If you’d told us two years ago that we would be taking part in a 70.3 event we wouldn’t have believed it. Yet that was where we’d found ourselves on Sunday morning at Outlaw X.
The kids, Jacob and Isla, had been up first on the Saturday, with the Future Outlaws race. Watching them give it their all and come down the finishing chute made us so proud! They were absolutely buzzing as well with their shiny medals around their necks.
Sunday came around quick. Final setup in the transition area, say hello to the other OTCF athletes, find each other before the start to wish each other good luck and then Claire was off to her starting wave, with me another 15 minutes behind.
Jacob had asked the day before why we weren’t starting the race together. Because Mum is a faster swimmer was my reply. Jacob: so the loser swimmers go later? Kids, brutal as always haha.
Queuing up to go into the lake I could see my heartrate climbing on my watch as I got closer to the pontoon. Keep calm, you can do this I kept telling myself. Time to go, jump in, googles still on - phew, right lets go. A few hundred meters in we hit the first patch of “underwater forest” going through weeds and scraping hands along the mud at the bottom. There were another 2-3 patches like that on the way round. I settled into the swim and found a good rhythm. I also started to catch some different coloured swim hats from the wave in front which gave me such a boost. The exit ramp came into view and then I was out of the water. 1900m race swim done, dry land again!
The bike was undulating which kept it interesting. We both concentrated on getting to Gringley, about half way, where we knew family would be waiting to cheers us on. With 12 miles to go we both had similar thoughts of a sprint distance remaining, that gave us a second wind. Both chuffed with our bike legs. On Claire’s return to transition marshalling friend Stuart shouted out “he’s still 5 miles away. Run!”
As I arrived in transition I heard the PA system say “this is who we’ve been waiting for, the guy trying to catch his wife!”
The run was also hilly and full of trails. Claire tells me she was a bit gutted I caught her early into the run but also happy that it meant I was having a good race too. A quick chat and then focus on my best discipline (and Claire’s least favourite). Seeing the OTCF crew on every lap was a real lift and kept us going – huge thanks to you all. The last 3 miles were really tough with us having to dig deep.
The finishing chute was amazing for both of us, being cheered across the line and hearing our names announced. Both of us well and truly knackered but our first 70.3 done. Outlaw put on such a great event. An ace weekend of racing for all four of us.
