Race day morning I was up at 3am to be ready for race start at 6am. My primary goal for the previous 8 weeks had been to get to the start line. Once there I knew I had the work done to get to the finish but deep down I knew it would be a long day.

I really enjoyed the swim and paced myself by drafting off others feet for most of it. This was a calm lake and the course was a simple 2 lap affair. I was delighted to be out of the water in 1hr 11mins and feeling good. For me this was a good swim and a big confidence boost ahead of the cycle.

T1 was chaos especially in the changing room. No space to change and too time consuming - box ticked won't happen again. The Bike started off again by pacing against others - no one was taking off - they knew something I didn't !! About 10 miles from Bolton we started on the 1st lap of the 3 lap bike course. The roads started to become more rural with a gradual ascent into the 'Low Penines' - soon to become a very steep low penine that took forever to climb - lovely only 3 more of these to go!! Overall I thought the bike course was tough but fair - serious climbs, fast descents, towns and villages, open wide roads and narrow lanes and plenty of views thrown in. Toughest part for me was lap 1 - because I had not driven course it seemed to go on forever and psychologically I needed to get lap 2 underway - another box to tick - drive the course lads.
I was feeling the burn on the 2nd part of lap 3 and became conscious that the cycle would end up taking me at least 7 hours and not the six hours I had hoped for. I was honestly surprised because I had kept up the pace and felt fine given the distance - this was my bike downer so I took my first gel at this stage to finish lap 3 and another coming off the bike.

T2 was a very welcome break. Took a few minutes to get the limbs and back loosened up while I walked to transition and changed. My watch said 3pm (9 hours into this interesting day out). The run start off was straight up a hill in a muddy forest - nice!! My legs took about 5 mins to adjust before I began to actually run. After that I felt ok and was beginning the mental mind games of breaking up the run and getting to each milestone which for me was 1/2 hour intervals counting down from 4.5 hours - yep a bit optimistic as it turned out. Anyway after 1 hour I began to dip and gels didn't seem to help. Legs became heavier and I needed to walk through the aid stations. This got tougher and I hit my run downer after 2 1/2 hours. I focused on the positives - Heart Rate was ok, crowd were brilliant, sun was shining, cup of tea and bath were on the cards later, on holiday after the race, family were at the finish and I now knew that I would get there - that was now for sure. I literally just kept on going and let the mind do the work. The finish was worth it - my wife and daughters ran the last street with me until I got to the finish ramp and down to the line being cheered and announced by name as an Ironman.

The most important lesson that I got from this whole experience is that a good winter base training plan is vital. As Eamonn Tilley told me - its money in the bank. In the weeks leading up to the race my training plan went out the window - pulled calf, very heavy head cold with blocked sinus, ear infection and mild gastroenteritis which needed a quick course of antibiotics prescribed on race week. Without the winter base these issues would seriously have hampered me getting to the start line.

Finally I would like to thank my fellow club members, my coach Eamonn Tilley and my wife Alison and family for your encouragement and support.