20 May
20May


#ironman4crumlin Ireland's first ever Full Indoor Iron Distance triathlon

Bizarre. It’s the only word that can describe 2020. Brutal weather dominated the first 10 weeks in Ireland and then we got hit with the pandemic. I was very sick from the 17th December  until the 20th February. Whatever it was I couldn’t shake it. It was like the worst most prolonged flu and chest infection I’ve ever had. I got outside on my bike once in 2020. In January. That was it. It was a bad idea. I just got sicker. No amount of anti biotics and concoctions could cure me. I couldn’t face the weather. I had no appetite for any kind of outdoor training. I tried to motivate myself to go to Minella pool with Dermot  for the odd swim but it was aimless. I had lost any semblance of mojo. In terms of any kind of physical activity, three things kept me going. 
  1. Building the endless pool with Kevin (Basically watching Kevin build the pool)  
  2. Coaching my running and triathlon groups  
  3. Using my wattbike for the odd Zwift workout 
(Little did we know that the John Treacy 10 miler would possibly be the last race of 2020) It took us (pretty much Kevin although I got extremely proficient at handing him tools) just under 2 months to build the endless pool in Kev’s garage. We had to clear it out completely, pour concrete, build another lean-to shed, paint and insulate the garage and then finally build the pool with the help of Paul Purcell, Adam and Ciaran. We completed it just as Leo announced the lockdown. Rewinding the clock back to November. A big group of us had a night out in Mulcahys Clonmel to celebrate completing the Dublin City Marathon. I got chatting to 2 of the girls, Grainne and Ailish who’ve also experienced Crumlin Children’s Hospital and Temple Street at first hand and we agreed to do some sort of a fundraiser in 2020. Maybe a 5k fun run or a 1 mile challenge. We had great intentions, but life just got in the way and we put it all on the long finger. I was very busy with a few new running groups and we had started off our Limerick Half Marathon programme by Feb 10th. At this stage, there was a lot of news coverage about Covid 19 in China and Italy but we never thought it would affect us in any way. It seemed to all happen very fast by the the start of March and just spiraled. So many of us now found ourselves back on social welfare and worrying about what the future would bring. Our group running sessions and my own Physical Therapy practice had to shut down with immediate effect. Like everyone else around the country, I was a bit scared.  Fast forward to mid April, with all this new free time on my hands (No Filter got plenty of visits) I got thinking that maybe there’s no better time than now to do something and give something back to Crumlin for the incredible work they do. We got some very good news a few weeks ago and that gave me the stimulus to do something. I got chatting to Barry Meehan of thecyclingblog.com and mentioned that I was thinking of doing a fundraiser for Crumlin. Before I knew it he had dropped over 3 bib shorts from ONDA and a donation. OK, now I’ve no excuse. But what kind of distance will I do? I could wing a half Ironman distance but if I know I could wing something and get through it without much suffering then surely that's not challenging enough?? What could put me so far out of my comfort zone that it could genuinely worry me and make people sit up and donate to Crumlin? On Sunday 19th April I had a video zoom call with Darius, Elle, Michael and Kevin (who left early). Noelie, Richie and BC's internet connection was poor so they missed the call. Towards the end of the call I mentioned that I was half thinking of doing a fundraiser for Crumlin. “An indoor Ironman” I said, hesitatingly, on the spur of the moment. There was a few seconds of a pause and Elle, Michael and Darius said they’d support 100% (which they did) They're the type of friends ya need in life.  I then rang spiritual guru, guitar hero, and local bottomless pete, Mark Hickey and asked his advice. After a lengthy conversation about my idea and the reasons for doing it, I knew it would 100% happen. The next thing I did was ask Kevin if he’d be up for it. I didn't want to do it on my own and who better to ask than a fella who RAN the 180km Ring of Kerry in 2 days for charity and who did the Hardman Full Iron Distance Tri with a broken arm. The following is a transcript of our text conversation. Me: “Could I convince you to do an Indoor IM with me for Crumlin on Sunday 3rd May”?               Kev: “The whole thing? Done” Me: “Is it too mental? We’ve not got even 2 weeks to prepare for this” Kev: “No, I’d love to try it” Me: “It’s a massive undertaking Kev, maybe just pick one out of the swim, bike, and run and do it with me. That’s what I’m hoping many others will do” Kev: “Nope, now that you’ve even mentioned the idea, it’s a Full IM for me too even if it kills me” I had him at ‘Could’. Kev isn’t a glass half full or half empty kind of guy. He’s a glass completely full, in danger of spilling over the brim and soaking everything in sight.So that’s how it started.  Next thing was rounding up and coaxing my running groups to do something on the day too, like a 10km, half marathon or 1/10th the distance of an IM which is 22.63km. They jumped on board IMMEDIATELY. That was easy, I thought. But I should never have doubted their enthusiasm. They are an amazing group of people.Ok, next thing, rounding up support for the 180.25km cycle on Zwift. Done. No problems there either. Barry, John, Davey, Jonathan, Adele, Brian, Jamie, Emerson,Daithi, Gareth Keith, Lee, Martin, Michael, Owe, Peter, Elle etc etc etc all happy to do as much of the bike leg as possible with meClonmel AC then contacted me and offered to get as many of their athletes as possible to do something too on the day in support. Just brilliant. This thing was starting to gather momentum.It was like everyone was just so happy to help out, contribute, share, donate etc. Maybe it gave everyone a focus and a goal.Neither of us had yet given a thought to the event itself which was probably a good thing as we hadn’t as yet worked out the logistics. I contacted CMRF Crumlin about the idea of Ireland’s first ever full Indoor Ironman Triathlon as a fundraiser. Bernice and Tara were an amazing help and helped get me started with the donation page justgiving.ie/fundraising/ironman4crumlin2020 John Laste then contacted me from Clonmel AC and gave me some advice on starting up an event page and promoting it that way. Very quickly, I noticed that there was a lot of support for this. I guess a Crumlin Children’s Hospital fundraiser really struck a chord with everyone. Our next few days were spent doing a few interviews with local and national media about the event and trying to promote it as much as we possibly could, while deliberately thinking as little as possible about what we had to do on the day!We were hoping to get to at least €5000 even though we put down €10000 as the target. We hit €10000 on Friday the 1st May, donations were absolutely flying in and we were absolutely delighted!But we were starting to feel pressure and I was beginning to feel a bit exhausted. I’ve never been on my phone so much and the screen time was really starting to affect me. We were getting donations in every minute as it really started to gain momentum. Myself and Kev were texting each other constantly in disbelief about the whole thing.Elle had started to ‘tweet’ about it and everyone I knew was sharing it and getting their families engaged in it.  The fact that we had zero training done for an Ironman, let alone an indoor Ironman meant that we were cramming some training in while also trying to taper, in this 12 day period! I got in a 3k swim, a 160km and a 120km (with BC and JG) bike ride on Zwift, and a 22.63km run..all on separate days. Kev didn’t have as much time to do that but he still got in a bit over a few days. It was officially the least prepared IM in history (I reckon??! Open to debate tho according to one CTC member!)In the week running up to it I just went on my phone or the computer all day, set up an AMAZING Spotify playlist (although some may argue with my taste in music) and sat on my ass. I was having an amazing taper! Brian (BC Fitness) dropped up his state of the art treadmill to Kev, and John (The Cycologist) gave Kev his Tacx Neo Turbo Trainer. Kev ordered an Apple TV 4K box so I dropped up on the Friday night to give Kev my Stryd powermeter and calibrateZwift for the bike and run leg. On Saturday the 2nd May, I went for a big walk with Heidi, called out to Adam, set up the log cabin and made sure the Wattbike Atom and the Stryd running powermeter (courtesy of Brendan Coffey) had synched perfectly with the Apply TV box that Paul Tobin had given me from Apple in Cork on the LG tv that Dave Power had lent me for the wknd from DID Clonmel.   All good. Everything seemed to be working. Ate as normal on Saturday and went shopping for my parents before bed. Unfortunately didn’t get to bed till late, well after 10 as I was wired. Woke at 1am and lay in bed for the next 3 hours thinking about the day ahead. Very nervous, but settled myself by reminding myself to just go as slow as possible and resign myself to the fact that it was going to be a really long day for both of us. At 4:55am I drove the 1500m to Kevin’s house. He was just standing in the doorway to the pool gazing longingly into the predawn sky. The man looked nervous. He doesn’t usually get nervous. That made me more nervous. We logged onto FB live and Instagram live (a new experience for both of us) at 5:15am and gave Kev the countdown to begin his 3.86k swim at 5:20am. We had the grand total of 2 people watching us at that stage. Everyone else had enough sense! (Although Karen started her 22.63km run @ 5am!)   Kev was very steady and picked a nice relaxing pace of 2:03/100m. He got into a nice rhythm and looked strong throughout. 1 hour and 18 minutes later he was finished and it looked like it didn’t take a thing out of him. There was a 4 minute break then and I took the opportunity to stretch a bit and do a 30 sec warm up. I then took off @ 6:45am as Kev went straight onto the bike in his kitchen. I did the first 1900m @ 1:54/100m and the second 1960m @ 1:52/100m. It felt great throughout. I got a bit of fatigue in my shoulders around the 45minute mark but I was ok. The swim took me 1 hour and 12 mins.     It was now 7:57am so I had 33 minutes to pull the pool cover up, dry myself, change into cycling gear, drive home and set up the Wattbike for the Zwift meetup @ 8:30am.   All good, no issues so far. Managed a hug with Heidi and Áine and away I went. Straight onto FB live and there were a few more people online now watching us. I was in great form at this stage after 1km of the bike. Only 179km to go. I had great support on Zwift. About 20 of the lads joined me and about 8 did the full 180km with me, and one sufferfester, John Griffin, doing 223km!!! (OUCH!)At this stage, Kev had about 40kms done. I was using a S-Works Shiv Disc TT on Zwift which meant that I was deliberately not getting any draft benefit. I had it pre-programmed so I started @ 160 watts and over the course of the 180km it would ramp up slowly and progressively up to 190 watts. This equated to approx 35kmph average speed which is very realistic in comparison to real life flat and fast IM courses like Barca and Florida. My heart rate was higher than normal. I put that down to lack of sleep over the last week, the swim first thing, and the adrenaline and excitement of everything. It was a bit of a worry as I thought it might affect me later on in the marathon but it still felt quite easy for the first 60k. For me, the bike leg flew. 5 hours and 13mins with 2 x 2 min toilet breaks at 60k and 120k. I had one mishap near the start where I nearly fell off the Wattbike as I was texting someone but that was it!During any Ironman, you can experience highs and lows. This was no different. The first 80kms were a high. I couldn’t shut up and I can only presume that I forced anyone who was watching to mute me. Wish I could have muted myself but it kept me going. Actually really loved the engagement with everyone watching! Then quite suddenly I started to feel quite down. It was very strange. All it took then about 30k later was for Adam to contact me with a photo of his 3km around his garden. I was on a high again.  Aerobically I felt fine but the legs were starting to feel a bit heavy and the HR was creeping up past 140BPM. I ran out of water at 140km and had to resort to shouting like a lunatic (like my Dad) at Áine to bring me some from the kitchen. She didn’t hear me as she was feeding Heidi but eventually she got a text from Andrew telling her I was in need of water!! Strangely enough though from 150km to the end, the HR dropped and I started to gain more energy. The mind plays a MASSIVE part in an Ironman and I think I was energised by the fact that I only had to cycle from Mooncoin to Clonmel etc etc…. Overall, the bike was great fun. I never really felt under pressure. It still hadn’t heated up too much in the log cabin and I really enjoyed being able to see texts and FB and Instagram updates and comments. That really kept me going, knowing that so many people around Clonmel were at that time completing their own runs for #ironman4crumlin. Áine and Heidi were in and out too and were keeping me entertained with their dancing.I had lost touch with Kev on the bike and it was only later that I found out how hard the bike leg was for him. No surprise. The poor fella hadn’t cycled a bike properly since December. Tough as nails.   Áine’s sister Laura and her 2 daughters Niamh and Moya called over for a bit of support towards the end of the bike leg. That was brilliant and during a lovely long T2, it was great to chat to them out the back garden while I stretched a bit before the marathon. They were telling me about Barry, Priscilla, Eve and Emmet doing their 10km in the mountains earlier on.  (I think these might be the most relaxed and longest transitions times in history.....trying my best to avoid the inevitable treadmill torture)  So onto the marathon on the treadmill.  My slowest IM marathon has been 3:56 in Lanzarote and that was with 30 weeks of training so I knew this would be well over 4 hours. How much more over 4 hours though? I felt it from the very first step. The HR was low but the body was under pressure. I set the pace at 5:42/km and decided to keep going until the body gave up which I reckoned would be around 25kms. @ 7km I got a wicked cramp in my right little toe which lasted 15kms. It was very painful so I had to change my gait slightly. Luckily the treadmill is very forgiving!! It was my intention to stop a good few times and stretch and go to the toilet, but a little voice told me my body would seize up completely if I stopped. It was very hot now in the logcabin, about 28 degrees, and even though I had downed about 6 or 7 litres of water with gels and electrolytes in the last couple of hours, I didn’t have to pee at all. Everything was coming out in sweat and my body was beginning to get caked in salt. Warning sign again so Áine came in with some salt water which settled me down. At 27kms the body refused to run any more. So I walked. Very happily. And over the next 15 kms, I did a walk/run strategy to get me to the end. Over the course of the last 10kms a few things happened which gave me (us) a massive boost. My parents in law dropped over, then my parents, then Liam, Emily and Florence. But the biggest boost of the day was organised by Sheila, Catherine, Karen, Siobhan and many others within my running group. About 20 to 25 cars packed into our small estate and created a cacophony of sound with their car horns to urge me on. They did the same for Kevin. It was amazing!! I heard every single beep. Brilliant!! I saw the video of it later on. Poor Áine and her mother were in bits. Very emotional. Then about 10mins later, another chorus of beeps, this time from Elle Condon, Davey, Michael and a few more. Incredible.   At this stage coming into the last couple of km I had the phone in front of me and I noticed there were about 190 people watching it. Couldn’t understand why at the time but now I know! I remember being bemused by anyone wanting to watch two fellas cycle and run for hours on end without actually going anywhere. It was great knowing that my own siblings and their families were watching from Kilcock, Woking in Surrey, and Christchurch in New Zealand and it was very satisfying telling everyone watching that my brother was turning 50 the next day.Johnny Carey text me after about 10k of the marathon with a screen shot of me on the treadmill.   “Gratuitous filth….this is for all the women..clickbait…I’ve a spare Team IP top if you need one” Thanks JC…what are friends for??!!    I had good craic chatting and the last few kms just flew by. In a weird way I didn’t want it to end. Body was gone completely, just felt destroyed, but knowing that we had raised nearly €19000 by the end of the day was fantastic.   I rambled a bit about food and drink towards the end. I was very hungry and thirsty. I lost 4kg during the Ironman on Sunday. I was 68.7kg when I finished. The lightest I have been in 20 years.   1 hour 12 minute swim (Average 1:53/100, RPE 4)5 hours 10 minute bike (Average 35.1kmph, 173 watts,135 BPM, RPE 6)4 hours 41 minute run (Average 6:38/km, 135BPM, RPE 9) After a quick chat with Áine, Liam and my parents in the back garden, I got straight into an ice bath, recorded a message of thanks for my groups, took a shower to wipe the salt off and had the best meal of my life (Supermacs taco chips and bacon double cheeseburger courtesy of Mark Hickey) with a lot of ice cold fizzy drinks and chocolate.   I got into my recovery pump compression boots and watched Kev finish off the last few kms of his marathon which was really special. Seemed like to whole town was urging him on, and very well relayed to him from Kaitlin!   The effort made by everyone in Clonmel was overwhelming. Kids running half marathons with their parents. People running 5 or 10kms for the first time ever. Just amazing. My own running and tri groups nailing their target runs and cycles (really miss meeting up with the groups). My dad doing 65laps (10km) of next door little carpark. Mam doing 5km around the house. My mother in law walking a fast 5km. Mick Mackey cycling 100k around a 2k loop. John Laste race walking a marathon outside his house...the list goes on and on    Today is Saturday, 6 days after the IM. It was emotionally and physically draining, but massively rewarding. I was very tired and sore up to yesterday but I feel normal(ish) again. I am back up to a healthy 73kg, so i've put on a very happy 5kg. I've done nothing all week except eat, play with Heidi and drive out to Adam.  In no particular order we’ve a few people to thank, without the following none of this would have been possible:Team IP and all my clientsCMRF Bernice and TaraBarry MeehanEndless PoolsAquasun IrelandHUUBZoggsDIDJohn Bourke CycologistNadura Lee ComptonJohn KellyPaul PurcellBC Fitness Brian CorcoranElle CondonIrish Runner MagazineBeat FMHeraldRTENationalistClonmel AC membersJohn and Susan LasteClonmel Triathlon Club membersClonmel OgClonmel HealthcareKCLRTipp FMTipp mid west radioMark Murray Ultrarunner Co. ClareSeveral Tri clubs around the countryOur extended and immediate familiesRichie Kennedy Fitness FreakPhoenixNo FilterÁine Adam and Heidi for amazing support xxxLiam for the ice cold ginger beers and Mark for the SupermacsThe driveby brigadeEvery single man, woman and child who took part, donated, shared, dropped over food, drink, gear, nutrition without any prompting and engaged with us on Sunday. Thank you! We are now @ €19,651 for Crumlin Children's Hospital and are expecting another big donation from Aquasun Ireland next week. Special mention also to Conor Mahadeviah (9) who cycled 144 laps (29kms) around his estate yesterday in Clonmel because he REALLY wants us to break €20,000!! Little legend....watch this space.    Pros of an indoor triathlon 
  • Less chance of crashing, suffering a puncture or getting your goggles knocked off by an over exuberant age grouper  
  • Much more engagement with family and friends  
  • You can set your pace for the swim, your power on ERG mode on the bike, your treadmill pace and off you go  
  • Less pressure  
  • More forgiving surface on treadmill and Zwift is fantastic for running too if you've a foot pod  
  • Zwift makes it all soooo much better if you have a good smart trainer and treadmill.  
  • Way easier to control HR, pace and power 
Cons of an indoor triathlon 
  • Danger of overheating  
  • No scenery  
  • Repetitive stress injuries  
  • Boredom and mental fatigue  
  • Over reliance on technology and electricity!!  
  • Lacks the real atmosphere of outdoor racing 
Personally, I like indoor training. I like being close to Aine, Adam and Heidi and I like the structure and safety of it. I've had too many close calls with cars over the past 10 years that it makes me a bit nervous to cycle outside on my own. I've nearly got smashed to bits by drivers countless times who are on their phones or updating their social media while driving. Pure madness. I just cannot understand anyone who uses their phone while driving. My rear and front bike camera have recorded some crazy footage and one guy got prosecuted last year for deliberately trying to intimidate myself and Mark in his VW beetle up near Harneys Cross. He hadn't realised he was being recorded! I still will train outdoors but not as much as before.  An Ironman / Iron Distance triathlon is a crazy distance. It's really ridiculous. And can be quite dangerous. 3.86km swim, 180.25km bike, and a 42.2km marathon run. It's one of the ultimate tests of both physical and mental endurance. If you are ever thinking about doing an IM, please give it serious thought. You'll have to sacrifice quite a lot in your life for over half the year if you are to treat it with the respect it deserves. Weigh up the pro's and the con's. It's very easy to get sucked into the IM bubble, spend too much money and forget about what really matters in life. Tread with caution! Would we do it again? Not too sure about that.For now we’re going to look forward to meeting our friends and family again, hopefully in the not too distant future!! I'd like to race an indoor 70.3 (Half Ironman) in August/September. We'll see......I'd be so surprised (pleasantly) if there were any outdoor races in 2020. But worrying about outdoor races is just not anywhere near the radar at the moment. All that matters is keeping the family healthy and safe. The site is live for another few days I think we'll hit the €20,000...i hope!!!  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ironman4crumlin2020  On a separate note, a very popular member of our running group suffered unimaginable sadness this week through the loss of her spouse. Our thoughts are forever with her and her family. Thanks for reading and supporting,Ian  (I asked Kev to write up a report on the whole experience from his persective too...here it is...) Kev's Account:So, rewind to two weeks ago: I am sitting at home minding my own business sending Ian a few WhatsApp messages about day to day things regarding our Endless Pool - reminders to check chlorine levels, water temp,  bla bla bla.....Anyway, Ian had mentioned that he would like to do something in support of Crumlin Childrens hospital as he had a family member there over recent months and saw first-hand the work that the frontline staff do on a daily basis. The texts went something like this....Ian: I'm thinking of doing an Ironman to raise funds for CrumlinMe: Where? Ian: I dunno - at home?Me: cool Ten minutes pass...... Ian: Would you do it with me? On the May bank holiday weekend? In 11 days' time? 30 seconds pass.... Me: Ya go on so!!! And just like that the unstoppable wheels had been set in motion. We had the sum total of 11 days to organise, train for, taper for and logistically pull off a full Ironman, at the same time, inside our houses and all within government guidelines. I feel sick (with excitement)!!Most insane people who train for an Ironman (because sane people don't swim 3.8k, cycle 180k & run 42.2k all in one sitting) would normally train for at least 6 months, get their bodies into peak physical shape and have their mindset focused & ready for the task ahead....... yeah, we had 11 days to basically panic our bodies & minds into this monumental challenge!! Ian quickly put together a JustGiving page - I gave it the thumbs up and away we go.. So, Ian had set out a target for fundraising €10,000 and when he said it to me, I thought that is a huge amount of money to expect to raise in such a short space of time - how wrong I would turn out to be!!!Before I knew it, John Kelly was out taking photos of us in our tri suits and interviewing us about what way we were going to play the day out. What was going on !!!!!!The week before Ian had given me a training plan for the bike - 'do a nice easy 120km on the turbo trainer, keep the heartrate low, just enjoy it'...... I did not enjoy it. I quickly realised that the lack of bike training I had would make May 3rd a very sore experience indeed. I had been training for the Dusseldorf marathon which was due to take place on 26th April so at least I knew I had some running fitness in me.... and shor there's no hills in the swim - I'll be grand!! (was I convincing myself-pfft - no!!!) The week of the event was here and we actually managed to reach the target amount of €10,000 on the Friday before the ironman was due to take place!!!! I was blown away by the generosity of everyone in the town of Clonmel, county Tipperary, Munster, the whole country. There were even relations of mine sending us money from Canada - unbelievable stuff from everyone! So, I needed to get my hands on a quality direct drive turbo for the 180km bike leg and I cannot give enough thanks to John Bourke - Cyclogist Clonmel who kindly offered me the use of his top of the range Tacx Neo - what a piece of kit. John also kindly raffled off a bike from his shop worth €500 and donated every penny to our cause, John is a hero in my eyes forever more!!Next up in the friendly world of hugely kind donations is Brian Corcoran of BCfitnessIreland who at the drop of a hat loaned me his top-class treadmill for the little jog I had to do at the end of my day! Right so the day had come - an Iron distance triathlon all done inside my house.My swim was set to start at 5:15am which was grand because I was awake at 3 panicking!Ian arrived on at 5 on the button and we did a quick hello to the world of Facebook live and it was time to get going.I actually felt comfortable on the swim and quickly relaxed into the long day ahead. Out of the water in 1:18 and a quick dry off, gave Ian some magical words of inspiration!! and walked the 30 feet to my living room to start the 180km static bike ride. I was about 40km into the bike and I know it was going to be a painful experience!! When you cycle outdoors the road gives you a lot back - you can rest on the downhills, draft behind your friends, coast along the flats..... that is not the case on a static turbo.. I felt every pedal stroke of that 180km. With the fantastic words of encouragement from everyone watching on Facebook & Instagram live I finally got to the end of the 180km bike section of the day.A special mention needs to go out to the other lunatics who decided to cycle the distance in their own homes with us - Brian Corcoran, Ellie Condon, David Hogan, Michael O Rourke, Lee Compton, John Griffin, John Hall, Adele Hall, Dave Thompson, Barry Meehan - I know I'm forgetting loads of ye but I knew ye were all there on the day with me and Ian and that got me through the cycleRight so the cycle was done and I couldn't wait to get running (sort of)!!A quick change of gear in my bedroom and back to the living room for the marathon, the messages of support were flying in at this stage. Also, by this stage my 10-year-old daughter Kaitlin had taken the world of Facebook & Instagram live by storm with her hilarious commentary on my faultering ability to stay upright and brilliant pronunciations of some of the names of people willing us on. She has a career in commentary yet!!!I was feeling physically ok with about half the marathon done but the mind was starting to delve into the dark places and I was thinking I was going to crack - just then my wife Christina says to look out the window onto the road. A drive by had been organised by the good people of Team IP running group and there must have been 20 cars passed by all beeping and hanging out the car windows screaming in at me to keep going, well by God I wasn't going to let anyone down so I put the blinkers on and got mentally stuck back into finishing this marathon. 40km done and I was a broken man - the body had just shut down.. 2.2km left and I could nearly hear the whole community of Clonmel willing me across the virtual finish line. It was with the 2.2km left to go that Christina said to me we had just hit the €18,000 mark and that was all I needed to get me done. At this stage I had Ian on video call there with me (because he was finished and showered by now) and home I hobbled across the finish line on Zwift!!! Boom - a full distance, non-drafted Ironman done all inside my house. By far the hardest endurance event I have ever completed - probably because I didn't train for it!! but there was never a moment where this wasn't going to get done - by either me or Ian, if we had to crawl the whole event we would have,  If one day of suffering in our lives can alleviate even a moment of suffering for the kids of Crumlin's Children's Hospital then it was worth every single agonising pedal stroke and step!!!A special mention needs to go to my lovely wife Christina who when I pitch these mental ideas to her, just throws her eyes to heaven and is automatically on board and behind me pushing me forward all the time XXX.  Thanks for taking the time to read this,  Anyone fancy a jog?? Nah, me neither!!!!! Kevin Ryan  
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