Tengo que reconocer que soy un gran fanatico de Chrissie Wellington, dos veces campeona del Ironman de Kona Hawaii. Ella ha demostrado que no tienes que tener la bici mas cara, el mejor casco, los mejores rines etc ect , lo que tienes que tener, y que no se puede comprar, es las ganas de mejorar y hacer los trabajos duros en entrenamiento.
Hoy leyendo en internet encontre el blog de Chrissie Wellington, pueden verlo aqui. En su pagina personal encontre el reportaje que ella escribió del Ironman de Kona 2008. Para los que no saben ella ganó el 2007 y en el 2008 tuvo un flat en la bicicleta que casi la saca de carrera, perdio la primera posicion al retrasarse mas de 8 minutos ya que no pudo inflar la llanta. Otra competidora le dio la herramienta necesaria para inflar la llanta (un c02), nadie te puede ayudar en un ironman excpeto otro competidor, demostrando la escencia del tipo de competitividad que hay en este deporte.
Aqui les pongo un extracto de lo que escribió Chrissie, para ver el articulo completo pueden ir a su pagina aqui.
World Ironman Championships: never, ever give up! by Chrissie
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Ok, so the race…..wow….where do I start?! I went into this race feeling strong, but I certainly wasn’t taking anything for granted. The huge amount of amazing, record breaking performances at races this year have shown just how deep and strong the women’s ironman field is. And also, in Hawaii anything can happen. As i found out!
I wasn’t that nervous before the start, and was just really excited about racing. Last years swim was more like a complete drown, and I think I spent more time looking at the fish than I did concentrating on going forwards. So this year, there was less deep sea diving and more arm and leg action. Normally the swim start is a bit like a Friday night pub brawl, but aside from a few token punches this one was pretty sedate, and I found myself in a good position and felt good. I don’t know if I had ‘sting me’ written all over my body though, but it seemed like every jellyfish in the pacific ocean had made a bee-line for my body, and despite wearing an all over swim skin I still managed to get stung about ten times. The little buggers.
Anyway, I came out of the water in 56 minutes, and jumped aboard the P2. Normally it takes me about 40km to get into my rhythm on the bike but for some reason I seemed to have beans right from the start, and found myself in the lead at around the 30km mark. Everything was going rather well, until about 80km when I found myself bumping around a bit more than normal. Rather than continuing to enjoy the rumble strip vibrations I decided to stop and look down. Yes, rim had hit tarmac. I had a flat. Quite a few thoughts went through my head. Oh dear was one of them. Bugger was another, and the rest shouldn’t be repeated in public. As all the tri geeks know, I ride clinchers. So I whipped the tyre off and took the inner tube out, checked for any offending sharp particles, put in a new tube and on went the tyre. I was quite impressed with the speed of my rubber changeover…. that was until I tried to use the two CO2 cartridges. Unfortunately I didn’t remember to press down hard on the tyre, so the air went everywhere except for into the valve. Bugger i thought again. What happened next deserves a very special mention. Long story short, one of my competitors, the 2006 Australian IM Champion Bek Keat, gave me her CO2 cartridge.
This encapsulates everything that is truly great about Ironman. Without her help I would probably still be walking back from Hawi. I am truly grateful to Bek for this amazing demonstration of sportsmanship. Bek, if you are reading this. The beers are on me. And then some.
People have asked me how I managed to stay so calm with the time ticking away and everyone whizzing past. To me this is what racing is. It is about taking the rough with the smooth. The highs and the deep lows. I always try to remain positive, and to meet every fear or challenge with a smile. It also adds some spice to the race and i understand that Ironmanlive and NBC got some great coverage of me going to the toilet in the bushes – which I am sure has made great family viewing! But all joking aside. I am not a quitter. I would have stood there for an hour or more if it meant I could get back on my bike and complete the race. As the old saying goes, it ain’t over til its over. Never give up. Ever.
Anyway, back on my bike I started hammering away. I climbed the rest of the way to Hawi, and then came the long descent. As most people know, I am normally a grandma when it comes to descending. But on that day it felt like I had a firework up my posterior. I didn’t care about the side winds that were blowing at what seemed like 100miles an hour, I didn’t care about the rumble strips, or the downhill gradient. I just held on for dear life, and my little legs have never spun round so fast! I managed to catch the lead girls in about the same place as last year, at the Kawaihai intersection. And from then on I didn’t look back. The winds were in our faces, gusting from the side and, thankfully, up our backsides in the last stretch home. I came into T2 feeling good, deafened by the noise of the crowds but not knowing how my legs would be, having worked hard to make up for lost flat tyre time/CO2 incompetence.
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I swear someone added a few extra miles along the Queen K, as the drag to the energy – or no energy – lab seemed to go on forever. I guess the key for me is to stay positive, to have faith in myself and my training and most of all to smile. So that’s what I did.
... As I said before….never ever give up.
Mahalo!!!!
ESA ES LA CLAVE, MANTENER LA CALMA Y NUNCA RENDIRSE, ES MAS... EL ULTIMO QUE SE RINDE PIERDE...
