On August 5, 2012, I finished my first Ironman 70.3 at Mactan, Cebu. But crossing the finish line took months of preparation and involved a supportive family, friends and a community. Yes a community, these are the people behind the making of an Ironmom, well a half ironmom as they would say…
To start this post like any other winners’ speech, let me not forget to thank the Big Guy up there for hearing my prayers, St. Sebastian for answering my Novena and our Blessed Mother for hearing my call during the dangerous parts of the bike leg.
First on the “people behind the scene list” is my Family of course, who has been there from my 1st running shoes purchase, my first 3k… 5k… 10k… 15k… mini sprint… 21k… Olympic distance and finally at Cobra’s finishline. However, I took longer than my anticipated finish time, so my sons complained of the heat and had to go back to the hotel room. A few meters from the finish line, I found my daughter (who did a fast 33 minute swim for the 1.9k distance of a relay team in this Cobra Ironman too) eating under a coconut tree with our tri clasmmates and Beacon 5 Fingers team mates. Before the race, my husband agreed he will come back for me after he crossed the finish line. Luck wasn’t with him during Cobra 70.3 and suffered a pulled hamstring in the bike leg. So, he told me to go ahead and run when we found each other at the run’s 10k turnaround.
Family of course includes my parents for taking care of my boys whenever we are out of town for a race. My sisters for checking on the kids, feeding, bathing (once) and staying over during times my mom can not attend to them. Family is indeed a very important support group, not only for those undergoing tri training but for any situation, however small or big it could be.
Our dearest coach, Coach Kaye Lopez, for her patience and dedication in bringing the “Ironman” out of us! I thought it would be a grueling high impact training. But I was wrong! We started our 70.3 coaching with her on January of 2012 and we enjoyed every bit of the way. We looked forward to each training day especially the prize of finishing off a weekend training with lunch at our favorite Kanin Club in Sta. Rosa. Her technical and methodical ways will surely make one finish strong a target race and with a big smile for the finish line photo. The feeling of seeing Kaye waiting in the finish line of all our races in unexplainable. I don’t think all coaches wait for their students. Kaye has an extreme level of patience definitely! Oh also, her very good friend Angelo Baretto for all the technical bike assistance and taking all the time to cheer us and at the same time document each and every race for Fit + Academy.
The night before the race, I listened to the briefing of Coach Leian Cruz, from the extremely fast Von Dutch Cycling Team and known for his race strategies, thank you for sharing your last minute bike tips that helped me overtook a number of guys and for lending me of course your break pads!
Also on my list, are the beautiful staff of y Disenos Interior, my design office. If not for their hardwork, creativity and dedication, I could have missed a lot of training and races. Thank you to my dear staff! As of this time, three of our creative team have filed vacation leaves for next week. I guess its time they take a break too! Have fun girls! Oh special mention is our company driver Jojo who failed to show up during one morning trip to Subic, Zambales. Because of this, I’ve learned how to do a day trip to Subic in 130kph speed!
Let me not forget our house help for all the assistance, for preparing our training gears, race day nutrition and taking care of the kids whenever my husband and I can not be around.
Also, Teacher Mye for making sure my boys are doing their homeworks, prepared for the exams and are ready for each school day.
The staff of Intercare Makati, for making sure I am injury free for any race…
The staff of Bike King for making sure my bike is ready for every ride…
My tri buddies and Beacon Five Fingers team mates…my text mates, bbm mates and chat mates, who made this destination a wonderful journey
Lastly, my best friend, lunch mate and my coffee mate, hopefully you can do tri soon too!
These are the people behind the scenes of my journey to Cobra Ironman 70.3. They deserve the finisher’s medal too!
Thank you everyone, I dedicate this race to you!
Photos to follow 🙂
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