Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 102, January 2018 | Page 29

through the sand to T1, and having race number four meant my bike was way at the end of the 1km transition area. Lucky me! Voices in my head were telling me just to chill, and who cares if I’m walking. I was planning to ride to my heart rate, but after about an hour my heart rate monitor decided to stop working, so I would have to go on feel… I felt pretty rubbish, to be honest! Anyway, I ploughed on, legs heavy and body lacking energy, not helped by the fact my back brakes were binding. (I did stop and try to sort that out, but couldn’t.) Not long after the turn around my left leg caught my eye. My calf was massive! “Shit! What’s wrong with it? Should I stop? Its not that sore… it just feels tight.” I then caught up to Debbie, and she asked if I was OK as I passed. “No not really, my leg is swollen.” My head was not in the race, and I was still not really sure what to do at this point. Where was the medic tent on the route? I could get to T2 and see someone there, or should I stop now? I decided to continue, and when I got to T2, I found I could run on my leg, and it didn’t feel that sore, just a bit heavy and tight. I changed into my trainers, hesitated as I passed the medical tent, and thought, “Nah, I’ll be fine. I‘ll see how it goes.” Well, that was the slowest 21km I have ever run. My lungs just wouldn’t let me go faster, but I made sure I smiled as much as I could. After all, I wasn’t racing and was doing this for fun. Still smiling during Ironman 70.3 Durban, but Jenny was worried about her swollen calf Increasing Concern I was just happy to reach the finish line in 5:44:18, but I wasn’t feeling great, and when I bumped into Britt after the race, I mentioned my leg to her. She had a blood clot in her leg in 2016, and told me to get it checked out ASAP! Physio Robyn was also concerned, and now I was beginning to really worry. I then bumped into Annchen, and when I burst into tears, she suggested I go to the medical tent for a check-up and reassurance, if nothing else. Heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, everything was normal, but they didn’t have an ultrasound machine there, so they gave me Aspirin to help thin the blood and told me to go for an ultrasound as soon as I got back to Cape Town. “So I’m ok,” I thought, “it can’t be that bad, because they didn’t seem too worried.” However, going to the after-party probably wasn’t one of my best ideas. But I still Branding Combo! TM (PTY) Ltd. All this for only R7999.00 exc VAT Contact: John Mitchell Standard price R9499.00 078 480 9922 E [email protected] FULL COLOUR 3mx3m aluminium gazebo 4 X 3m telescopic flags 29