Inspirational Ironmen, Mountains and more...
Somehow it's been over a month since I've written one of these - oops! Even though my job has nothing to do with students the start of the university term always seems to herald a flurry of activity, hence the gap between newsletters. You'd think I'd be used to it after a decade(!) in the HE sector but apparently not...
Inspirational Ironmen
Earlier this month I was in Tenby watching my big brother compete in the Ironman Wales triathlon. For those who aren't versed in triathlon lingo, an Ironman involves swimming 2.4 miles (in this case in the sea off the coast of South Wales), then cycling 112 miles, and culminating in running a marathon. It's the ultimate endurance event, to the extent that the term Ironman has become a brand and a lucrative global series of races. Ironman Wales is renowned as one of the toughest courses out there - Wales of course not being known for calm weather or flatness - and they add in an extra couple of kilometres run between the swim and the bike leg just for laughs.
I've never been to an event quite like it - London Marathon is perhaps the only thing that comes close but the atmosphere in Tenby was pretty unique. The race starts just before 7am but obviously my brother was up well before them to get ready and down to the start line. We arrived to spectate slightly after the first swimmers began, sadly missing the Welsh national anthem being sung on the beach, just as dawn was breaking over Tenby. The streets coming into the town were quiet but as you got to the old town walls the crowds were starting to be evident and by the time we got to the street above the seafront we were having to squeeze through hundreds of spectators lining the road overlooking the swim course. We managed (somehow!) to find my sister-in-law in the crush and were well positioned above the ramp where the athletes would run up from the beach. Less than an hour after the start the race leaders were sprinting past us, off on their run through Tenby to pick up their bikes from transition. My brother is a great swimmer and the conditions were pretty perfect so at around the 1 hour 15 minute mark he was also heading out of the water. We managed to catch his attention on the way past us which meant he could give his wife a quick kiss before heading off. We stayed to cheer for a bit longer and then headed off to try and stake out a place to spectate on the bike leg.
The bike leg was a bit more tricky - we were trying to predict where my brother would be on a hilly, multi-lap course using only paper maps and a slightly erratic tracking lap. We headed to Saundersfoot on the hope of seeing him twice but somehow completely managed to miss his first trip through. It was a good place to be though - the course winds down a hill into the village and back out again up another steep hill - and the road was once again lined with spectators, the noise of cheers rebounding off the buildings on either side of the street. I got so into the atmosphere I accidentally bought a Welsh flag as tall as I am... We then spent a lot of time cheering some by now pretty exhausted-looking cyclists up the hill out of Saundersfoot whilst also checking the tracking app every few minutes to see where my brother was. He arrived well before we were expecting him again, stopping for a brief emotional hug from my dad. Before we knew it the tracker was telling us that he'd finished the bike leg, just the small matter of a marathon to run now...
The run leg looked the hardest, particularly as the evening wore on. We were spectating in the centre of Tenby again as it meant being able to see my brother several times and even though it was late the spectators were still out in force. The triathletes looked beyond exhausted, hardly surprisingly given that many of them had been going for upwards of 12 hours by this point. The race winners had finished at around the nine hour mark and the cut off for finishers was 17 hours. We saw my brother twice more as the darkness drew in and whilst he was obviously really tired, as he came past to start his final lap it was clear he'd made it within the time limit. Tenby was increasingly full of drunk people and triathlon finishers as the remaining competitors looped through the town and I can't imagine how hard it must have been to just keep going. Finally, we took up a position on the barriers lining the last few metres of the course and listened to the announcer shouting every single competitor's name and proclaim "you are an Ironman!" as they came in towards the line. It was after 11.00PM by this point and suddenly my brother was emerging into the bright lights of the finishing strait, arms aloft in victory - he'd done it. I've never been prouder.
Having watched the race all day gives you an insight into the scale of the physical and mental strength need to complete a race as hard as that. I know without a doubt that it's not something I could ever even contemplate for example. The thing that spectating really brought home to me is that, whilst winning an Ironman is obviously an immense achievement, the real heroes are those who finish in almost double the time of the leaders - the competitors who've trained every evening and weekend for months, fitting it in around jobs and children to achieve a dream that most people couldn't even comprehend. I was also incredibly impressed by the race organisers - normally races celebrate the winners but by the time it gets to the end of the race most people have gone. Not at Ironman Wales - every single competitor got cheered over the line as if they'd won the race.
Several weeks later I'm still in awe of what my brother achieved and immensely proud of him. I'm also hoping I can draw some inspiration from all of that mental fortitude on display and finally complete an Olympic distance triathlon (about a quarter of the length of an Ironman...) in 2019.
What I've Been...
Listening to:
This month saw lots of my favourite podcasts taking a break so I used the time productively(ish) and started listening to some of the endless backlog of podcasts which I've subscribed to on a random recommendation and then promptly not listed to. Tell me it's not just me who does this... Anyway I am currently binge-listening to the wonderful Witch Please - a podcast about the Harry Potter world made by two Canadian feminist academics. It's so perfect that it's inspired me to re-read the Harry Potter series for the first time in a very long time and has also justified all of my opinions on the films - namely that they are terrible. Sadly Witch Please seems to be in it's final series but as I've still got 50+ episodes to catch up on that's not necessarily going to be a problem for a while...
My sister also introduced me and Andy to the My Dad Wrote A Porno podcast and, like the rest of the world, Andy and I are completely addicted...
Reading:
I read the To All The Boys I've Loved Before trilogy back to back within a week and cried my eyes out at each one. They're not even sad books but Jenny Han's writing is so vividly evocative of being a teenager and that feeling of desperate urgency about every decision and everything you do. I also don't think I've ever read anything else that so truly evokes sisterhood. The recent Netflix film adaptation focuses more on the romantic relationships between Lara Jean and Peter but the core relationship in all three books is that between Lara Jean and her two sisters Margot and Kitty, which is so beautifully written and devastatingly true to life.
Doing:
Turning 33! We took a delightfully nerdy day trip to Winchcombe in the Cotswolds to walk around a Neolithic Long Barrow to celebrate my being nearly as ancient as an ancient monument...
We also spent a lovely long weekend in the Lake District, dividing our time between walking up mountains and relaxing in amazing country pubs. In continued attempts to pretend I'm a person who can climb mountains we walked the Langdale Pikes and managed to descend via a route more difficult than the climb up had been. I also persuaded Andy that Catbells was an "easy" walk to do before we headed home on the Monday and then spent all of the climb cursing my own stupidity. We were blessed with beautiful weather and amazing views every day though and my legs are still just about working so I can't complain!
I do genuinely intend to not leave a month between newsletters next time. Please pray to the gods of organisational ability for me... Cx