Belinda Granger on a day that went South.
I had a good start to the day with a solid swim and felt great getting on my bike. I was comfortable from the start of the ride and set about chasing down the girls in front of me. Once I reached Hawi (the bike turnaround) I took my caffeine tablets- like I always do, although this time I had a new brand of tablet as I could not find the ones I normally use in capsule form. About 20 minutes after taking them I could not keep anything down and spent the next 90kms throwing up- it was the most horrible feeling. I have never in my 10 years of racing Ironman experienced this.
I dismounted the bike knowing it was going to be a tough call trying to run a marathon on empty but I gave it a good go. I felt terrible from the start and my stomach was just in knots. I pushed through 12kms and then Justin and I called it a day- the toughest decision I have ever had to make and one I absolutely do not want to have to make again- it was my first DNF since 1999! But my body has been through a lot this year with surgery back in March and then being hit by a car in July. I just did not want to push my body through another major trauma. I just was not sure it was going to be able to handle it.
I know I will bounce back- I just need a couple of months of being good to myself and my body.
To all of my sponsors who were here in Hawaii supporting me- you are the greatest.
I will now head back to Australia and take a few weeks off then I will start preparing for Phuket- that will be my last race of the season.
I will spend December getting healthy and then hit the hard training again in January. I am not sure at this stage what my first race back will be but I will aim to do an Ironman race early next year.
Even though it has been a hard year it has still been successful one with an Ironman win- IM Malaysia and a IM 70.3 win- Hawaii 70.3, a 2nd at IM Canada and Antwerp 70.3 and a 5th at Challenge Roth.
Thanks again.
Belinda
