The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

This year is an important one for us as a family. Below is a brief explanation as to why.

Daniel, the kids and I are planning to use 2012 to raise money for the British Heart Foundation in memory of Daniel's Dad.

Daniel is taking on a big challenge. He intends to complete his first ever triathlon, the Derby Triathlon, on the 16th of September. A race which Barry has competed in before. It will be a very emotional day for all concerned. However, first he needs to learn to swim!

The last two years have been big years for me and proved to me that I'm capable of more than I thought. In 2010 I did my first ever marathon, managed to stick to the training and actually to enjoy the race. However, where this fell down was when I tried to switch back to triathlon later on in the year, I'd only really been training to run and I didn't cope well with adding the rest of it back in. I got worn out and demotivated and it didn't really happen. It was a non-season triathlon-wise.

After some very nervous waiting, my Vitruvian experience began in earnest on Friday afternoon. We took the kids to Daniel's Dad's as we knew they'd be bored stupid waiting around for long enough for me to complete a race of this magnitude - they get bored during a sprint! Anyway, with them successfully delivered we set off for Rutland Water, I wanted to get myself registered and my bike racked on the Friday night so I'd have less to worry about on the Saturday morning.

I headed off to Trentham with great enthusiasm. I have done this race quite a few times before and have always enjoyed it. Also, it's a good excuse for a pleasant family weekend away. We book early and get ourselves into the Premier Inn on the site, therefore allowing another fall out of the room and wander to the start. A nice unstressful way to begin a race day, no worrying about getting there - good plan. Because we were there for the weekend it also meant I was able to go and register on the Saturday afternoon, taking even more pressure off the Sunday morning.

Cycling Out

Nearly finished

1st Transition

It was with more than a little trepidation that I approached this race. So much so that I was surprised at myself. I mean, okay, so it was a race that I hadn't done before, and okay, it has been a while since I completed an Olympic distance course, but even so. In the preceding week I'd been looking forward to it, having heard good things about it from others braving the waters at Pugneys early on weekend mornings. But all of a sudden on the Saturday night I was not a happy bunny.

Well, it was with quite some enthusiasm that I lined up at the start of this race on a windy and wet February morning. I know I've been training pretty well and I was hoping for a far better experience than my last running of this race. I've done it twice before, but not at all in the last few years. The first time I did I found it okay, hard and hilly but manageable. The second time it all went very wrong.