Saturday 5 July 2008

This is it...

Its Saturday night, the night before Ironman Germany and the picture above is what I'm heading for... the finish line.  It's not yet finished but it's a remarkable sight sitting proudly and loudly in the old town square of Frankfurt.  We got here before any of this was erected and the town square is a beautiful one but I'm sure come tomorrow afternoon the only thing on my mind will be this finish chute and this will be one of the best sights of the whole day.  To know whatever the time is, whether I do well or I have a mare as long as I get to the finish line then I'm an Ironman again and no one can take that away.  I've done the hard work, the hours, the blood, the sweat and a fair few tears and now I just have to get it to translate to race day.  I have no control over anyone elses race or things like the heat or mechanical problems with my bike, I'm going to leave that in the lap of the gods and hope that they're looking down on me and all that's left for me to do is to get on with it and as my brother would say, "crack on kid."


Time to shower, get my stuff prepared for the early 3.30am alarm call for a 4am breakfast, then down to the Ironman shuttle bus at 4.30am to take us to the start and then it's a matter of moments before my toe is in the water and there really will be no turning back.

Thanks to everyone, some we know and some we don't but all of you have been kind enough to send your love, support and best wishes and I can guarantee that we'll be taking them all with us on tomorrows journey, it's a long day so we'll need them all!!  We've got lots of friends and family out here too to give us love on the course, it's going to be a challenging day for them worrying about the two of us! And now to Tom who is without doubt my true inspiration and without whom none of this would be possible nor would it have been the amazing journey that it has been and you've been here through it all, the highs and the lows.  I wish you the race of your life, I'm right beside you in heart and will be following your speedy path all day, I can't wait to see you in the Athletes Garden at the end to celebrate whatever the results are.  We're a great team and we're in it together.  x

Next time we post the truth will be out there.

Night night.

H. x

1 comment:

DaveMcG said...

Helen - Hi! have a great trip tomorrow and use all the knowledge and dedication gained to get you through this fantastic challenge you've both created.

sleep soundly

All the best
Dave