantastic, the volunteers mostly elderly busso locals were brilliant!! I felt bad not taking everythign they were offering! one station had fresh vegemite sandwiches oh my god that was awesome!

I found my friend Jerry on the run and we ran together for a while keeping each other company I ran passed some friends cheering and they told me off for chatting! hehe It was entertaining and taking my mind of things talking to Jerry. unfortunately after about 30mins of chatting he pulled back saying he had to slow his heart rate down :( no way I was changing my pace because I was just comfy so I trotted off by myself and kept going. I kept seeing people with 1 or 2 scrunchies my god I wanted one of those scrunchies! I finally could see the jetty approaching and ran back passed the Goose and the transition area and back out of town the other direction. Got a huge amount of cheering again. they kept saying go Mel and go girls. I looked behind and realised I had a pack of about 6 girls right behind me. it was great a little pack of girls and the cheering for us was so cool. All this Girl power cheers! I loved it.

It broke up a little bit when we turned to come back to transition 1k to go before the first lap was over. my club tent was just before the finish line and the first lap end. my coach was there and I got so much support from my friends and coach! it was brilliant. I trotted off to the lovely lady handing out the scrunchies! unfortunately she wouldn't sell me a second one. sheehs!
First lap 1hr 30

Off I went for my second lap. it started feeling pretty hard now. I was walking through all the aid stations to make sure I was digesting my drinks properly but it was damn hard to start running agian. I felt fine when I was actually running, but stopping and starting sucked.

I noticed a girl and I were running pretty much the same pace, she was wearing pink too! and we started running together chatting, we became TEAM PINK! everyone was cheering for the girls in pink! it really helped. she was great a chick from South Africa. she was wearing those long compression socks. there were so many out on the course (still not convinced about them they look so dorky ;) )

We ran together for a good bit of that second lap. I kept on taking stuff on at the aid stations and just kept running. it did get hard on this lap and it seemed like a long way to go. But we both kept each other going by focussing on that second scrunchie! it became a bit of a mantra for both of us. if either of us whinged about something the other one would just say scrunchie and we got back on track. At the turn around for the second lap I started on the coke! OH my god it was brilliant.

the volunteers were really funny, they'd offer you water or endura or cola. if I said coke they would say cola! obviously it was a differnt brand but i found that really funny (yes my brain went a bit mental at this point) I was laughing away to myself wondering what they would say if I asked for Pepsi or Coke zero or diet! yes I thought I was funny! my team pink companion did to.

once again we got close to the Goose cafe ran past my parents! my dad jogged a little with me saying "Well done you are doing so much better then I thought you would" Gee how supportive cheers thanks dad! I told him to Go away and be mean to someone else :)
Ran past all my friends cheering away and everyone cheered for team pink as well! then headed back that 1k towards the scrunchie lady. my pink companion and I were so focussed on that scrunchie.

I ran past my coach and my club and they all cheered and my coach asked how I was doing, I just looked at him and said "good I'm getting a scrunchie!" was just so one tracked mind at that point!

we left my coach and club behind and were 100m's from the scrunchie lady. we looked at each other and said scrunchie and bizarrely we both started sprinting to her! she was holding out a scrunchie each which we took and I even did a big celebration leap in the air! no idea where the extra energy came from! but it made the crowd laugh!

I put that scrunchie on my arm and I knew that was it! I had one lap to go but I knew I could do it from there! no thoughts of even ahving to walk I knew from that point that I was going to be an ironman! And off I went to finish taht last lap!

we ran past the girl in pink I'd seen at the start of the run, she was walking and I said come on come join team pink! she looked defeated and then a few mins later I heard her behind me. She told me at the end of the race that I had motivated her to run. she had been planning on walking the last lap but I helped her run again! wow.

so I unfortunately lost my south african pink girl but gained a new team pink member her name was Jennifer and she was from the US and it was great having a new person to chat to! Off we went on the last lap together and it was getting harder and harder to start running after each aid station.
but we kept passing all these people. people who had passed me on the bike I was now passingbecause they were walking and I was still amazingly running! (well jogging but I was moving faster then they were)

we made it to the end of the run lap and some girls who'd been dancing for everyone on the side of the road were now sitting in deck chairs. I said c'arn girls wheres my dance this lap they looked up at me and said nah sorry we are too tired now! I think thelook I gave them scared them. it was something along the lines of "you think you're tired, and you're telling me you're tired!" about 20ms down there was afamily sitting on the grass eating fish and chips! I nearly cried! I asked them if I could have some, they looked at me like they were about to protect their kids from the crazy lady!

guzzled down some coke from that last aid station at the turn around and off my pink friend and I went back to the finish line. when I went passed that hopscotch sign on the pavement for the last time I went hey why not and I managed to hop through it! very small hops but I'm proud to say I did it.

I lost my pink friend with about 6ks to go she oculdn't keep up and I couldn't slow down, I just had this voice in my head saying keep going one foot in front of theo ther the finish is getting closer. so close you can taste it. and off I went. I decided to skip the last three aid stations because I knew it was getting too hard to stop and walk. so I just kept running through them. I did grab water at them all but it didn't go down so well. I figured hey I'm almost there won't need that drink anyway.

running back to the Goose was tough but it was starting to feel so exciting so I just kept going. headed on out past the finish line to the last turn around. (my god that is hard going past the finish line.) I asked the supporters if I could just duck across the dune4 to the finish line. they shook their heads awwww.

I kept on heading towards that finish line, I checked my watch and knew it was so close to 13hours but I also knew I had 2k's to go no way I could break the 13hr mark. So I just plodded on. went past my club for the last time got a great big cheer from them. my friend had bought me a tiara for my birthday and I swapped my stinky cap and glasses for a tiara (thats what princesses wear) and I made my way to the finish chute.

Everyone had told me to savour the finish chute! And believe me I did. I got a lot of cheering for the Tiara. so many Well done princess. I spotted my mum and gave her a huge hug, thne a little futher down spotted my dad and hugged him. I had a huge smile and it suddenly all became worth doing the whole thing.

just near the finish line I spotted turtle and my friend who'd given me soo much help (he'd done an amazing 8.59 race!!) hugged them both and got told come on finish the race.
the commentator up in the tower said oh and look at this princess about to cross the finish line, she might be high maintenance but she is an Ironman! she's just got to stop to see her people. after I'd hugged my friends he then said something like well is she going to finish the race.

I crossed the line with my arms up and a big smile! The catchers grabbed me I got the wonderful Medal and Ironman towel and was carted off to the recovery tent!

Run faster. I'm still not sure about walking the aid stations it was so hard to start again but I also know it rewally helped get the gel and drinks down if I could walk though it.

Was taken into the recovery tent, I was feeling quite shakey and a million degrees sat down and was handed a drink. they offered water or soft drink. no way I could have put down a soft drink. so took the water.

started to feel like a human and could talk again after a few mins. my friend in the pink appeared in the tent after a little while and it was fabulous talking to her. after she'd got herself together we headed to get a massage! they took off our shoes and washed our legs and shoulders oh my god that was fantastic. I said tothe poor guy that had the job that if I'd had 100bucks on me I would have given it to him. that was how brilliant it felt.

my toes were a complete mess, I've got a HUGE blood blister on one of my toes, never seen anything like it. surprisingly it didn't really hurt on the run. it was sore like a little blister yes but nothing like teh size of it. Its massively sore huge pressure because the blister goes right from the side of my toe to under my toenail OW!

went from the massage to get my gear and attepted to eat some food but couldn't put anything into my now liquid gurgly tummy.

Headed out to meet up with my family and friends! feeling like I'd just been to war! but gradually feeling better all the time

struggled getting onto the table for a massage but so glad I did it felt so much better afterwards.


lack of experience and lack of speed.


I LOVED this race! Yes it was the hardest thing I've EVER done in my life but it was the most enjoyable too. hard to explain but I think I've got the bug I want to do another one.
The volunteers were awesome! the whole organisation was awesome. and Its amazing to do a race where you may be amongst the slowest but you can still race with all the pros! (ohh by the way Pete Jacob's had a shocker of a run not sure what went on but he was walking! I BEAT his run time!! by 20mins!! hehe)

I'll add a bit more to this in a few days.