nevergiveup

One Day, One Effort

It is done. I have lived to tell the tale and somehow managed to justify the faith which everyone has shown in me over the last six months.

We travelled up to Ballyronan on Friday evening and had time for a quick look around the course before grabbing a bite to eat. After all the training, all the advice, all the encouragement, the eve of the race was really kind of weird. There was a real sense that whatever happened now was down to me and me alone.

I am a laidback kind of fella, as you might have gathered, but it was very lonely in those last few hours after my last supper as a non triathlete.

I actually slept well and the morning was really busy with registration, making sure all my kit was in order and getting to the transition area for the pre-race briefing. It was a good thing as it kept my mind off the actual race as well.

Number One

I had a big surprise at registration because the organisers had arranged to give me Number One in the event. To wear that in the national championship felt very odd. You know the way in formula one that they give it to the reigning world champ. Well I was not that but it was a great honour.

They also had a special gold coloured cap for me for the swim. Everybody else was in a white cap with the Powerade blue logo. They said it was to help the camera crews pick me out but it could have been that the safety officials wanted to know where I was as well.

Whatever the reasons it was very good of them, even though it did make me feel like a marked man.

The transition area before the race was great with everyone wishing me well and saying how they had been following my progress. There are too many of you to name here but you know who you are and your words of encouragement meant a lot.

Knackered

I doubled up with two bottles of the new Paul O’Connell green Powerade, then it was into the water. We had to swim 250 metres out to the start line. Thank god they hadn’t told me that before. I was already knackered by the time I got there and my gold cap was bobbing with less vitality than the whites.

There is a lot less buoyancy in fresh as opposed to salt water but I was expecting that. The water was real murky, as I had been told but once the gun went I found a rhythm, a slow one, and got myself going.

The sighting problems I had in Dublin Bay were well behind me and things felt OK until I got to the long straight between two of the marker buoys.

It felt like it went on for days and my left arm tired really quickly so I was basically swimming on half power. Still that was half power more than I could have envisaged six months ago and eventually I got to the end, put my shaky feet on solid ground and emerged from the water. It felt like I had won the Olympics and the Champions League rolled in to one.

Cheering

My Ma and Da, a whole bunch of friends, family and the guys from Powerade were there cheering me on. I hadn’t seen them during the morning and it felt like they were physically carrying me in to that transition area. Just brilliant.

I’m told I beat six out of the water which is six more than I was expecting and once that was done, I knew I was going to make it.

The bike and the run were mostly OK. I overtook a couple of dozen on each. There were a few times when I really wanted to just stop and sit down on the side of the road but I knew that it was just my mind looking for an escape hatch, that my body was up for this and I was able to keep it going.

Each lap on the run I knew where my gang was so I would take a deep breath and put a spurt on until I was around the corner again. Don’t tell them that though.

Target

I had set myself a target of three hours and as the finish line clock came into view I knew I was ahead of myself. You just don’t know until you’ve done it what a feeling that is.

As I crossed the line in 2 hours, 56 minutes and 55 seconds, I was mobbed by my gang. My Da got to me first and just threw his arms around me in floods of tears. He kept on saying how proud he was, and asking how I ever managed to do it. My Ma was right behind him and it was just great, knowing how much it meant to them.

I also knew that by completing I will have raised a minimum of €20,000 for the SADS charities. That could save one, two or a dozen lives, and it is humbling to have played a part in the work they do.

After ten minutes I felt OK physically. The adrenalin was still pumping and that eases the recovery in the short term. Even on the Sunday I was not too bad, at least until Chelsea got that dodgy penalty against Liverpool, and I can’t blame the triathlon for that.

Thankfully I had booked Monday as a day off, because I could not move. Every muscle in my body was trying to outdo its neighbour in terms of how bad it could make me feel. Still I knew it would pass and so it did.

The final ad in the campaign is in production now. I’m taking a short break, but I’ll be back with an update after that begins to air in a few weeks time.

Thank you

Ahead of that I would just like to say a massive thank you to all those of you who have been at my shoulder throughout this mad adventure. To those who have sent me messages from Ireland and abroad; to my two ladies on Howth Hill who kept me going with their shouts of encouragement on the hard bike rides; to Rob and the guys at Wheelworx; to all the lads at Belpark and Tri triathlon clubs for showing me parts of Wicklow I never knew existed; to Adidas for all the gear; to Sandra who taught me to swim and then to swim 1500 metres plus; to Paul O’Connell for the inspiration; to my family friends and colleagues; and all those I have forgotten to name.

Without you I never would have made it.

Without you I would never have had the strength to keep saying ‘Never Give Up’.

Thanks.