Barnyard animals, pony rides, animal rescue. Emphasis on welfare and education. Education, Therapy, Joy and Delight for all ages! Plus Animal Rescue.
03/03/2025
Thank you to all who have supported my journey over the past few months. I'm going to paste my personal blurb here about what I've been up to in order to become a better person within my business that I hold so dear also while I still have my brave pants on. The concepts I use for my own training and nutrition are also a great help in me understanding the animals needs at times too I find:
Ironman has been the biggest and toughest challenge I've taken on (willingly…..) in my life to date.
I'm so stoked that I did it. I had so many doubts along the way and wanted to give up so many times.
But like most of the challenges I've faced in life, I made it, and I can truly relate to the race MC who said at the start of the swim that this was a life changing sport.
It is.
More than just the race itself, it's been about the changes to my life and mindset in order to get myself to that startline
It's helped me physically, emotionally, mentally and I'm managing my business with a much clearer and positive thinking mind. I'd also like to think that although I still have my temper in tact! 🤪 I'm managing relationships with my family and other important people in my life better too 🤞😉
Don't feel you need to keep reading! I love to write and so this is more just an outlet for me to reflect on the past few months, where I came from, and where I'm headed now.
If it helps to inspire anyone else then I'd be delighted.
I did it because I was in the midst of a mountain of “sh*t events” in terms of life in general with covid, cost of living, death of my very dear poppa and a car accident where I was having to defend myself against the police for road conditions that were outside of my control (I did win that btw) mounting up. I then had a scare with my health in August. And also realised I was still holding some anger and resentment from former life events where some of the people in my life told me I can't/wouldn't do things, they manipulated me to feel inferior and to accept that their level of comfort should be enough for me also, and I dealt with that very poorly. Although I'd still managed to achieve so much in life I wasn't altogether happy with where I was and how I was coping with the “sh*t”.
I decided I needed to kick my own butt and rather than waiting for that sensible and driven middle aged lady I hoped I'd grow into one day to suddenly turn up on the doorstep one day I actually needed to CREATE her.
I needed discipline and consistency.
I needed to be healthier in my body in order to be healthier in my mind.
I wanted to set a better example for my children and although I was already well on my way to achieving 100 marathons I felt I was slacking with my own self management and needed something more.
I began by running every day recording it on Strava. Holding myself accountable by putting my daily activities somewhere public.
Then I began setting goals. 80kms a week
Then 100km a week
My next few marathons became almost easy!
I began cross training and including HIIT workouts on the indoor bike.
And my bloods and stats all blew the doctor away and people began to comment on my appearance in a good way.
Then one day I was running and looking out to the sea I thought, I should do an Ironman one day. Yes I think I will. But when? Next 5 years would be ideal while I'm still relatively “young”?
Then I said to myself, JUST DO IT NOW. No excuses. No putting things in the too hard basket. No wishing you could have or will do it later. DO IT NOW!
I went home and looked through all the info and messaged good friend "Ironmike" (he's done 19 of these events!)
I knew he would encourage me and I wanted that push.
“4 months is plenty of training!” He assured me. (Of course he did 🤪).
Still I held off putting through the $$ and making the commitment.
Then on my birthday we attended Waiuku College Special Awards Evening.
The Equestrian Team I'd managed for most of the year won Team of the Year. First time in history that Equestrian had won!
And the guest speaker was Ironman and all round outstanding athlete, Carl Read.
Carl spoke about how Ironman changed his life.
That was it. I was so excited. The timing was meant to be. Money went through that night as I said “Happy Birthday to me”, and then I began to realise how much work I had before me and began to make a plan as to how the hell I would fit it in on top of my already busy AF life!
Training for an Ironman requires 2 things: discipline and consistency.
I was so scared of failure.
Once I had told people I was doing this I did not want to be seen to back down or fail.
And most of all I wanted to prove to MYSELF that I could do it. That I was not the person who was weak and crumbles when life got tough. That when life got tough, I got going.
But how was I going to learn so much in such a short time?
How was I going to get myself fit enough to complete it without the stroke or heart attack my doctor warned me of?
I had to train with DISCIPLINE AND CONSISTENCY!
I had to do it when I was tired, when it was hard and when it scared me.
I had to MAKE TIME. Like other things I'd done before I needed to restructure my life to fit everything in.
I knew I could do that.
I always remember the words of the principal during a meeting at one of my last teaching jobs.
I was just starting up my business, working most weekends with that.
I was teaching juniors full time.
And I had 4 young children, one of which was only a few months old.
During a meeting one day another teacher complained there was “no time” for a certain task. The principal and I exchanged a look before she sternly said “Make time!”
I remember hearing the murmors around that comment amongst staff after the meeting and thinking, it's not actually that hard!
So I made time again.
Where did I find that time?
What was I doing at night that was productive? NOTHING
Could I go to sleep earlier? YES
Could I still get enough sleep if I woke at 3am or 4am most days? Mostly yes
And the benefits of using those hours in the early morning and being the first to see the world for the day? Priceless
To be organised before the rest of the world? Priceless.
To have achieved something positive for yourself before most are even awake? Priceless
Do I miss watching crap shows on TV or browsing social media at night? NOT ONE BIT!
But was it easy? HELL NO
Did I love getting out of bed super early to head out into the dark? NO
Did I love coming home from work and dragging myself out for a swim or ride after an exhausting day of work? HELL NO!
Was it fun? Sometimes. But sometimes it was scary! Sometimes it hurt!
Learning to ride a TT bike and contend with traffic is HARD!! I fell off 6 times on pavements just trying to stop! My knees would literally knock together some days in fear and I'd feel physically sick about going for a ride.
Taking up swimming after not swimming so much as 20m in 25 years my heart and lungs were screaming. Then I got into the open water on a windy day and realised water conditions could be terrible!!
I cried after my first attempt at open water swimming at Taupo on a particularly rough day. I could barely make it 100m before I called it quits. It was awful!
I asked Ironmike if the race would likely include the swim if conditions were that bad with a photo and video and he replied “yes”. My heart sank.
But I got in there the following day after seeking advice from as many wonderful people and places I could think of and made it 500m! That was a start. And although it scared me something shocking I went back several times in similar conditions although none were as bad as that first day thankfully.
With health issues over previous years plus a raft of injuries, going too hard and fast was not an option. So I made my training plan to be for a race that felt as comfortable as possible where I could push myself here and there if I needed to make cutoffs or felt OK.
And as the days went by and I ticked off my long swims, rides and runs I realised I'd actually completed my training plan.
I'd read that completing 80% of your plan was the general way life works with things getting in the way and I managed closer to 90% so I was very happy there.
The nerves and self doubt were the biggest challenge after that. I tried to visualize how I would deal with each phase and all the challenges I might face
Bike and run you can easily hit the wall in that final third of the ride/run. How would I talk myself around that? I'd break everything into blocks. The aid stations are the “reward” zones where I can slow down, relax, refresh.
In the swim I knew I'd find the first quarter the hardest until my breathing and heart rate settled. I was going to give myself all the time I needed and go whatever speed I could that would keep the breathing steady. If it was rough and I had to breaststroke the whole way so be it. Better to be slow than need rescuing!
What was I going to do if I didn't finish? I hoped I'd be proud of the work I'd put in anyway and know I wouldn't have given up easily
I cried when I first got to the event expo and was handed my bag with stickers and bibs.
It was now real.
I was now actually doing it! But what if I failed?!?
But after those few tears I felt ready and excited and the atmosphere just took over.
I decided to take each phase as a separate race.
To reset in the transitions and not worry about time
Race day: The weather was PERFECT!!
The lake was literally a bathtub in comparison to that first swim I'd done in it. Probably mostly due to the time of day but I was so pleased to have trained for the worst and been gifted the best.
My 2 hour goal became 1 hour 43mins.
It was overcast for the bike with a challenging head wind back in to town but not the strong cross wind I'd encountered in training.
Quads suffered the most from the last 30k of that but I still managed to come in under my target of 7 hours.
And the run I knew I had time to take it as it came so I listened to the body, let the legs pick a comfortable speed. And just went aid station to aid station. Lots of walks, especially the final hill of each lap. And the final lap I let myself celebrate and I had a bit of fun with the locals out drinking on their verges, the ladies dancing outside the bars and the volunteers and supporters who had been out all day too and were still offering up so much encouragement. I managed to do the run in a fairly respectable 4hr 30min which I was super happy with given that I'd never marathoned after such a busy day!
I finished feeling great, especially after the massage at recovery.
What have I learned?
You don't always need to be happy and satisfied to be living life to the full. Challenges, setbacks and disappointment actually enhance your quality of life. By finding ways to overcome or work with them the learning and appreciation of the eventual outcomes you achieve become so much more meaningful and satisfying, even if life looks a bit different to how you'd originally imagined it.
It's easy to throw things in the too hard basket, look for alternatives and make excuses.
It's really hard to admit something is really difficult and seems almost impossible yet decide to still want to do it anyway.
It's hard to admit that you're not proud of yourself and you need to change.
And it's really hard to hold yourself accountable for making those changes.
Those things you need to do may be scary and the only way to overcome them is to do them anyway, over and over again, until they don't scare you anymore.
And as I've learned many times already in life so far, the only person who can truly make a difference in your life is you.
Yesterday and today I've found myself feeling a bit down and at a loss with what I should be doing with myself
But I'm now doing this thing called, RECOVERY, and I'm sure my body will thank me for it later.
I'm still keeping up the regular runs at an easy level with 2 down post race already.
I'd like to keep up the cycling and swimming semi regularly too as I've found the cross training really beneficial for fitness as well as variety for the brain.
I don't have any entries in at the moment but plenty of events lined up on the calendar so I'll be looking at those and starting to shift my focus to looking forward to the next start line.
Thats likely to be marathons where the focus is to stay sound and sane and enjoy catching up with the running family I've been lucky enough to grow over the past 16+ years of these events. And to keep working towards that 100 club 🎊🥳
But the difference will be that I'll head out with a body and mind that's kept on that consistent and disciplined training schedule (as much as the body allows whilst remaining relatively injury free 🤞Im not for a moment forgetting all my friends who are battling those!!). I won't necessarily be any quicker. But I'll be a better me for that.
And yes I'm quietly considering being back in Taupo next March for the full distance…. Will just have to see if logistics and the body allow it….
…..I also have other hopes and dreams around a little adventure across the South Island that uses 3 multi sports inc a kayak if I happen to find any gold nuggets in our back paddock 🤪
