This last weekend I travelled up to Nottingham to support at the outlaw iron distance tri. Mr H came with me, Henry had to stay at home because he wasn't well (I forgot him).
We got there Saturday and I registered for the 1500m swim just in time. Raced into my wetsuit,(that was the extent of my speedwork that day) then I swam. It was nice, the lake at Holme Pierpoint is lovely to swim in. I posted 40 minutes, no great shakes but then I had no aim or goal but to get a swim in.
Then met Matt & Sarah and had a beer before heading to the campsite to put the tent up.
We will gloss over that.
Passed the evening with a pub tea and a chat to the camping pirates. Then early bed. I was worried about the loos being so far away but I needn't have been. I was so cold my organs stopped working and no urine was actually produced. Bingo!
Up at 5am Sunday to try to persuade Mr H out of bed and get down to the start to see the athletes off at 6. It was a brilliant sight with the sun coming up and made me nostalgic. That was me last year getting in the lake so excited I could pee myself....actually I did, 3 times :D. We then took up position by the bike mount point to cheer and give abuse as necessary. This we did reserving our biggest shouts for pirates, and my friend Jen. Was great to see Matt come out when he did, he looked like he would have a great day. We waited until the last person went through then back to camp for brekkie and a shower before heading off to pirate feed station.
Feed station was great, I loved it when I managed to actually get the bottle to the person and I helped a few fill their aero bottles. Everyone was really cheerful and grateful, and I know how they felt which made doing it feel good.
After a few hours me and mr h went off to a Marshall point and basically just cheered people through for a few more hours. About 4 we could head back to the lake to support the run.
We met Ditchy and Aitch on the far side and spent a while cheering there, saw Matt looking good, and various other pirates. Gave Cake some beer :)
We then went back round to the grandstand to find Sarah and the kids so we could support Matt and Jen finishing.
Anyway long story short we cheered from there til the end. My now working bladder almost caused me to miss Matts finish, but I didn't :-) and we were able to pack the tent up and be back to see Jenny finish.......awesome!!! Felt so pleased to be able to support people having been supported by so many people myself.
The journey home was uneventful but I don't know how Mr H stated awake. I'm quite glad he did though cos I've got things booked that couldn't do dead :D
Next year I intend to compete in the outlaw, and thank every volunteer I see.
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