Plava Laguna, Ironman 5150 Poreč, Croatia.

Plava Laguna, Ironman 5150 Poreč, Croatia.

What would you have been doing today were this just an ordinary in this or any other year before this deadly virus came along killing people all over the world?

For some of us it would have been a special day. I am one of those people trying hard to not even think about how exciting this day was supposed to have been. Tomorrow would have been even more important. 

Today, my husband Stephen and I would have been going to rack our bikes ready for the first important race on our 2020 race planner, Plava Laguna, 5150 Poreč, Croatia. One of the Ironman Family events given a new way of saying Olympic or Standard distance; that is what 5150 means in Ironman talk.

Had the most questionable virus not occurred that is. Whether we think it was just either a new type of fast spreading flu or if we stretch it a lot further and think The Brotherhood of Professor Frankenstein’s, created it for business or warfare purposes; that may never be known.

 The stories roll round and around some more far fetched than others. Yet it started somehow and it looks like we know where it started but of course counter accusations are quickly being thrown. Do you remember the Forest Gump movie and the catch phrase from him Mama? “Stupid it as Stupid does”! The same works for Evil don’t you think? Evil is as Evil does.

Dismiss the above as a sour grapes rant if you prefer, and yes I am pretty hacked off to have had so many of my carefully laid plans wrecked. The final word however is that I’m still standing, (Thank you Elton John). My nose is rubbed in the dirt a little and I am spending this weekend locked down in my home, gazing at my friend Helen’s house across the road, in Littlehampton, instead of staying in a holiday apartment in Poreĉ, on the Istrian Peninsular looking out at a picture postcard view of blue sky and turquoise sea and a quaint old Croatian town, where I should have been racing. I am fit enough to race tomorrow because I did not allow this virus the cloud my focus on my race season. 

So instead of packing a race bag and taking it to T1, and there, checking the best way to find my way back to my bike from the ‘SWIM IN’ finish ramp, after the swim is done. I usually practice that run several times, choosing some markers on the way, mentally noting, ‘turn off at this point, go on past….. so many fence panels’, or something more noticeable if you are lucky enough to have something memorable, big or bright a tent or something, to make your way level with. 

You need the check the route from ‘BIKE IN’ back to where your race number is on the racking. With thousands of bikes in Transition, it is a vital thing to memorize all that, or you will be running around like a headless chicken. 

That much looked forward to race; a new one for me, has been postponed until the same weekend in 2021. Hopefully I will still be as fit next year and enjoy it all the more for the eighteen month wait.

Meanwhile Steve and I had a very nice eight mile run in the woods near our home having started the run at 5.28 am according to Steve’s Garmin Forerunner. Running in those woods on the Angmering Park Estate is such a joy, there are hundreds of different footpaths and we took a different route today. The bluebells have faded away almost completely but there are other pretty flowers to brighten your way. We had a slow start with the deer count this morning but in the end we saw thirteen of the lovely little creatures, the rest was a run of the mill passing of noisy blackbirds, two squirrels, a yellowhammer and some rabbits. Insects are on the increase and I got a bit of extra protein when we came around a corner straight into a big cloud of midges several of which I swallowed. We only met one mountain biker riding in the opposite direction. Delightfully quiet at that hour.

 

Once back indoors it was time for a cup of tea. I had Stephen an cup of Rose petal tea from  the back garden. That bush has full blown roses with soft dusty pink petals and the most blissful perfume; I think it’s called Great Western. Lovely rose. I had a cup of Dilmah Valley of Kings loose leaf tea. 

Then we changed into something soft and comfortable a Qigong session and later we did an hour of ballet from a YouTube class that we enjoy giving our best shot to.

After that is was bath time and most of the morning was gone, but certainly not wasted.