So many stories!

There is never a dull moment in the world of triathletes! Inspirational stories, motivational comebacks, devastating injuries and personal achievements. You will never hear about them all. In the last few weeks I have returned to the pool and was excited to not only be back in the water but surrounded but friends who are like family. The majority of them in the best shape of there lives ready for Ironman Western Australia in less than 10 days! One of these was Michelle Downs. After some serious illnesses and injuries earlier in the year she was on the comeback after winning her age group at the Gold Coast Half Ironman. She was on fire and ready for Busso! Except, bang!! Another injury has struck her down and after the initial days of devastation she was back to her bubbly, smiley and happy self, totally motivated to recover and begin the quest for her next Ironman. You can learn alot from someone like her! I definitely have!
Then there is Tara Norton! She was having a blinder in Hawaii, coming in to finish the bike she was sitting comfortably in the top 5 and after finishing 12th last year was in for a fantastic day. Enter, an excited volunteer, not quite sure of a few things and "crash" race over!
Read below for the latest report on her injuries from her website:


"I had a full body bone scan on Monday and got the results today. It showed the following fractures resulting from my crash with the volunteer in Kona: Two in my left foot, two in my right hip, one in my right second rib, one in my arm and one in each of the 5 spinous processes of the thoracic vertebrae (T4-T8) for a total of 11 fractures! The bad news is that I really did break my body in the crash in Kona. The good news is that I feel better knowing these details now, as they explain why I have been in so much agony over the last month! I am now scheduled for a CT Scan of my vertebrae and an MRI of my right hip. These tests will reveal more details of the fractures in my spine and will help determine the extent of the soft tissue damage in my hip.

Regardless, I am continuing to heal each day and I have now started back with some light training. It feels so good to move again (even if very slowly), and my body is happy to sweat and have its muscles working again. Obviously, I can't run at all, but I can spin sitting up on my bike, can do some slow swimming, and I can water run as well. Yippee!

Many people have asked me what happened to the volunteer. I didn't mention this before simply because I have very little information regarding her well being; I don't even know her name. I didn't see her much at the time of the accident, but my friend and fellow athlete, Rebecca Preston, who dropped out of the race at the aid station where my crash occurred, told me that the volunteer had lacerations to her legs. I think I saw her a few days later at my Dad's hotel - she appeared to be walking with crutches and had her legs bandaged up. Many people ask me if I want to throttle her for taking me out of the race, but the answer is no! To be taken out of the race when I was in 4th place and having a great day has certainly been a bitter pill to swallow, but I recognize that she didn't intend to hurt herself or me, and she had no intention of taking me out of the race either. She obviously acted without knowing or understanding what the outcome of running forward rather stepping back to the edge of the road would be. I do think that there needs to be better training for the volunteers because she should have known that under no circumstance is it acceptable to run into the middle of the road during a bike race (unless there are absolutely NO riders around). It can be very hard to judge how fast a cyclist is going, especially if you have not been around triathlons or cycling events before. Had the volunteer known this, she could have taken just one step forward to pick up the water bottle that was near the edge of the road and taken one step back to the roadside instead of darting all the way across the road into the path of an oncoming cyclist. Had she done this, this incident would never have occurred. But it did happen and we can't change that fact, so we have to move on in the best way possible. I hope that she recovers well from her injuries"


This afternoon for me is another trip to the Physio where I am going to have my run style taped and totally scrutinised to ensure everything is working to full capacity and come 6-8 weeks time I will be back on the road to running and eventually running faster than I have ever run before, pain free! Yippee!!