Congratulations to WhiteLabelDating.com Partner, Tim Taylor, who completed Iron Man Nice at the weekend! Check out an excerpt from his blog below- a huge achievement! For those interested in sponsoring Tim (who is raising funds for Save The Children), check out the links at the end of the page.
That was one long day at the office! After 15 hours and 12 minutes, I crossed the finish line of Ironman Nice, achieving my goal of becoming an Ironman. I can smile now, as I recover under the shade of a fig tree next to the pool, but there were precious few smiles yesterday.
The swim for me was superb fun and the most enjoyable part of the day. At 6.30, 2500 competitors launched into the sea to start their Ironman journey, and you find yourself immediately in this frenzied “washing machine” as everyone jostles for position. I got some smacks to the back and the head, but nothing too drastic, and then managed to find some space…and from there on in, it was sheer fun! 1hr 20 mins in the deep blue med has to be experienced, and I wouldn’t have missed that for the world …if only I could say that for the bike section. It started pretty gently, with 20mph steady pace out of Nice towards the mountains, but then we hit Gattieres. From there it was a 27 mile climb to the Col de l’Ecre in the intentifying heat. The next big hill was a 5 mile to Col de Saint Pons about 70 miles in. From there, the descents were fast and furious. I passed several poor guys who’d crashed, and whose campaign was over for this year. I was lucky enough to get home in one piece in a time of 7hrs 18 mins.
And not a brick session in the world could have prepared me for the run. When your legs are shot, it’s quite something to stare down the barrel of a marathon. “Just keep moving towards your goal” was all I could keep telling myself. The heat by now had risen to about 32C, and the course was four laps along a breezeless seafront. With a marathon time of 6hrs 13 mins I didn’t break any records, but I got the job done.
Crossing the finish line was amazing and emotional, and the sense of achievement enormous. Today, as I run through the day again in my head, I remember points at which I felt like throwing the towel in. But something made me just keep on moving forwards. I’ve learned very late in life that with determination, you can achieve things you never thought possible.
Thanks to all of you for listening to my ramblings over the past few months. And deepest thanks to all of you who have sponsored me and supported me. Throughout training and racing, I’ve worn a SaveTheChildren bracelet. Whenever things have got tough, I’ve looked at that on my wrist, reminding myself of the children’s lives I’m helping if I carry on. It worked through training and it worked yesterday too. Thanks to you, many children’s lives will be better for these efforts.
PS – for the stat freaks among you, here’ the link to my results (bib number 2443):
http://www.ironmanlive.com/tracking.php?race=france&year=2011
PPS – if you haven’t donated yet and feel moved to, here’s the link to my JustGiving page. Anything you can donate will be absolutely brilliant, thank you. http://www.justgiving.com/Tim-Taylor66