Post by doug on Sept 10, 2008 15:55:23 GMT
I am going to start by doing all the thank you’s first,
An absolutely huge thankyou to Eric who for the whole week made sure I didn’t have to drive anywhere, lift anything or strain my self in way shape or form it would take more than word’s to show my appreciation, to my children an huge thank you and you’v always made me want to be a better man, and I could not have done the training without your help, I’m the biggest fan of all 4 of you.
Sharon my wife and best friend in the whole world who supported me all the way trough the rollercoaster of training and racing ,even when you were giving out I knew you were still 100% behind me and your support on the day is something I will always treasure.
A big thank you to every body for the text’s phone call’s and messages on the notice board, every body who made the trip over, Paul o Brien, Tom Duffy, Mick Duffy, Marie Louise Johnston, Dorothy Duffy (Ironman) and Enda Munnelly ,Alan Heffernan and his son’s, Barry Lambe, John Daly, Mary’s children, Marie Triona, Bridget Mc Cabe.
And a big thanks to all in Midland tri club, for all the help with training, advice (even the bad advice), word’s of wisdom ,and a special thank you to Philip even though you weren’t there in person I knew you were there in spirit ,thank you to Brian and Sonja who took the time out to do a training plan and nutrition plan with me, and caroline who always pushed me a bit harder on cycles and run’s, and last but not least my fellow Ironmen Gerry Duffy who encouraged me all the way, Nikki Mc Cabe a mentor friend and a gentleman, Mary Daly ‘A lady’ who gave me a great text the week before the ironman which was very inspirational.
The reason I signed up for the iron man was that after talking with my older brother one night and telling him I signed up for Bala and how I would love to do the full ironman, (which he did not have a clue what it was)The next day he came back to me a bit spooked, having moved house recently and a lot of his stuff still in boxes he returned home after leaving my house and noticed a box that didn’t look to familiar to him so he put it up on the table and opened it and there was only two things inside, one was a poster from 1978 of a band he once played in, and the other was a tee shirt that belonged to my father who died in 2002, the tee shirt was a full picture of a swimmer cyclist and a runner with Iron man written on it, and South Pacific Challenge written on the sleeves, my father had bought this tee shirt when he was in Australia in the early 90’s obviously spooked from the conversation we had the previous night he gave me the tee shirt and said he thought it was meant for me.
Now I’m not superstitious but I had been thinking of taking on the ironman and this was the icing on the cake. The following week I signed up for Ironman U.K
So Sherborne Castle 7th September 4 am the porridge eaten, the bikes in transition since the previous day, the bags checked in from the previous day, and the nerves really starting to kick in as myself Sharon, Gerry, Nikki, Bridget, Eric, Nicole and, Jamie walked up to the transition area,I kissed my family goodbye and didn’t know when I would see them again, Sharon told me she loved me no matter what, I knew what she ment, with the knee trouble I’d been having, I wasn’t sure what would happen.
So into transition and down to put the drinks and food on the bike and for some reason I thought as I was walking away from the bike I better check the tire’s and of all the luck my fecking front wheel was punctured not to worry I had plenty of time and plenty of tubes as Mary gave me a spare one the day before, then Gerry arrived and told me there were some people wanted to wish me well at the fence, I went over and it was Enda Dorothy(ironman) Paul Tom Marie and the guy from Killbegan races who’s name I can’t think of, all wished well and then I went back to the bike and got the wet suit on, that was the last I seen of Gerry till the run and the last I seen of Mary till the bike.
All competitors were being corralled towards the water and I was still beside Nikki and 1,600 other competitors. I now know the meaning of the saying ‘alone in a crowed’ even with Nikki and all these other athletes around me I still felt very lonely.
As we entered the water which was freezing at first but not to bad once you got to the start (200 meters out) .I still had Nikki beside me and he was telling me which was the best route to take, keep left going up and right going down ,at this stage the start was delayed by half an hour and the lake (which can only be described as a bath of duck crap) was starting to get cold, But then the horn went and we were off all the nerves and anticipation just disappeared, talk about a battle, for the first 5 min you could barely do 3 complete strokes without catching someone else’s arm or leg or hit someone or be hit by someone, but it did eventually thin out and I stuck to the plan in the swim steady pace all the way I went very easy in the swim and never increased my pace from the start till the finish and I still managed to do the swim in 1.04.52. Exited the water and rinsed my mouth with water, when I heard my name been shouted from the crowed ‘go on Doug boy go on’ it was Tom, this gave me a great boost and as I ran up the shoot to T1 I could see Paul shouting and there was the whole gang go on Doug go on dad, so gave them all the big thumbs up and headed into the tent to get my bike bag(which I tied to tight to the rail and had to get a helper to untie it for me as my hands were to cold) So went to do a full change behind the screen with half a dozen other men when just as I finished changing the guy in front of me was nodding and kind of winking at me and I tought what’s this fecking nutter at, I asked him was he all right he said look behind ya, I turned and a woman (very good looking to)had come into the men’s tent by mistake and stripped completely naked, so this will explain a lot of slow transitions.
So went and got my bike and headed out, there was hundreds if not thousands of spectators around all cheering and whistles blowing rattles going and I just couldn’t get the grin of my face I was like a Cheshire cat. So left the castle grounds and hit the first hill almost immediately which wasn’t to bad. i had decided before the race started that I was going to take it easy on the bike cause I didn’t want to damage my knee but again I got to the second hill my knee was starting to niggle, and as I passed a guy walking up the hill with his bike I tough well at least I’m not that bad .Nikki had passed me at about 6 miles into the bike just after lions gate hill which is very similar to the cut, and I knew Gerry would have been out of the swim before me so he was ahead to.
The bike coarse on this Ironman is not to be taken lightly, it has some very long hills a lot of rolling hills and some very steep hills (The Giant), But it also has some great down hills one of which I went up as far as 74kmh and could have been faster but I didn’t want to take my eye of the road . As I was cycling the coarse I was being passed by a good few guys on tricked out bikes and another man cycling beside me turned to me and said, I’ll say one thing about these cyclist’s they must be crap swimmers, so had a quick chat and a laugh and went on our way. There was great support on the road from locals, most of the roads were closed of so it was mostly locals and marshals until you came to the end of a lap the street coming to the turn was lined with people and first I seen was the irish flag and the Offaly flag wrapped around Barry lambe and Marie triona who were with Mary’s family and once they coped who I was gave me a big cheer, then I turned the corner and there was hundreds of people whistles going horns going all cheering and I spotted Alan Heffernan and shouted his name and I think he got a huge boost from it and went ballistic on the side of the road, then I got 20 yards down the road and seen all my family and Eric with big banners wit ‘go daddy go’ and ‘were proud of you Doug’ and the boost I got from this words can not describe, so got another 50 yards down the road and there was Paul and Marie Louise with banners saying ‘go Doug go’ which gave me a huge boost again.
At this stage I already knew I was going to be in trouble with my knee and eased the pace on the bike and about half way trough the second lap Mary caught up with me and we chatted for a minute and she pushed on.
At the end of the second lap my knee was totally shot and I was in a lot of pain and when I seen Dorothy (ironman) and Enda gave them a high five, got down to Sharon Eric and Bridget gave them a high five and a smile and pushed on, but the pain in my knee was bad and the run at this stage was looking very very dough full. So managed the to get to the giant for the 3rd time and kept siking myself up for it, it’s no different than the wolf trap I told myself, I had fat boy slim’s music running trough my head ‘right here right now’ I’m got to take this hill apart this is the last lap ‘right here right now’ c’mon, Dropped the gears went from the big ring on the front to the small ring in the front ‘right here right now’ and the fecking chain fell of, talk about an anti climax, but just stuck it on and thought well at least it didn’t snap this time and carried on. Coming into Sherborne after finishing the last lap was amazing the streets were lined with people all cheering clapping and shouting encouragement. When you got to the dismount line and your bike is taking of you, but when I got of the bike I could not walk with my knee the pain was unbearable and I half thought of giving up. So I made a decision there and then, I was going to get my run bag get changed ask the medics if there was any chance of an anti inflammatory and walk for some of the run to see if the knee would ease of, there was no anti inflammatory and they wouldn’t give me a pain killer so I set out on the walk.
When I left the tent there was a small crowd cheering and clapping c’mon 367 get going, another guy saying that’s it 367 ease into it, but as much as I wanted to run I couldn’t.
Then a sight for sore eye’s Enda came up along side me on his mountain bike followed by Dorothy and I didn’t feel like a plonker walking the first lap, they stayed for a while and just as I got to the 1 mile marker my mind was made up F#$K it that’s one down 25 to go, 2 mile marker 24 to go, I kept telling myself I can get trough this, I got to the town about 4 or 5 miles into the run and seen my best friend Sharon and she came along side me at this stage the determination was there and I was walking at a good pace, are you ok she asked me with a tear in her eye, told about the knee but I would get through it, she said she knew I would and it was then I realized how fast I was walking, Sharon was jogging beside me, I still had in the back of my head this is still the first lap, if I can keep going like this I’ll be fine,7 miles in and the pain was all that occupied my mind when all of sudden a guy behind me said are you in the same boat as myself ? my knee is giving me terrible jip I told him, hips was the reply I got, jeasus what I wouldn’t do for a pain killer now I said, here have some of mine he said as he took out a box of ibuprofen, well I nearly took his hand and all I could here the angels singing, this man Oliver and myself walked the whole marathon from there in and between us took the whole card of tablets, I still got all the support from my family and Gerry’s family and Paul, Barry, Marie Bridget and all the gang as I walked the marathon. In the final lap the pain was no longer the only thing occupying my mind, I’m going to be an ironman was in there now, Gerry Nikki and Mary were long finished at this stage and Gerry Dor and Enda even cycled along side me as I walked the last 3 miles of the marathon, when I got the last band on my wrist to say I had done the three laps and was a finisher my emotions were running high, as I walked up to the top of the finishing shoot Sharon Nicole and Jamie were standing there crying, the two babies Meghan and Robyn were asleep in the pram but I didn’t care we were all crossing that line together, they came in behind the barrier Sharon handed me my fathers ironman tee shirt I threw it over my shoulders took Nicole and Jamie by the hand gave Sharon a kiss told her I loved her and we all headed for the turn for the finish line the crowds were banging the boards and as we turned there was huge cheer the lights were blinding we were all running down the shute the announcer was shouting on the microphone Douglas Bates you’re an Ironman.
I crossed the line with Nicole Jamie and My Iron wife Sharon pushing Meghan and Robyn in the buggy an emotional wreck, above these hundreds of people I could here Eric screaming, to me he is an Ironman to. I will be back to do this again I managed to finish in 15hrs23min and I know I can knock 2 hrs of this time, Bella Comerford who won the ladies IM UK and won IM lanzarotte this year said that I.M UK was harder. A lot of people I spoke to on the day and Eric and Sharon spoke to said they would not do ironman U.K again because of how hard it was and this was a lot of there 3rd or 4th ironman.
I know I done the thank you’s at the start but I didn’t emphasize enough the thanks for Gerry Duffy who when I told him I was thinking of doing the ironman told me not to even think about it in the words of Nike ‘Just do it’, and I did.
Nikki Mc Cabe who I have the upmost respect for, thank you for all your words of wisdom. And a logo’ I’d like to quote is the Iron man logo’ Anything is Possible’ I got through the ironman with a gammy knee, and I am now a firm believer in this quote.
.You can see the finish by following this link
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLSEj-GGRm8
If I forgot to mention anyone it was not intentional. P.s I’d like to thank Bill Gates for the spell checker, Best invetniotn ever when it works.
Oh yea a couple of week's ago i was told by somebody that i'm not a cyclist,may be not but from september 7th I am an IRONMAN....
An absolutely huge thankyou to Eric who for the whole week made sure I didn’t have to drive anywhere, lift anything or strain my self in way shape or form it would take more than word’s to show my appreciation, to my children an huge thank you and you’v always made me want to be a better man, and I could not have done the training without your help, I’m the biggest fan of all 4 of you.
Sharon my wife and best friend in the whole world who supported me all the way trough the rollercoaster of training and racing ,even when you were giving out I knew you were still 100% behind me and your support on the day is something I will always treasure.
A big thank you to every body for the text’s phone call’s and messages on the notice board, every body who made the trip over, Paul o Brien, Tom Duffy, Mick Duffy, Marie Louise Johnston, Dorothy Duffy (Ironman) and Enda Munnelly ,Alan Heffernan and his son’s, Barry Lambe, John Daly, Mary’s children, Marie Triona, Bridget Mc Cabe.
And a big thanks to all in Midland tri club, for all the help with training, advice (even the bad advice), word’s of wisdom ,and a special thank you to Philip even though you weren’t there in person I knew you were there in spirit ,thank you to Brian and Sonja who took the time out to do a training plan and nutrition plan with me, and caroline who always pushed me a bit harder on cycles and run’s, and last but not least my fellow Ironmen Gerry Duffy who encouraged me all the way, Nikki Mc Cabe a mentor friend and a gentleman, Mary Daly ‘A lady’ who gave me a great text the week before the ironman which was very inspirational.
The reason I signed up for the iron man was that after talking with my older brother one night and telling him I signed up for Bala and how I would love to do the full ironman, (which he did not have a clue what it was)The next day he came back to me a bit spooked, having moved house recently and a lot of his stuff still in boxes he returned home after leaving my house and noticed a box that didn’t look to familiar to him so he put it up on the table and opened it and there was only two things inside, one was a poster from 1978 of a band he once played in, and the other was a tee shirt that belonged to my father who died in 2002, the tee shirt was a full picture of a swimmer cyclist and a runner with Iron man written on it, and South Pacific Challenge written on the sleeves, my father had bought this tee shirt when he was in Australia in the early 90’s obviously spooked from the conversation we had the previous night he gave me the tee shirt and said he thought it was meant for me.
Now I’m not superstitious but I had been thinking of taking on the ironman and this was the icing on the cake. The following week I signed up for Ironman U.K
So Sherborne Castle 7th September 4 am the porridge eaten, the bikes in transition since the previous day, the bags checked in from the previous day, and the nerves really starting to kick in as myself Sharon, Gerry, Nikki, Bridget, Eric, Nicole and, Jamie walked up to the transition area,I kissed my family goodbye and didn’t know when I would see them again, Sharon told me she loved me no matter what, I knew what she ment, with the knee trouble I’d been having, I wasn’t sure what would happen.
So into transition and down to put the drinks and food on the bike and for some reason I thought as I was walking away from the bike I better check the tire’s and of all the luck my fecking front wheel was punctured not to worry I had plenty of time and plenty of tubes as Mary gave me a spare one the day before, then Gerry arrived and told me there were some people wanted to wish me well at the fence, I went over and it was Enda Dorothy(ironman) Paul Tom Marie and the guy from Killbegan races who’s name I can’t think of, all wished well and then I went back to the bike and got the wet suit on, that was the last I seen of Gerry till the run and the last I seen of Mary till the bike.
All competitors were being corralled towards the water and I was still beside Nikki and 1,600 other competitors. I now know the meaning of the saying ‘alone in a crowed’ even with Nikki and all these other athletes around me I still felt very lonely.
As we entered the water which was freezing at first but not to bad once you got to the start (200 meters out) .I still had Nikki beside me and he was telling me which was the best route to take, keep left going up and right going down ,at this stage the start was delayed by half an hour and the lake (which can only be described as a bath of duck crap) was starting to get cold, But then the horn went and we were off all the nerves and anticipation just disappeared, talk about a battle, for the first 5 min you could barely do 3 complete strokes without catching someone else’s arm or leg or hit someone or be hit by someone, but it did eventually thin out and I stuck to the plan in the swim steady pace all the way I went very easy in the swim and never increased my pace from the start till the finish and I still managed to do the swim in 1.04.52. Exited the water and rinsed my mouth with water, when I heard my name been shouted from the crowed ‘go on Doug boy go on’ it was Tom, this gave me a great boost and as I ran up the shoot to T1 I could see Paul shouting and there was the whole gang go on Doug go on dad, so gave them all the big thumbs up and headed into the tent to get my bike bag(which I tied to tight to the rail and had to get a helper to untie it for me as my hands were to cold) So went to do a full change behind the screen with half a dozen other men when just as I finished changing the guy in front of me was nodding and kind of winking at me and I tought what’s this fecking nutter at, I asked him was he all right he said look behind ya, I turned and a woman (very good looking to)had come into the men’s tent by mistake and stripped completely naked, so this will explain a lot of slow transitions.
So went and got my bike and headed out, there was hundreds if not thousands of spectators around all cheering and whistles blowing rattles going and I just couldn’t get the grin of my face I was like a Cheshire cat. So left the castle grounds and hit the first hill almost immediately which wasn’t to bad. i had decided before the race started that I was going to take it easy on the bike cause I didn’t want to damage my knee but again I got to the second hill my knee was starting to niggle, and as I passed a guy walking up the hill with his bike I tough well at least I’m not that bad .Nikki had passed me at about 6 miles into the bike just after lions gate hill which is very similar to the cut, and I knew Gerry would have been out of the swim before me so he was ahead to.
The bike coarse on this Ironman is not to be taken lightly, it has some very long hills a lot of rolling hills and some very steep hills (The Giant), But it also has some great down hills one of which I went up as far as 74kmh and could have been faster but I didn’t want to take my eye of the road . As I was cycling the coarse I was being passed by a good few guys on tricked out bikes and another man cycling beside me turned to me and said, I’ll say one thing about these cyclist’s they must be crap swimmers, so had a quick chat and a laugh and went on our way. There was great support on the road from locals, most of the roads were closed of so it was mostly locals and marshals until you came to the end of a lap the street coming to the turn was lined with people and first I seen was the irish flag and the Offaly flag wrapped around Barry lambe and Marie triona who were with Mary’s family and once they coped who I was gave me a big cheer, then I turned the corner and there was hundreds of people whistles going horns going all cheering and I spotted Alan Heffernan and shouted his name and I think he got a huge boost from it and went ballistic on the side of the road, then I got 20 yards down the road and seen all my family and Eric with big banners wit ‘go daddy go’ and ‘were proud of you Doug’ and the boost I got from this words can not describe, so got another 50 yards down the road and there was Paul and Marie Louise with banners saying ‘go Doug go’ which gave me a huge boost again.
At this stage I already knew I was going to be in trouble with my knee and eased the pace on the bike and about half way trough the second lap Mary caught up with me and we chatted for a minute and she pushed on.
At the end of the second lap my knee was totally shot and I was in a lot of pain and when I seen Dorothy (ironman) and Enda gave them a high five, got down to Sharon Eric and Bridget gave them a high five and a smile and pushed on, but the pain in my knee was bad and the run at this stage was looking very very dough full. So managed the to get to the giant for the 3rd time and kept siking myself up for it, it’s no different than the wolf trap I told myself, I had fat boy slim’s music running trough my head ‘right here right now’ I’m got to take this hill apart this is the last lap ‘right here right now’ c’mon, Dropped the gears went from the big ring on the front to the small ring in the front ‘right here right now’ and the fecking chain fell of, talk about an anti climax, but just stuck it on and thought well at least it didn’t snap this time and carried on. Coming into Sherborne after finishing the last lap was amazing the streets were lined with people all cheering clapping and shouting encouragement. When you got to the dismount line and your bike is taking of you, but when I got of the bike I could not walk with my knee the pain was unbearable and I half thought of giving up. So I made a decision there and then, I was going to get my run bag get changed ask the medics if there was any chance of an anti inflammatory and walk for some of the run to see if the knee would ease of, there was no anti inflammatory and they wouldn’t give me a pain killer so I set out on the walk.
When I left the tent there was a small crowd cheering and clapping c’mon 367 get going, another guy saying that’s it 367 ease into it, but as much as I wanted to run I couldn’t.
Then a sight for sore eye’s Enda came up along side me on his mountain bike followed by Dorothy and I didn’t feel like a plonker walking the first lap, they stayed for a while and just as I got to the 1 mile marker my mind was made up F#$K it that’s one down 25 to go, 2 mile marker 24 to go, I kept telling myself I can get trough this, I got to the town about 4 or 5 miles into the run and seen my best friend Sharon and she came along side me at this stage the determination was there and I was walking at a good pace, are you ok she asked me with a tear in her eye, told about the knee but I would get through it, she said she knew I would and it was then I realized how fast I was walking, Sharon was jogging beside me, I still had in the back of my head this is still the first lap, if I can keep going like this I’ll be fine,7 miles in and the pain was all that occupied my mind when all of sudden a guy behind me said are you in the same boat as myself ? my knee is giving me terrible jip I told him, hips was the reply I got, jeasus what I wouldn’t do for a pain killer now I said, here have some of mine he said as he took out a box of ibuprofen, well I nearly took his hand and all I could here the angels singing, this man Oliver and myself walked the whole marathon from there in and between us took the whole card of tablets, I still got all the support from my family and Gerry’s family and Paul, Barry, Marie Bridget and all the gang as I walked the marathon. In the final lap the pain was no longer the only thing occupying my mind, I’m going to be an ironman was in there now, Gerry Nikki and Mary were long finished at this stage and Gerry Dor and Enda even cycled along side me as I walked the last 3 miles of the marathon, when I got the last band on my wrist to say I had done the three laps and was a finisher my emotions were running high, as I walked up to the top of the finishing shoot Sharon Nicole and Jamie were standing there crying, the two babies Meghan and Robyn were asleep in the pram but I didn’t care we were all crossing that line together, they came in behind the barrier Sharon handed me my fathers ironman tee shirt I threw it over my shoulders took Nicole and Jamie by the hand gave Sharon a kiss told her I loved her and we all headed for the turn for the finish line the crowds were banging the boards and as we turned there was huge cheer the lights were blinding we were all running down the shute the announcer was shouting on the microphone Douglas Bates you’re an Ironman.
I crossed the line with Nicole Jamie and My Iron wife Sharon pushing Meghan and Robyn in the buggy an emotional wreck, above these hundreds of people I could here Eric screaming, to me he is an Ironman to. I will be back to do this again I managed to finish in 15hrs23min and I know I can knock 2 hrs of this time, Bella Comerford who won the ladies IM UK and won IM lanzarotte this year said that I.M UK was harder. A lot of people I spoke to on the day and Eric and Sharon spoke to said they would not do ironman U.K again because of how hard it was and this was a lot of there 3rd or 4th ironman.
I know I done the thank you’s at the start but I didn’t emphasize enough the thanks for Gerry Duffy who when I told him I was thinking of doing the ironman told me not to even think about it in the words of Nike ‘Just do it’, and I did.
Nikki Mc Cabe who I have the upmost respect for, thank you for all your words of wisdom. And a logo’ I’d like to quote is the Iron man logo’ Anything is Possible’ I got through the ironman with a gammy knee, and I am now a firm believer in this quote.
.You can see the finish by following this link
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLSEj-GGRm8
If I forgot to mention anyone it was not intentional. P.s I’d like to thank Bill Gates for the spell checker, Best invetniotn ever when it works.
Oh yea a couple of week's ago i was told by somebody that i'm not a cyclist,may be not but from september 7th I am an IRONMAN....
