By Vince on 18/01/2008 12:15

New York Marathon. November 4th 2007

‘Another round, dude?’ My good friend Barry asks.

I look at Caroline and she shrugs, ‘We’re on holiday, right?’

‘Yeah, vodka tonic dude.’ I blare at him above the banging hip hop.

We are standing in the crowded trendy bar of the Hudson Hotel in midtown New York. We’ve just flown 9 hours to get here and the beers preceding the vodka tonic have gone down way too nicely.

The floor is lit from below and the coloured glass tiles are already a bit blurred.

‘You’re running the Marathon on Sunday, right?’ Barry’s fiancée, Liz, asks.

‘Yeah.’

She points at my empty glass and shrugs. ‘And your drinking?’

‘It’s only Friday and we’re on holiday.’ I say defensively. 

The truth is, I’m worried about running the marathon. I’m told it’s not the same as shuffling out an Ironman...

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By Stuart Anderson on 09/01/2008 23:05

The Hawaii Ironman started with a journey almost a year a go. I made the decision I was going to step up from 70.3 and try my hand at Ironman. Hawaii would be my goal, and just a 140.6 mile race would stand in my way. I wanted to qualify for my fourth World Championship and I needed to choose a course somewhere in the world which played to my strengths. I knew I would lose time on the swim, but in the past my bike and run strength has been the leveller.

 

I chose Brazil, a little exotic perhaps, but I believed this to be my best opportunity. The rolling bike course meant there would be less chance of me picking up a bunch of drafters, like Vince and I did at the World 70.3 Champs last year. The run had four steep, short sharp 20% hills which I knew would slow down the powerfully built swim/bikers; but would be perfect for a little skinny dude like me! My gamble...

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