And so it ends......

Dear friends and sponsors, proof, if you needed it, that I am alive and (sort of) well.

Full results at https://www.sprinttriathlon.org/

Bear with me and I'll tell you the tale of my morning.  It began at 5:45 with my alarm and ended with me in a bit of a messy heap, but alive if tired and emotional.

Thanks to the weather gods of triathlon, it stayed dry throughout the event.  Miraculous if you consider a) the forecast and b) the constant heavy blackness of the sky.

So to the "race".  If you've been good enough to listen, you'll know that I've been swimming a lot.  Up to 1km of front crawl.  So I thought, I'll do the first 200M crawl and when I start to slow down, I'll switch to breast stroke.  Whether it was the long wait by the side of the pool and the ensuing nerves (I was just very early), I don't know, but after 4 lengths of crawl, I was struggling - really.  Out of breath and feeling a tad unwell.  So breaststroke started earlier than planned.  Luckily there were only 2 of us in the lane, so no congestion.  So finished the swim - then realised, to stop the clock I had to haul myself from the pool (hard enough for me at the best of times) and get to the timing mat, so my little chip could be registered.

So, swim done in 09:47, rspectable and almost exactly on target.

To the bike!!  To be honest, I was still gasping, feeling a little sick from the swim, but figured I'd soon settle into a rhythm.  They had warned us there was a hill!  You ever cycled from St Albans up to Shenley?  I hadn't.  i realised it was getting tough, when i glanced at the speedo and it read 5MPH, then another glance to the roadside and a fellow competitor sitting on a bench vomitting!  Felt like joining him.  But this was only 5km into the bike ride and there was such a long way to go!  coming back i got to go down that hill (and broke the 30MPH speed limit - OK it was only 32MPH, but I smiled!)

Feeling good, i [passed loads of others on the ride and was only myself passed by 2, and one of those I clung onto the back wheel of for most of the last 7-8 km!

Bike time 42:04 (very respectable).

Coming back into transition, I was massively perked up by the wonderful sight of a smiling wife and daughter waving and cheering.

I dismounted, and just about managed not to fall over - the legs were feeling decidedly dodgy!

I should have known this, and I sort of did, but it never really sank in.  Swimming and cycling and running one after the other, just is so much harder than one at a time!  I kind of hoped it wouldn't be.  but the comedy old-man shuffle with which I left the transition area said, bloody-hell, this is going to hurt!  It did.

After 2km the injury kicked in, and when it does it is so hard to run.  but I was going along a main road and was frankly too proud to stop and walk.  Probably done irreparable damage!  The run was hard.  I passed loads of people of walking, and loads of people running passed me (at least none of the walkers got me).

I actually managed to pick up the pace (in the last 400M).  I'm not ashamed to say that as I crossed the line, I welled up.  Mixture of relief, pride, exhaustion?  I don't know but it's done! 

Run time 30:51 (attrocious - but something to work on if I can get the leg fixed)

Finishing time 1:22:41.  Delighted? Yes for now.  Now I've got a target, a benchmark!  So then, next year!!