So there I was, the morning of Sunday 21st September, mentally checking off everything I had completed: aero bike bottle full - tick, tyres checked and pumped - tick, wetsuit on - tick, double hatted and goggles on - tick, goodbyes and good lucks from the family - tick. Team Turbo was good to go!
Ooooh, and the announcer is just coming over the loud speaker to let us know the race will be starting be starting any minute…..ooooh, the excitement……! Then there it was:
‘‘County officials have recommended the race be cancelled’’….. Say What???
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| Kissing Turbo goodbye and getting some race 'pep talk' from him, just 1 minute before the cancellation. |
The silence of 3000+ athletes and spectators standing on the sand at Kings Beach was deafening. Disbelief and disappointment reigned; quietly and reluctantly 3000 athletes forlornly made their way back to transition to collect their carefully stowed bikes and belongings. Some still open mouthed, some with tears rolling and some just perfecting the 100 yard stare. Their careful, year-long, construction of the Ironman dream lying in tatters.
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| Rule Britannia! Ready to Go! |
WTC and the race organisers made the absolute correct call to stop the race that day. They had waited until the very last second to make the decision; which I appreciate. If there was even an inkling of being able to race, I wanted to. Can you imagine an early cancellation based on a forecast, to then see winds shift to expose a beautiful smoke-free day? Ouch, i wouldn’t have wanted to be that race director either! As it happens, the smoke, which had us questioning whether there would be a race all week, rolled in late night Saturday and was quite stifling on race morning. Actually, it seemed like you could chew on it. It then proceeded to worsen throughout the day and when picking up the Run Gear bags from the Bike-Run transition (T2) at Squaw Valley, you could feel it lining your throat making breathing really quite uncomfortable. Running a marathon in that would definitely have been difficult!
These 2 photos were taken within 5 minutes of each other, at the Bike-Run transition and marathon area. Eeek!
I think the word ‘crushed’ probably comes to mind when i think about how I felt as I heard the announcer utter the word ‘cancelled’, although I completely understood the reason for it. All of us had worked so hard and dedicated so much time over the last year, that a cancelled race seemed like it was all for nothing. Training has crept into so much family time this year and despite the early morning sessions, many a time I have reluctantly left a happy giggly Turbo Toby playing contentedly with Chris, whilst I slipped out for yet another monster bike ride, run, and/or swim. Couple that with the mental preparation to take on what many tout as ‘The Hardest Race on the Ironman circuit’ and yes, ‘disappointed’ was a bit of an understatement.! Oh and not to mention that I had even braved the disgusting porta-loo in the swim-run transition (T1) only minutes before the ‘dreaded announcement’ Yuk! However, with the CA ‘King Fire’ growing from 12,000 to 71,000 acres within the space of 48 hours, engulfing homes and livelihoods; how could I be angry? Putting everything into perspective, I’m at the fittest, cardio-vasular wise, I’ve ever been, have a happy and healthy family and, the journey to toe that start-line, had me pushing myself to my limit physically and mentally, dive;point me both personally and professionally.
My grandparents had flown out to watch me race and we had rented a lovely little town-house in North Lake Tahoe. I had, what some might say was, the perfect taper. Swimming in the Lake, biking parts of the course and of course, eating like a shire-horse. My training through the year, bar a few colds and bugs, had been consistent, I had no injuries and was hitting paces and timing; ultimately I had trust in my training. It was ‘all in the legs’. So it was a bit like: ‘Bugger. What do I do now?’. Especially after a week of reduced training and eating enough carbs to feed a small African country!
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| Clear skies the day before at T1 when racking the bikes! |
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| Excited to feel the atmosphere and excited to race! |
Sunday was a grotty day in the end and I was really glad it was. It matched the dullness of the deflated feeling I had; a stark contrast to what was supposed to be an epic day. Red wine and a game of scrabble was not what I had in mind for 6pm on Sunday evening! Saying that, it was a fantastic week to spend with family and I loved being there with them.
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| Half of my support team. Nan & Gramps. They flew half way around the world to come and support me. |
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| Perhaps I should go into t-shirt design too......... ;) |
Ironman for those who aren’t too aware is a pretty expensive and time consuming activity. Luckily this was a race that was fairly local to us, so travel cost was minimal We had a fantastic week with my Nan & Gramps, seeing Tahoe together and spending time with the boisterous, now 18month old, that roams the Wilcox household. So, from a cost perspective, we could take solace in the fact that all we had forked out for was race entry, coaching and a shed-load of GU carb gels (the salted caramel one is by far the best by the way). Luckily, on Monday we received an email saying that Ironman would extend a 3-option offer to all athletes that registered: we could race again this year for $100 (and they opened up some slots in other Ironman event which were previously sold out - bonza!), race Tahoe next year for $100, or race another Ironman in 2015 for 50% of registration fees. Straight away Chris and I identified which races were most suitable this year. Florida or Cozumel. Whilst Cozumel would have been paradise racing, financially Florida was the sensible option.
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| I saw this t-shirt in a local sports shop on Wednesday. Coincidence or not, I think perhaps I should go and buy it...... |
So, come Tuesday morning, my finger was hovering over the mouse, ready to click like a demon to get one of the 50 slots that were made available in Ironman Florida. Bearing in mind that the 50 slots made available for Ironman Arizona earlier in the morning were gone within 30 seconds of the registration website opening! Ooh, i love a bit of competition! Heart racing ever so slightly, I was ready. 12:56 - click refresh, 12:57 - click refresh, 12:58 - click refresh (for anyone who doesn’t know me well, i missed the line for patience). 12:59 - click refresh, 13:00:01 - click refre….boom! Frantic entry of credit card details and ticking all the boxes followed: ‘yes I agree to all the liability stuff’, blah, blah blah. Just let me race! And there is was in black, red and white: ‘Thank for registering for Ironman Florida (IMFL) on 1st November 2014. Waaaahoooo! Slightly different to what I have trained for mind you. Sea level with NO hills compared to Tahoe with its 6250’+ and elevation gain of over 6000’. Yep, this will be a completely different day in the office. This race will call for Merv, my trusty Time Trial steed to break loose from the garage and Sid Cervelo to remain at home. A choppy sea swim to start will give me the full washing machine experience to boot. Watch this you-tube vid to get insight into the crazy start. ‘People Soup’ as my mum called it! Luckily I have raced in similar conditions in France and Lanzarote, so know exactly what to expect.
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| Turbo Toby's new T-Shirt..... |
Luckily, my awesome coach Stefan from Tri SL Training & Coaching has space to keep me on for another training block or two and my long-suffering and ever-supportive hubby Chris is right there alongside me, as he always is. Oh, and of course, my inspiration in the form of Turbo will be there keeping me on my toes. So here I am, ready to extend my training for another 5 weeks; the fact I arranged to start a Nutrition Course, booked my Lifeguard Qual and undertake the USA Level 1 Swim Coaching Cert in this particular time period makes for one busy Mama but hey, this is the Wilcox family; we kinda thrive on it!
Tahoe was my goal, everything I have trained for this year, I trained there, I adore the area and I would have loved loved loved to cross that finish line with friends and family around me; however, it obviously wasn’t meant to be. So, now I’ve had a really good practice at tapering it’s time to get the machine going again; a cheeky 1:10 run before teaching TRX tonight should do it. This has been a little (and fairly expensive) blip on the journey map of the road to Ironman. I have to take the opportunity to thank every single one of my friends, family and colleagues who sent messages and notes of encouragement and good luck. I was truly touched and boosted by the massive amount of support behind me.
As Dory says… ‘just keep swimming, ‘just keep swimming’…..
TF x
Top Left to Right:
My fabulous goody bag from my friends / my office decorated by the fabulous Anytime Fitness.
Bottom Left to Right:
A postcard from Katherine in the UK / My beautiful niece 'Pea' (Sophia) providing UK support!
