Ironman Western Australia

IRONMAN WESTERN AUSTRALIA – A CRAZY RACE
With already two good results counting for my 2018 Kona qualification I flew to Australia. But I had a setback: somehow my gluteus was tackled and it did not want to release. Raceday was approaching and I still could not run. What should I do? Cancel the race and have holidays instead? Only do the swim and bike and then stop it? Doing the whole race without knowing if I could run and all and might need to walk the whole marathon?
In Ironman racing „anything is possible“, and I decided for the last option. Thus on December 3rd I lined up at Ironman Western Australia. Finishing 2nd for 4 times in a row, I have so many good memories on this race. It was a crazy day: The swim was cancelled due to a shark, the bike was cut short later in the race because of a fire and the run was a heat battle.
Without a swim, the race was started at the beach running into t1 to the bikes. We were started in opposite bib number order and I was the second last girl released into the transition. The later champion Melissa Hauschildt caught up at the end of the transition zone and we cycled the first lap together. Our speed was high, but this was not only the case for us, but for all of the competitors. I would say everyone biked harder as usual and we needed to pay for this later in the race. Some more, others less…
Even though I biked my way through the field, I could not make a substantial move. I started the run in third position. I was curious how the run felt after 3 weeks of no running. It felt better then I expected, but as I ticked off the ks, I started to fade more and more. I was not running very smoothly any more either. The locals knew how big the question mark on my run was and cheered on me with everything they had. I want to be a leading example for other athletes and wanted to finish the race, acknowledging that you should not give up even if you struggle. With the right mindset, not anything, but a lot is possible. The 6th place is for sure not what I aimed for signing in for the race. I wanted to fight for the win and not the finish. Given the circumstances however, it could well have ended up with place 666. Thus, the result is not that bad. You learn something from each race: This time it’s that a slow marathon can hurt as much as a fast one. 

On my way home from Australia I spent some days on Bali. The way back was full of surprises. My flight was changed and I had to leave Bali a bit earlier and stayed one day in Dubai. Commencing my journey to Düsseldorf I was very close and with my mind already on the Christmas market. However, heavy snow caused the airport to shut down and we flew to Hamburg instead. At the moment I am sitting in Hamburg in the airplane for 4 hours already and wait for the Düsseldorf airport to open up again. This will not happen within the next two hours though.

The 2017 season is closed and I look forward to some weeks without a training schedule.

I am very grateful for your support this year and wish you all a happy festive season. Enjoy the time with your loved ones.

Mareen