FIRST AND EIGHT IRONMAN!!

On the morning of the 18th of March 2007 it was finally going to happen: Joost would do his 8th and I would do my 1st Ironman! We said ‘goodbye’ on the beach just before the start; one of the differences between a 1st timer and an ’old timer’: the start position. I chose a ‘safe’ position at the back to prevent that too many athletes would swim over me and Joost is already so brave that he chose a position almost at the front. The strange thing was that I was not really nervous. This moment had gone through my mind many times causing the shivers, but that morning I was as calm as the sea was the days before. After a prayer by Port Elizabeth’s mayor and beautiful music the start shot went off and I walked into the sea. First I thought it was only the 1300 athletes around me, but soon I realized that the sea was wilder than it seemed to be. The waves were coming from everywhere and I could not really get into a swim rhythm. I was very happy to get out of the water after 1 hour and 38 minutes, besides the wild waves, I also got pretty cold during the second lap with a water temperature of 18 degrees (too much spoiled by South Africa’s generally warm temperatures…).
Some sweet volunteers helped me out of my wetsuit and into my bike gear and I ran to my bike in the transition zone. Once I got on my bike I saw and heard my parents and our friend Rob cheering me on and with a very positive feeling I started the bike ride. Fortunately I got warm soon and I could start enjoying the beautiful bike course. Just before I finished my first lap, we cycled 3 laps of 60 km, I was lapped by the first man who was cycling unbelievably fast! It did not disencourage me, soon after he passed me I saw a big Dutch flag with my parents behind it and I quickly shouted: ‘I am doing fine, I feel good!’ The second lap went well and remarks from other athletes like: ‘How are you?’ and ‘Nice bike!” kept me going. Seeing my parents for the second time meant I only had 1 more lap to go which was a great motivational thought! I started feeling my legs though and I focused on cycling in light gears to save my legs for the marathon.
Getting off the bike was a wonderful feeling! Especially because my father was standing close to my running bag and cheered me on! I quickly put on my running shoes while another sweet volunteer kindly put sunscreen on my shoulders (if only I had asked that before the cycling too…). The running felt good and after a few hundred meters I saw my mother among hundreds of other supporters. There were so many people cheering me on and motivating me; it was good that I could stick to my hart rate monitor otherwise I would have gone way too fast! Just after the first turning point I met Heleen, our friend who trained and stayed with us in Potchefstroom for 8 weeks, it was great to be in the race with her and with Joost of course! I met Joost a few kilometers later and he was looking strong, going into his last lap; the marathon consisted of 3 laps too. Just before the end of the last lap Heleen passed me and finished just after that in a great time of 9:58:25 as 5th lady!!! As I went on, I started feeling my legs more and more; muscle ache moving from the back of my legs to my calves, then to my upper legs, going away again, coming back etc. In the meantime Joost had finished in a very good 10:32:43 and I decided to keep on going so that he would not have to wait too long…:0). In the last lap it started getting dark and I got a glowing stick for safety reasons, but all the athletes wearing them rather created a cosy atmosphere. In the last 3 kilometers before the finish it started raining and I thought: ‘It’s really time to finish now!’. The last kilometer I almost flew simply because of the thought of almost walking across that finish line! As I reached the finish area and heard my name being called, I had goose bumps all over. Finally the speaker said: ‘You are an Ironman’ and with a big smile I stopped my watch after 13 hours and 32 minutes! It was a great feeling which I could share with Joost immediately who was waiting for me at the finish line.