Sandy Crowe Half Ironman Race Report

3rd May, 3rd half, 3 sevens and a 3rd place!

This was going to be my 3rd half ironman. In my previous two I got flat tyres so on my new bike and  same race wheels all I wanted was to have a race where I didn’t have to fix a flat tyre!

I had a really bad dream the night before I had woken up at 7:30am in my dream which was transition cut off so couldn’t get to my bike and wasn’t allowed to race and all I was thinking in my dream was great I have carbo loaded and now it’s all going to go straight to my bum because I can’t race to burn it off.

Lucky my alarm went off at 5:50, I suncreamed up got dressed and had my standard honey sanga, sustagen and Mum and I were off 5ks down the road to transition.

I made my way to my bike, my race number was 777. I set up rather quickly and stood around for a while had a chat to my competitors then thought bugger it I’m out of here, no point standing around I have done all I can do the next time I will be coming back to my bike will be after I have swum 1.9k’s.

I did the usual toilet run and got some pre race photos, least when I’m standing still mum can actually get me in the shot I usually have a heap of me riding out of the photo or the back of me… bless her she was up at 5:50am and in bed by 12pm that day just like me!

The Australian anthem was played and then we lined up, this year the swim was in waves and all the girls were swimming together at 8:11am so we lined up and in waste deep water, the gun sounded and we were off.

I felt good during the swim we all got a bit lost at one point and a guy on a paddle pointed us in the right direction, we had to swim round the slower guys that had left in the waves ahead of us and I got stuck a number of times! When I saw the last buoy I thought there’s only a pool length left I can’t wait to get on the sand, I ran up the sand and I felt good I high fived my mum and almost clothes lined a guy “woops”.

Grabbed my bike and away I went the first half of the ride was really congested and so I just sat back had my carbo shot and drank heaps. I waited for the big groups to go past I didn’t want to get done for drafting which was almost impossible to not look like you were. Everything went well on the bike I spun at an average of 94 rpm and was going around 35kph, so I just tried to stick to it and stay away from other bikes! The course was really windy in parts but I really enjoyed it AND I didn’t get a flat!!!

I rolled into transition 2 down 1 to go, I was determined this year to push the run and not slow down. My legs were sore but I knew I could run 21.1k’s, 3 laps no worries, RIGHT!

First lap and I was running down people and by the second lap I had run myself into 3rd position for my age group. There were heaps of people out there cheering for me I felt very popular and one of my goals was to smile and enjoy it, my parents and friends don’t come to see me having a bad time so even though I was hurting I smiled and even managed to joke around with a few of them! The last lap was awesome I could see the finish and then I saw another girl running towards it  I didn’t want her going over before me that was my finish line and I wanted it, well I got it, she wasn’t even in my age group but I love a good sprint finish!

4:49 - done!!!