What an important race this is for me. I so wanted to finish a long distance race. My main goal for this race to finish healthy and test a new Nutrition plan for the Frankfurt IM 2014. At the race start I was extremely chilled out and there was absolutely no pressure. I was not feeling as fit as I did for Frankfurt IM and did not do much swimming since my last race Which shows in my swim time. I was swimming quite well (top 3) but I died at the end. I just did not have the arms for the swim. I came out of the water and into T1 with a 55:56 (including transition time). So a swim okay.
The bike leg was a flat multi looped course. But the back half of the course was very WINDY. Apart from the wind it was a really nice course to ride. I finished the bike leg with a 5:02:20 (including transition and a toilet break hehe) and hit the run course.
Everything was going great with nutrition and no cramps. On the run leg there is a section where you climb some spiral stairs. I was hurting. I was running quite well till around the 25km mark and thats where everything just started hurting. My right knee ached and I was not sure if I could finish yet another long distance race. This really beat me up mentally. I sat down on a bench for around 5-10 mins and then started to walk for about 15mins feeling sorry for myself and disappointed until a fellow competitor told me to keep on fighting and to not stop, so I started jogging again. So with a slow marathon time of 3:59:07 and in over all time of 9:57:24 I crossed the finish line with a new PB for Ironman distance. Feeling happy and a little disappointed with time I promised my self to make surethat from now on I wont put so much pressure on myself and to have fun with racing. My overall position Which 11th in my age group and 42nd over all.