[More photos to come]
Having gone to bed at 8:30 and asleep soon afterwards things were looking good but soon after midnight the boys were wailing and distinctly not well - poor things.
The next few hours were a fitful sleep until I was rudely awoken by the alarm at 3:30. Straight onto the throne and then the first of 6 espressos to get the system really revved up.
We left the boys to sleep and Shilpa and I drove down to the start to begin the adventure. Setting the bike up with computer, CO2, valve adapter, spare tyre, bars, gels, drinks, shoes, sunglasses etc... took much longer than I would have liked but once it was done I visited the throne room again, threw on some sunblock and squeezed into my wetsuit. Last minute photo, kiss for Shilpa and then I was on a rather chilly beach with almost 1,000 other equally nervous looking pieces of shark bait.
Chris was looking suitably confident and ready to go.
At 6:15 sharp the gun went off and the race had begun. I started in the middle of the throng, which proved to be a good choice as the rest of the Busselton Buddies chose to start a little more conservatively and got the worst of the crowd, causing them to stop mid swim multiple times. My swim was pretty uneventful and seemed to be going reasonably well - wearing a buoyant wetsuit added to the extra buoyancy of saltwater really helps disguise what an awful swimmer I am. I came out of the water in a rather surprising personal best of 1:06, even more surprisingly ahead of the other Busselton Buddies and only 3 minutes behind Chris "The Fish" Wayman.
Onto the bike and boy it was cold, it took me a whole lap to warm up. I have long since learned that THE ONLY WAY to race an Ironman is to watch your cadence and heart rate on the bike. If you've done the training and you're not ill then the speed will take care of itself. I normally spin at 107 rpm at a HR of 125. However, a minor disaster had struck - neither of my HR monitors were working and although I turned them off and on a couple of dozen times to get them working they were useless. I was going to have to do this ride a little blind - oh well eh, at last I could keep the cadence on track.
I saw Chris at the first turnaround just 1k ahead of me. I expected to pass him a few minutes later. Chris wasn't keeping to the script though and it was another 2 hours before I caught him - he was hammering it. I then expected to slowly ride away from him but once again he wasn't having it and we ended up riding the second half of the 180k together - keeping a legal distance apart of course. This greatly helped with motivation and speed for both of us.
I saw the rest of the Busselton Buddies a few times except for Sam and they all seemed to be riding well and enjoying themselves. I also saw Shilpa and the boys twice which is always a huge boost on such a long race. The boys looked a bit confused though and apparently they thought that every man on a bike was daddy.
Chris had threatened to rugby tackle me as we came into transition so I let him and his ego go first. He jumped off his bike, handed it to a helper and bounded towards the transition tent. I jumped off my bike, handed it to a helper and bounded after him. Unfortunately my bounding only lasted one stride, my hamstrings were so tight I nearly fell over. So I hobbled like and 80 year old man to transition and completely blanked out of my mind the fact that I'd now got a marathon to run.
Out of transition and there was Shilpa and the boys together with Chantal, India and Kofi. I gave the boys a kiss and Chantal asked me how I was feeling - I replied, "I feel absolutely awful and can hardly walk", I was pretty cheerful about it though. She replied, "You do know you have a marathon to do don't you".
"Mmmm I suppose so" and off I went to face the awful reality. The first two kilometres were excruciatingly painful and my hamstrings were very tight. After that the pain didn't ease up at all but at least my legs loosened a little. I don't really want to revisit the next 4 hours in too much detail but they were enjoyable albeit very painful. I ran the whole way just walking through the drink stations to ensure that I took on enough liquid.
Thankfully, I saw Sam on the run. He was looking great with a big smile on his face. He was having a good day. In fact as were the rest of the Busselton Buddies, Carmen, KK, Tom and Lisa were all looking very comfortable on the run and all were positively beaming.
With about 8k left the pain had burrowed itself into just about every sinew of my body but I had managed to work out that if I picked up the pace a little I could finish in under 11 hours and there might be enough time to grab Sid and Seb and go down the finishing chute holding their hands.
I decided that whatever happened I'd finish with Sid and Seb even if I missed the 11 hour time in the process. However, I picked up the pace because I'm greedy and I wanted it all, I wanted the perfect day! With 2k to go I knew I'd do it, the feeling of euphoria is indescribable.
I entered the long finishing chute and there were Sid and Seb. I held their hands fully expecting them to be scared out of their wits and not want to go to the line. On the contrary however, in between looking a bit bemused they had huge smiles on their faces and seemed to love every second of it. The time was ticking by but I just didn't care it was the proudest moment of my life, not proud of myself, I'd forgotten the race, I was just so proud of them, proud to be their dad and proud that they were there with me holding my hands and running to the finishing line, they were awesome. It seemed that just about everyone were reaching for their cameras,
I can honestly say that was the happiest and proudest moment of my life.Stats:
Finishing Time: - 10:56:58Swim and 1st transition: - 1:07:29
Bike: - 5:28:08
Run and 2nd transition: - 4:21:20
See what Chantal had to say about Chris' race at "
Elephant Feet"
Here's Seb with one of the new bikes that his Grandma and Granddad bought the boys for their Xmas and Birthday presents. Seb's not too steady on it yet but he's having a go with each attempt usually ending up in a pile up - never mind, he'll get there.
Sid on the other hand is sitting here next to one of their own tricycles. Sid won't even tri (misspelling intentional) the new two wheeler but as soon as Seb gets to grips with it we've no doubt he'll catch up very quickly.
Family Cross on Christmas morning
Shilpa chillin with Sid
Simon with Sebby Ballesteros
Simon and Shilpa after the Champagne had been flowing a while
Santa with Reindeer Seb
Santa with Reindeer Sid
Manic Santa with two manic reindeer
Happy Christmas to one and all. We've had a lovely day at home with the boys. Shilpa cooked an amazing Christmas lunch - English style with Turkey (Quorn mock meat), followed by Christmas Pudding and Brandy Butter - yum yum.
Sid and Seb hosted their first Christmas party this morning. The invitiation was strictly Twins Only although the rules were relaxed a little to allow their drivers (mums) to come too.
Fun was had by all with chocolate Christmas Cake (a new one to me, but hey what do I know - seems like all the twins thought it was a great idea).
did my first cross country race last week. 4 x 2km of very steep, VERY, VERY muddy, wet and cold course. Amazingly I really enjoyed it (at least once my left foot started to get some feeling back into it after the second circuit!!) I sank into mud up over my ankles and had great trouble keeping my running shoes on and staying on my feet - in fact the odd shoe was to be seen without its owner during the course of the race. I was covered in mud from head to foot and my white running socks will never be quite the same again. 
here are one or two pics. I forgot to mention that Nico and Sven also ran the 750m race and improved their times by about half a minute compared to last time. (That's a lot over such a distance and considering the conditions).
The pictures show the finishing slope which is a lot steeper than it looks (especially after doing it four times) and a lot muddier too - though it was the only part of the course which wasn't actually covered with icy water"
"Simon says - Well done Angela, Nico and Sven, we are all very impressed and feel quite cold just looking at the photos - Weill as cold as you can be in 30 degrees of Malaysian heat!
Carmen won the Chin Woo Biathlon on Sunday, not only winning her age-group but overall Women's Champion. 
Well done Carmen.
In August 2007 I became the third person to ever do the Enduroman Arch to Arc in a time of 87 hours and 36 minutes. . 
If anything an athlete caught doping is a much clearer case of black and white - second chances, I don't think so - look at Ben Johnson, he served his two year ban and then came back and was caught doping a second time! Only then did they give him a life ban - need I say more?
My baby niece, Kirsty just turned 18 and passed her driving test. Cool Bananas Kirsty, you can pick us up from the airport next time we visit. WELL DONE.
The Nimbus is a great distance shoe for training - perfect for a neutral runner or supinator.
Never has there been a better racing shoe for anything from a 5k to a marathon or Ironman than the DS-Trainer. This is the ultimate racing shoe - END OF DISCUSSION, it's now official.
The day after the race we packed up and headed to Margaret River. On route we visited an Animal Farm for the kids where we played with rabbits, turtles, chickens, guinea pigs, parrots, ponies, cows, ducks, lamas (honestly), goats, peacocks and of course kangaroos.
The boys loved it of course although Siddhart has probably inherited Shilpa's genes and is a little unsure of animals, whereas Sebastian has inherited my genes and has no fear. 
We fed the animals more carrots than you can shake a stick at, it was really fun and Shilpa's fear of animals seemed to melt away in no time. (Check out the lama's - don't you think the tall one looks like Posh Spice?)
At the farm they also had bouncy castles, slides, merry-go-round, kids play lawn with so many kids cars, tractors and trucks it was amazing. 
We spent a few hours there but could have easily spent the whole day. 
They seem to have inherited the instinctive ability to bury their dad under the sand as every kid seems to be able to do even before they can talk. 
When we first started taking them to the beach they really didn't like it but now we have to drag them away from the place.
Simon CROSS - 10:56:58 (PB)
Sam PRITCHARD - 11:49:37 (PB & 4th in Category)
Carmen LEONG - 12:30:07 (PB & 1st Ironman)
Kok Khee LEE - 13:04:44 (PB & 1st Ironman)
Tom VIGORS - 13:21:23 (PB)
Li Sar OON - 13:31:48 (PB & 1st Ironman)
Honorary Busselton Buddy
We left the boys to sleep and Shilpa and I drove down to the start to begin the adventure. Setting the bike up with computer, CO2, valve adapter, spare tyre, bars, gels, drinks, shoes, sunglasses etc... took much longer than I would have liked but once it was done I visited the throne room again, threw on some sunblock and squeezed into my wetsuit. Last minute photo, kiss for Shilpa and then I was on a rather chilly beach with almost 1,000 other equally nervous looking pieces of shark bait.
Chris was looking suitably confident and ready to go.
At 6:15 sharp the gun went off and the race had begun. I started in the middle of the throng, which proved to be a good choice as the rest of the Busselton Buddies chose to start a little more conservatively and got the worst of the crowd, causing them to stop mid swim multiple times. My swim was pretty uneventful and seemed to be going reasonably well - wearing a buoyant wetsuit added to the extra buoyancy of saltwater really helps disguise what an awful swimmer I am. I came out of the water in a rather surprising personal best of 1:06, even more surprisingly ahead of the other Busselton Buddies and only 3 minutes behind Chris "The Fish" Wayman.
Chris had threatened to rugby tackle me as we came into transition so I let him and his ego go first. He jumped off his bike, handed it to a helper and bounded towards the transition tent. I jumped off my bike, handed it to a helper and bounded after him. Unfortunately my bounding only lasted one stride, my hamstrings were so tight I nearly fell over. So I hobbled like and 80 year old man to transition and completely blanked out of my mind the fact that I'd now got a marathon to run.
Out of transition and there was Shilpa and the boys together with Chantal, India and Kofi. I gave the boys a kiss and Chantal asked me how I was feeling - I replied, "I feel absolutely awful and can hardly walk", I was pretty cheerful about it though. She replied, "You do know you have a marathon to do don't you".
"Mmmm I suppose so" and off I went to face the awful reality. The first two kilometres were excruciatingly painful and my hamstrings were very tight. After that the pain didn't ease up at all but at least my legs loosened a little. I don't really want to revisit the next 4 hours in too much detail but they were enjoyable albeit very painful. I ran the whole way just walking through the drink stations to ensure that I took on enough liquid.
See what Chantal had to say about Chris' race at "Elephant Feet"
