Sep 08 2008
What? A long lie?!
Yup – it was a long long day yesterday. Monaco is an expensive if not impressive place and I’m up the coast a little in a cheaper hotel. About 10 times cheaper than the average Monaco offerings! I’ve been relying on public transport all weekend which has been great but did mean a 4.10am rise yesterday and a 12.20am finish. So up now and having some brekki. No pictures to show as yet from the race but some may appear soon.
It was a mixed day. The first time I have experienced a mass start of 1100 people. Probably the last time I want to! Getting a bit of a kicking and being used as a launching pad are not happy experiences. My bike was great – on the uphills. Having not seen the course beforehand I got a bit of a shock on the descents and lost tonnes of time. Happy to play it safe though as there was a lot of skin left out on the road yesterday! The run was definitely the high point of the day – through the marina where the average boat was at least 5 times the size of my house. There was a killer hill to ascend 5 times and the twisty downs paid merry hell on my feet that are taped up now so that I can make it through the day’s travelling. I ran the fastest time of the race – a 1hr18min 50s (including a quick stop in the portaloo) so I’m quite happy with that.
This week I’m off to Toulon before racing in a sprint duathlon next weekend and then returning home to Autumn in Ecosse!
PS. I took the Hawaii slot.
Catriona – I just wanted to drop you a quick note to say congratulations. That was a great race you put in. Second FPRO, 1st Brit to finish and a top 4% finisher – wow! I was competing at Monaco this weekend too (it was my 1st 70.3 Ironman) and have to agree that starting on mass with 1100 other swimmers is a bit stressful; talk about getting a kicking! The bike route was great but those descents were pretty technical to say the least; thank god it rained during the night and not during the race otherwise it would have been carnage. Running the Formula 1 track and past the marina was impressive but that hill up to the casino/finish area was a nightmare. I thought it was supposed to be a flat run!
Anyway, congratulations again, hope Toulon goes well and best of luck in the future.
Regards,
Ross
Aberdeen