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

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. I had a dreadful night's sleep and was truly glad when it was time to get up and stop pretending to be asleep! Well, I don't know what that was all about, but I began to feel better as I got on with my morning - just as well really as I seemed to have woken up with every ache and pain under the sun. I was filling myself with confidence!

Anyway, we'd gone to Liverpool for the weekend and were staying in a hotel at Albert Dock. Brilliantly placed for our day out and about on Saturday, but also within easy walking distance of everything the race had to offer. Ryan accompanied me to registration at half six in the morning, I didn't really need to go that early, but thought I'd just go when they opened and then I would know it was all sorted. It also meant that we had time to go for breakfast in the hotel before setting off properly for the race. I can't say I could face the cooked breakfast, but did manage some granola and a couple of crumpets. Not too bad pre-race fuel. Then we wandered off to transition so I could do the usual faff about and get myself sorted. It was a massive transition area and we were racked by start time, but I found it quite easy to navigate as they had cleared labelled each row with a letter - all I needed to do was remember that my bike was towards the end of K and all would be well. So, I laid everything out, double checked that I had all that I needed (which I did thanks to a minor emergency buy in Sports Direct the day before) and toddled off towards the swim start.

The swim was heading off in waves of between 200 and 250 people, that's a lot, believe you me! I did my usual getting in carefully, keeping the goggles in place and the contact lenses in my eyes always being the main part of the plan. For some reason I was taken aback by how salty the water was - brain fade, I simply hadn't thought about the water at all. Well, it wasn't going to be like swimming in a lake now was it? I started okay but then almost immediately got clobbered round the head and managed to have my goggles detach themselves, thankfully they were still on my head, just not where they belonged. I was actually quite pleased with myself after that, things hadn't exactly gone to plan but I stayed calm, got them back in place and set off again. Sadly it set the tome for the swim as they seemed to be determined to slip after that, strange when they normally give me no problems whatsoever. So, the pattern was swim a bit, pause and reposition the goggles, swim some more and so on. With all that going on I wasn't expecting great things, and so was pleasantly surprised when I exited the water, looked at my watch and realised that I was still getting out in under 30 minutes! And that was having negotiated the jellyfish too. Now you see, nobody warned me about that! I spotted them during my recce on Saturday, and I can tell you now there were really rather a lot of them out there. They weren't dangerous, they were just there. A wee bit freaky to see them and even touch one as I swam by, a little creepy seeing them, hanging there below me in the water. Anyway, enough of that. I was pleased with my swim, the official time for which was 31:22, the mat wasn't right near the water.

It was a race of long transitions and mine were slow, so I'm not going to bother about how long they took me. Suffice to say that there was quite some distance to cover from the water's edge to the transition area and back to my bike. I decided I wasn't going to rush and that I was going to make sure I was properly sorted and then get going. So, having duly organised myself I set off on the next long run to get to the mount line for the bike section.

I really enjoyed taking part in a traffic free race, it was lovely to not have to keep an eye on cars as I rode. The bike was a 4 lap course, not entirely flat as some people had suggested, but not with much elevation to speak of. The main issue at times was the wind which seemed to be being funnelled along the course. Still, I felt comfortable on the bike and managed to maintain a fairly consistent lap time. It was also great to go past the kids and Daniel so many times and to hear them cheering me on, that always encourages me and makes me smile. I completed the 40K in 1:30:01. I now this is nothing special, but it's pretty good for me and I was pleased with it.

Then another long transition, during which I forgot to remove the cycling shorts that I'd bought on Saturday from over the top of my tri suit. Oh well, apparently you can run in them too! I know it probably sounds weird to be wearing cycling shorts at all, but it's something I'm trying with a view to my first ever middle distance race, the Vitruvian in September (the padding on my tri suit isn't enough for that length of time in the saddle). Anyway, shorts or not, I downed a gel , pulled on my cap and headed out for the 10K run.

Once again I started running and was really encouraged by how my legs felt. It seems to me that that is where I'm really seeing the improvement caused by all the training I've been doing this year. I feel much more able to run well off the bike than I ever have done before. The run was a 2 lap job and there were plenty of aid stations as promised - just as well really as I'd decided not to carry anything on the basis there would be enough out there. I only took water, but that was needed as it was turning into really quite a warm day. I felt great running and just able to cruise along at, what for me, is a very good pace. I completed the distance in 56:30! Not that long ago I'd have struggled to run that time in a stand alone race, never mind after all the other stuff first. I'm well chuffed with that.

My overall time was 3:03:00. I'm pleased with that. It was a good race. Well organised and fun to take part in. I'd certainly be happy to go and do it again.