3rd Dec 2006 - SC5

3rd Dec 2006
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding! That was alarm clock kicking me out of bed at 3.30a.m. The day has finally arrived – after months of hard work, all the ungodly hours of training, all the stresss. This is D-day!

I jumped out of bed and the first thing I did was to open the door of my chalet and look out into the sea. The sun had yet to appear, but from the moonlight, I could see that the sea was calm. It was really unlike the first few days of our stay. I was relieved.

Breakfast! I must have good breakfast – nothing too elaborate to give me problems during the race. I had a peanut butter sandwich, a banana and a bottle of isotonic drink. After that we headed to the race area.

We reached the race area around 4.30a.m. There were already quite a number of competitors preparing their stuffs. I went straight to my bicycles to pump in air for the tyres and did a last minute check on all my bike and nutrition needs. My bib number was 150 and the guy next to me, Ken Lim, bib 151, happened to be a Singaporean too. I did not know until that day.

The weather was still cold at about 18ºC, but I was feeling alright, as I had a long-sleeve T-shirts on me, with a windbreaker over it. Ken looked like he was freezing, so I offered him my windbreaker. He took it and started his check on his bike too.
We sat around for a while in the Marquee looking at competitors getting themselves busy doing their last minute checks. At 5.30am , I started to change into my wetsuit.

I waited for some of my buddies, like Lieu, Bee Leng, Don, Clifford, Enrico before we headed out to the water to have a "test swim". When we reached the beach, it was approaching 6a.m., which was the start time for the professional. The canon was fired, which signal the start of the race for the "Non-human". They are freaking fast in the water.

We went into the water to swim and get use to the coldness of the water. The water felt good! What else can we ask for, given this almost perfect condition now?

At 6.15am., the canon went off a second time and this time, it was our SHOW-TIME! The water was surprisingly calm. The 3.8km was one loop around the popular Busselton Jetty, so sighting was not really a problem. We could use the poles from the jetty as the guide for direction.

As we swim, we could see school of small fishes swimming in the water, beautiful sea grass and sea weeds. Some of those luckier ones saw baby stingrays and starfishes! Wow! It was simply Awesome.

At the turning around mark, which was at the end of the jetty, there was a big yellow buoy. I stopped for a moment to check my timing. It was 36minutes. I was happy and realized that I would be on my way to a good swim.

The minute I started swimming back towards shore, I felt something funny. I did not seem to be moving as fast as I thought I should be. It was the tide pulling me back. I had to relax myself and not let the tide condition disrupt my momentum for the swim.

Finally, my legs touched the sand in the water. I got out of the water and at the same time removing my swim cap, and my unzipped my wetsuit. I was not running. I was merely walking so as not to raise my heart-rate.

When I was approaching the changing tent for T1, I shouted out my bib number. Those volunteers were very efficient. They located my bag and quickly passed it to me. I walked straight into the changing area and found myself a place to sit down, while some more volunteers helped me removing my wet-suit and pouring my bike stuffs out for me. Another volunteer was busy applying sunblock lotion on me. All I need to focus is just to race.

I actually change quite slowly and walking to my bike. I grabbed my steed and heading out the gate. The marshallers were extremely clear in their instructions to the exact mark which we could start mounting our bike.

Once out, I started to drink plain water, so as to wash away the salt residue in my mouth. I was swimming in part of the Indian Ocean, so what do you think I will get in my mouth?

The bike leg consisted of three rounds of 60km each. There were aid station every 10km or so, so we do not really need more than two water bottles at a time. They have water, isotonic drinks, biscuits (very nice and sweet biscuits), bananas at these aid stations. All you need is to slow down and shout out what you want.

During the first round of the bike, it was not too bad or I was not too bad. The wind was almost still. I had the energy. I finished my first loop in two hours flat. I told myself that if I could maintain this speed, I may be home with a 6:00 hr flat bike time.

I headed out for my second loop of the bike and I started to realized that wind is picking up. It was difficult for me to maintain the bike speed that I want. The pain (on you-know-where) is slowly seeping in. The mind started to play tricks. I reached the special need station at around 90km point and retrieved my special concoction of drinks. It was a carbohydrate drink. I also had two peanut butter sandwiches inside my special need bag, but chose to just retrieve my drink.

I drank half the bottle and suddenly felt a sensation. My energy seemed to come back from no where. I stuff the remaining half bottle of that drink into my tri-top.

Slowly, but steadily, I made my way towards town, which was the end of my second loop on the bike. But as I was about 15km from town, the wind was blowing real hard into my face. With all my might, I could only manage, at best, 23km/hr kind of speed. It was frustrating and to add salt to injury, there were some competitors overtaking me. They did it so easily! And some of them were ladies!

Anyway, when I finished the second loop on the bike, my bike timing was about 4:09hr. I told myself not to give up now. I could still manage a sub 6:30hr bike time, if I try hard enough, so there I went again. Riding out of town for the last loop.

By then, it was really Painful! It was Frustrating. It was Hot! The sun was full blast. I saw an aid station ahead and really need to pee. I dismounted from my bike and a small kid just ran to me and held on to my bike. Wow! This is service level at its best!

I relieved myself and mounted my bike again. Ouch! Well, what do you expect? I had already done 150km by then. Bearing the pain, I slowly moved on. Paddle by paddle, stroke for stroke, I moved forward.

Finally, I finished my bike leg with a bike time on my watch of about 6:23hr. I just passed my bike to the volunteers and headed towards the T2 changing tents. They handed me my bag and I started changing.

A few volunteers were working on me at the same time. One of them was pouring my run stuffs out of the bag, another one applying sunblock lotion on me, and one more asking me whether I want to have deep-heat lotion on me.

Again, I simply took my time to change. I finally put on my MIZUNO AERO-4. My best "weapon" for my run, had my visor on and Oakley sunglasses and headed out of my run.

The run leg was three loops of 14km each. The sun was really burning and I started slow. At the end of each loop, we would have to collect a coloured band. The first loop was an orange one and the second loop was a white one. The third was nothing as we would be headed "home".

When I was running into my first 2km, I already saw quite a number of the competitors already had either one or two bands. It was demoralizing. I had to reset my own thoughts and slowly ran my own race. Then I saw my AniMILES buddy, my long-time friend, Lieu Yee Leong headed towards me. We were of course heading in opposite directions, as he was at least 10km ahead of me at that time. Upon seeing him, my mood was revitalized! It put a smile back onto my face and I painfully picked my stride again.

I had the luxury to overtake some of the Trifamers along the way, as I was slightly stronger then some of them on the run. This is really a mind game. Honestly, my whole body was breaking down. All that was left in me was my MIND! I said it was a luxury to overtake because when I got to do it, it would gave me an added adrenaline and pushed me forward.

The run was getting more and more painful. But everytime I saw a familiar face, especially a Singaporean, we would cheer each other on.

The aid station was also wonderful. They were spaced every 2km apart. At every aid station, you would have water, ice, cola, Gatorade, melon, vegemite sandwich, banana, biscuit etc. In addition to all these, there were friendly volunteers and sweet people staying along the run route. They would get their water hose out and spray water on those who want it. What else can you ask for?

I had an additional weapon! I carried a tube of deep-heat in my rear pocket and used it whenever I had the feeling of cramp coming up. It really worked wonders.

Finally, I was approaching the last kilometer of my race. I walked a little, run a little. When I was walking, I had to really adjust myself and made sure I look the best for the finishing shot.

Suddenly, when I was at the last 500m of my race, somebody tapped my shoulders. I looked back and it was John! He is an Australian and was doing this race for the third time. He said "Steve, don't stop now.". I returned with a smile and said OK! I was running – again.

Last 100m, I was going into the chute that was leading me to the Finishing Line. I was looking everywhere for my DARLING, my GIRLFRIEND, who had been always supporting me with all my training and logistics needs. But she was no where to be found. The Sun was also getting into my eyes.

The last 30m was a HIGH! I do not think any words can ever replace or describe that feeling to anyone 100%. You have to do it to find out exactly what I mean – with a wink.

I finally crossed the finishing line. My time was 12:49hr. It is time to PARTY!