We're In!!!!

Well, it has been a very long two weeks since the first post. IronMan New Zealand had sold out and so we had to go through a process of trying to get an entry approved.
Ian Hepenstall, the media manager for IMNZ said if I could come up with a media plan on how we could promote this adventure and thus, try and get the story of Autism out there, then IMNZ may consider giving an opportunity to enter. And therein started the task of door knocking, phone calling and favour collecting and then within the first week, we had ourselves a media plan.

Radiosport were the first port of call and came to the party in a big way. Once a month I will be spoken to by Darcy and Mark on the morning breakfast slot reviewing my training progress. They also will be talking to people I train with and they will give Autism NZ a couple of cracks in the next few months to just chat about life with Autism. In the month leading up to the event they will have me on weekly.

Mark Watson who is the nightsport host has also said he will cover my progress frequently. Then we have Jamie McKay from the Farming Show. Jamie was outstanding and suggested we start straight away and get me on air before I run the Huntly Half. So just like that, he interviewed me on the farming show and we were on our way. Of course, I had to call on All Black, Olympic and Commonwealth Games commentator and all round good guy, Nigel Yalden. Nigel has a weekly show on NewstalkZB from 8-9am on a saturday morning where he covers all things locally on the sporting scene. Nigel was eager to help and a regular slot on his show ment we pretty much had radio media on board and no one said no which was very pleasing.

Margot Butcher provided me with some contacts within print media. Thankfully, David Leggat from the NZ Herald is going to help out which gives us exposure in our most widely read newspaper. Graeme Blake from PanMedia said he would help us with some contacts for advertising/exposure and this was all rounded off by recieving support and enthusiasm from Allison and Jon from Autism NZ. All we could do now was wait to hear from IMNZ. Oh, and of course run. And run some more. Then when that was done we had time to run a bit more again before doing the Huntly Half. And then when that was done we could get back to more running. Theres a trend developing here, can anyone pick it?

The Huntly Half was both good and bad. On little more than 2 1/2 weeks training, I had set myself the target of going under two hours. With Bradley Scotts constant encouragement, I finished but fell short of my target by ten minutes. My Physio, Shane has tried to correct my running technique so that I wont have constant battles with pain in my shins. It works but it still doesnt come naturally to me so I am constantly having to tell myself to lean forward otherwise old habits creep in.

The start was awful, the top runners who were there for the NZ half marathon champs, you could clearly tell from everyone else. The giveaway was that these people didnt look like they had trained at McDonalds. These athletes went right to the front of the startline. Everyone else more or less morphed into a crowd of far to tight lycra and skins clothing and Ipods. So Bradley and I were left trying to figure out where the runners finished and the walkers started. And we got it wrong which ment when the start gun went off, we were surrounded by hundreds of walkers and slow joggers. Our first km was spent trying to navigate our way to some clear running space and so took forever. In spite of that we made good time to run 10 kms in something like 54-55 minutes. But then my running style went to custard and the old shins problem kicked in. Bradley was great and I have no doubt it was his presence that got me to the end, all be it ten minutes slower then I had planned.

Crossing the finish line was odd. I had neither a sence of relief nor dissapointment. All I could think was that I had just finished the first step on my way to doing the IronMan. Yet I didnt know if I would be in the IronMan. I did know I was hungary and I really didnt think I was that sore although getting out of bed the next morning changed that idea.

I learnt alot. I learnt that drinking enough water till you need to pee is one thing, drinking enough water to make you need to go every 8 seconds is another. I learnt that I would get hungary about 12-13kms and absolutely starving by 17kms. I learnt that 21kms is a looooooong way and thats only half of what I'll have to run in the ironman.

However, easily the most important thing I learnt was how long this year will be for Wendy. Her day was twice as long as mine. Cam wasnt having a good day waiting for Dad to do this run and he got frustrated for whatever reason while Wendy grew tired and equally frustrated by Cams inability to communicate what he was wanting. A 4 1/2 year old boy is to big and heavy to just be able to sit on your lap and so Wendz had 2 hours of trying to calm Cam and get him to accept the situation they were in. Meanwhile people are looking on and no doubt thinking what a naughty little boy he was when in actual fact he wasnt being naughty at all.

The result of this is that I will try and do as much of my running at night as possible and to try and get more people involved in this epic adventure, we have heeded a friends advice and started leaving small video clips on youtube. The first of this was done this week just gone so if you go to youtube.com and type in ironmanforcam, you can get a weekly update there as well.

The next three weeks will consist of me working towards the Te Awamutu Half Marathon on June 20. Bradley and I feel there is unfinished business regarding the time we ran so want to jump back onto the horse. A horse that is now as of yesterday afternoon, running all the way to Ironman New Zealand next March. Ian Hepenstall rang yesterday to say that while Cystic Fibrosis is IMNZ's official charity, they have great empathy with what is trying to be achieved here and so would like to support an entry into their great event. So now the focus switches to trying to sniff out a bike to use and sourcing some accomodation for a week in Taupo. Oh, and of course running plenty of miles.

If anyone here has any ideas for music to run to, I'm all ears. I have a wide and varied collection but would welcome any suggestions.

Cheers for tuning in.