Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 120, July 2019 | Page 58

MULTISPORT
MY
STORY
I Did It!
Entering the Ironman is an entirely different ballgame for me. Not only is it
treacherously taxing, both physically and mentally, for the duration of the race as
well as the months preparing beforehand, but between the entry fee and tri suits,
wetsuits, bikes, watches, energy foods, gadgets, flights and accommodation, it’s
heavy on the pocket too. Most importantly for me, making the cut-off time is no
guarantee. The Ironman is a big commitment.
– BY PHILIPPA DODS
A
few months ago, I set myself two personal goals, to finish the Ironman 70.3
within the cut-off time of 8 hours and 30 minutes, and to raise R50,000
within one month for Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust, which is an NPO very
close to my heart. On Sunday the second of June 2019, I crossed the Ironman
finish line in 6 hours and 41 minutes, and that night, over R56,000 was sent to
Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust. I’d wanted to do both for a long, long time, and
believed both goals were impossible... until I achieved them, and I learnt a few
lessons in the build-up.
The Thing About Ambition...
Entering another road running half marathon is relatively easy for me. I know
that even if I don’t train at all, I will still make the 3 hours 30 minutes cut-off time
comfortably. I enter them regularly, it isn’t that expensive, it takes me roughly two
hours to finish, and when I want to make it more challenging for myself, I just try to
beat my PB.
58
ISSUE 120 JULY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
So I set up my campaign on Backabuddy, who make it a requirement to list the
target you want to reach. My immediate thought was R10,000 – my reasoning
being that at least if no-one in the world donated, I could still manage to reach that
target – but shook that off and settled on R25,000, promising myself I would do
everything I can to get as many people as possible to donate.
However, deep down, I knew how hypocritical this actually was. I had one month to
go... I could make R25,000... so why wasn’t I setting a goal that I didn’t think I could
make, and challenging myself to achieve that, instead? I’m continuously preaching to
“aim higher, get better, do bigger.” I preach how “lack of passion is fatal” and am the
biggest advocate for setting big, hairy, audacious goals. Why, then, when it was my
time to make my goals public, was I settling for something easy?
Because here’s the thing about setting ambitious goals: They’re great, because
if you don’t make them, at least you still did more than you initially wanted to
achieve. You want 70? Then say you’re going for 100, work for 100, and when you
get 80, it’s okay, because that’s still more than 70. So I changed my campaign
target to R50,000, rolled up my sleeves and got to work.
Here’s how I finished Ironman 70.3 and raised over R50,000
for charity, when I thought I never would.
Cut to mid-April, stepping into Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust headquarters in
Observatory. I knew one thing for certain, that if anyone I knew was ever sexually
abused, I’d want them to go straight to Rape Crisis Cape Town Trust. Aside from the
comforting space, I also learnt about the real impact that the NPO is driving in our
community. I heard about how they were raising money to support women in court
to relieve the trauma of telling their stories to juries, to fighting for the conviction and
imprisonment of rapists, to providing survivors with the professional counselling and
care they need, as well as raising awareness about sexual violence. There is no NPO
I’d rather wholeheartedly campaign for, while training to do my impossible.