TriRock Durban ... from a mom's point of view!

     

After more than a year off the racing scene, I decided it was time to dust off the cobwebs and get back into racing again. My last race had been Knysna marathon in July 2014 – it was now October 2015!

Training had been going well – I was loving my swimming (which is unheard of for me!); my road bike was my new best friend and my run was coming along nicely. Getting up at 4:30am in the morning now feels like a sleep in because our new rule is – the one who trains in the morning doesn’t need to do the night shift with Logan!

When I first fell pregnant Kent decided to sell EVERYTHING I owned that anything to do with Triathlon!! I’m not sure if he thought I probably would never race again, but even my cycling shoes were given away!! He was in for a really big shock when I decided to race and as we all know tri gear is what breaks our bank accounts! I am still without a TT bike so my amazing friend Gareth leant me his awesome Argon…. I had been off a TT bike for 14months and when I got onto Gareth’s bike I nearly died! My nose was literally sitting on the floor, I felt like a complete novice as I couldn’t even take my hands off the bars to drink! I was a complete menace in the group not pointing a single pot hole out and just hanging onto this awful bike for dear life! Poor Kent got it in the neck as it was all his fault for putting me on this crazy bike, and the group had to witness a total melt down from the coach has she yelled at her husband the entire 3hrs around Cape Point.

Needless to say I eventually got used to the TT bike and I slowly but surely started to feel like I could actually race again! I then raided the MTD shop for more gear – bento boxes/ gels/ bars etc! I am Kent’s worst customer – I take and I don’t pay!!

Race day arrived! I thank God now that this was my first race back – the sea was absolutely calm & there was not a breath of wind – perfect conditions for racing. We swam past manta ray’s and on to Suncoast casino where I exited the water in 1st place closely followed by the 2nd place lady. I jumped on the bike and headed out onto the M4 which was a fast & flat route along the coast. I wasn’t sure what the 2nd place girls bike was like – she looked extremely strong so I put my head down and rode… I also had a certain doctor up the road that had challenged me to a mini MTD internal race…. I needed to chase hard!!

On my way back with about 3km to go, I passed a cyclist on the race route who was out for his Sunday morning ride. He was as skinny as a Kenyan runner with a bright yellow cycling top. As I passed him he jumped on my wheel and then cycled up next to me. “My name is Fortune… who are you”  He got chatting and Fortune told me he was going to help me get to the finish line FAST!! I told him I wasn’t allowed help but he was insistent and peddled on next to me. After a few dodgy swerves  back to transition he threw his hands up at the line and yelled to me to have a great run! I hope I meet up with Fortune one day on the bike again!!

The crowds were great on the run, and the MTD KZN crew were awesome handing us ice cold coke on each lap. Durban has the most awesome beach front, I was just so devastated to see all the litter along the route. As I ran past my folks the first person I looked for was Logan – there, in his pram under a tree he was waiting patiently for his crazy mother to finish her race!! I was greeted at the finish line by Logan & Kent – I don’t think they were too impressed by the sticky sweaty kiss they both got! It was an awesome feeling crossing a finish line again and even better to have won my first race back. It was my first race in over a year and my little sister Carol-Ann’s first Half ironman event where she finished 1st in her AG and then promptly told us that Full Ironman was next on the list…

Racing again is great but my perspective on racing has changed dramatically! I do it because I love it – not because I have to do it. We have a little someone in our lives now who keeps us awake all night & grins from ear to ear whenever I walk into his room. I never in my wildest dreams thought that this little human could turn our worlds completely upside down in the most amazing way possible!

    

proud Mom!                                proud big sister!

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