Ace

Simon Nurse broke his coccyx while on holiday in New Zealand. Not during his usual pursuits of moutain bike trashing, or suicidal downhill running, nor even by falling off a rock face, or bungee jumping. For someone with a penchant for turning healthy outdoor pursuits into spectacular opportunites for injury, he took the comparatively dull route of choosing quad biking for his latest brush with the eternal. Anyone can injure themselves on a quad bike. Normal service of Simon’s special genius for self harm will return soon. He’s already running again.

Rumours of Dick Brewer’s retirement from marathon running are, apparently, much exaggerated. Dick promised to stop after clocking up 10, and has reached that plus two ultras. (But they don’t count. Go figure.) However, without his regular fix, he nearly started behaving normally: having other interests, and - horror - other topics of conversation. Such behaviour is grounds for being drummed out of the club. Fortuneately, before a special meeting could be convened, the strains of withdrawal proved too much and regular insanity was restored.

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So the end of my first season is here, I have finally made it running on that holy ground the Queen K Highway, Kona Hawaii. For those of you who are not Tri geeks like me, it’s akin to running up the Mall at the end of London. After 100yds or so I turn around and head back to the hotel.

So our move to Chicago last November was unexpected, but it was a great chance to have couple of years in the US to do all those famous races and to watch those you dream of doing. My First US race was the Galena Tri in May, "a small season opener" said Randy one of my new found Tri Buddies. We joined the Chicago Tri Club, now clubs out here are different affairs, more like a group of people who run from, change at, play tennis at etc, etc a certain place. So to the "small season opener" 1200 entrants lake swim, hilly bike, mountainous run. But great organization, sunny weather, closed roads, BBQ after, prizes 20 deep.

And the season just kept on coming, Indianapolis, great organization, sunny weather, closed roads, BBQ after, prizes 20 deep. Then Madison, great organization, sunny weather, closed roads, BBQ after, prizes 20 deep. You get the idea by now, so with the season in full swing and with a lot of Bike miles in my legs, I trained with my Sue for a 500 mile bike ride in 6 days ride, she was doing it and I was supporting. My job was to raise the sponsorship, and then drop her off in Minneapolis and pick her up 6 days later in Chicago. She and 1500 other Bikers did the ride with a mini Tent Town leap froging them each day, again, great organization, sunny weather, quiet roads, BBQ after, sponsorship 20 deep.

With all these miles in my legs I decided to do my first Half Ironman in September, now one other thing I must mention about Chicago is that it’s (for the geographically challenged) on the Side of Lake Michigan (150 miles wide by 400 Miles Long). But in this city they do things properly, every day from May to September. There is a marked 1 mile out and back swimcourse which runs along the lake shore (so the depth is never more that 6ft) resplendent with Marker buoys (pronounced booez) and life Guards.

So I also get Lots of open water swim training, by the way there is also a 20-mile running path along the lake, so no problem with long runs as there are drinking fountains, and toilets every couple of miles.

As the Half Ironman draws closer I do Mrs T’s which with 5000 Tri Crazy people deserves a book all to itself. So 3 tri buddies and me arrive on the starting line for The Lake Geneva Ironman, Half Ironman and Olympic distance. This doesn’t seem right, the Buoys are not out, the starter is calling us 15 mins early, we actually start 20 mins late, "which way" I shout as I get the first turn on the bike course, "I don’t know" is the answer "everyone else went that way". So I follow and make it back to T2 after 56 miles of rolling hills and wind, no not mine. The run is like a mountain stage in the Ace but after 6 hrs and 30 mins I finish, the last of the 3 friends to do so. The end to a perfect season, so what to do for a rest, well we end up in Hawaii watching, Gordon, and Daf and Spencer plus Brits who’s names we didn’t know fly the flag. And then it’s off the Maui to see the Xterra World Champs again cheering the Brits. So back to that run on the Queen K. I just wanted to feel what it was like to set foot on it, feel the wind, heat and blackness all around, I’ll be back next year and so will my Sue both having tried to qualify for Kona At Ironman Korea. If that’s what it feels like to be on the Queen K just for a training run think what it’ll be like with 1500 other folks.

Last updated 27 September 2005

Last updated 27 September 2005

Last updated 27 September 2005

Ace

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