I am so proud to write that statement – “Craig Alexander – Ironman World Champion”. Before I tell you about my exciting past few weeks, I just first have to comment on the great victory by Crowie!

Dave and I were in Hawaii and we had front row seats as Craig took the highest prize in our triathlon world. I was doing some work for TSN – our Canadian version of ESPN – and I was able to watch the race unfold. At around 15 or 20 km into the bike ride, Craig yelled out to me on the side of the road, “Hey Lisa”. That is typical Crowie – down to earth and very social – even while racing. A bit further along, we were excited to see him right in the thick of things and we cheered for him and he said, “the race hasn’t started yet”. He said with almost a devilish streak as if to say, “don’t cheer yet – we haven’t rolled up our sleeves yet.” About 40 km from the end of the bike ride, Crowie was working hard – yes the race had begun and he was now ‘at the office and doing his job’. Out onto the run, I was so excited to see him running so light on his feet and with an ease which I had seen when we trained together. By 14 km, it wasn’t a question of “if” but “when” he would take the lead. But the realization that our dear Aussie mate had won triathlon’s prized possession did not come until Dave and I saw him cross the finish line. Dave and I were both teary eyed and overwhelmed with a happiness that you feel when someone dear to you has had a wonderful day. Over the past few years, Craig has become our dear friend, my training partner and Dave’s sport fanatic ESPN watching buddy. I was honored to interview Crowie on behalf of TSN – the caring friend in me wanted to give him space but I knew I had to get a comment. I was a blubbering fool – I don’t remember what I even asked him – I didn’t want to ask him about his day because I never like those ambiguous questions – I think I called him ‘beautiful’ about 100 times before I finally asked anything of note.

Craig Alexander is the Ironman World Champion. He is the most gifted athlete and the most unselfish athlete I have ever met. He usually travels with his wife, Neri and his daughter, Lucy. They are his life and he refuses to prioritize triathlon over his family. He tries to get his training done so that he can spend a large chunk of time with his family in the afternoon. Crowie came to Hawaii with me in 2006, as my Tri Dubai teammate, to help me prepare for the World Championships. Meanwhile, he was preparing for the 70.3 World Championships a month later. Every day, he trained with me and pushed me to get that last 1-2% out of each workout. When we swam, he swam with a band around his ankles so that he could go my speed. When we biked, he would ride with me and then supplement his training with some tough computrainer intervals after the fact. For running speed work, I would get a head start and for long runs, he pushed me to run 4 min/km pace. We would train hard and then by afternoon, he was in the pool with his daughter Lucy and wife Neri. But he gave his time and effort to me for my race even though he had to prepare for his race. That is a special gift that is rare in our sport.

Craig is the most refreshing athlete – he is the honest athlete – he is our best ambassador for Ironman. I am so proud that he has raced in Canada and won both the Subaru Muskoka Chase and the Subaru Ironman Muskoka 70.3. I think that makes him an Aussie Canadian in which case, I think we can say that a little bit of Canada was on the podium in the Hawaii Ironman 2008.

Way to go Crowie – from all of your Canadian fans! And way to go Neri and Lucy. Craig could not have trained and raced and won without you!

Lisa Bentley

www.lisabentley.com

I finished in 15th place yesterday and that was the best that I could do yesterday. No regrets. No excuses. And no feeling sorry for me. I fulfilled my dream and my life’s goal. I made a difference in the life of one person in this world.

Have a great day today!

Lisa

I want to share with you my special motivation for racing Ironman Hawaii this October. For the past few years, I have received emails from Beth, the mother of Carter, a child with Cystic Fibrosis. Carter is now 6 years old and is a very active child who loves swimming, biking, running and skiing. Unfortunately, Carter has had a tough year both in and out of hospitals treating the complications of CF. One day, Beth asked her son what he wished for. Carter said that he wished that he could cross the finish line with me in Hawaii, that he could breathe under water with the fish, that he could go for a ride in a Zodiac and that he could learn a new language. And so, Beth contacted the Make a Wish Foundation and applied for his wish to be granted. The answer was a big YES – Carter will be in Hawaii this October and staying here at the Hilton – an absolute paradise for children. Unless I am in a finishing sprint, he will cross the finish line together with me! I received this news in the middle of August as I was preparing for Subaru Ironman Canada. At that time, I was just hoping to cross the finish line of IMC. But with that email, I knew that I would have to cross the finish line healthy enough to be able to do it all again on October 13th, with Carter, in the Hawaii Ironman. That was huge motivation for me. As Beth’s mom said to me in a note,

“No pressure, Lisa but you MUST make it to the Worlds! I pray this special wish will give him the mindset to focus always on what he can do not what he can’t. Despite what happens in his life he will always be able to say he crossed the finish line of the Ironman!! It would be incredible to see the two of you together and with all the fundraising we do as a family, you will be able to inspire even that many more children with CF through Carter”.

I feel privileged to be involved in Carter’s life and I will honor this privilege for each minute of the Hawaii Ironman. I have always wanted my sporting career to go beyond sport and I am humbled to know that it has. Please cheer for Carter as he crosses the finish line on October 13th.

Lisa

Yesterday was the toughest last 60 minutes of running I have ever had to do – it wasn’t the fastest – but it was the toughest!

I had the swim of my life getting out of the water with Karen Smyers and less than 2 minutes behind Belinda Granger and Jo Lawn. I had the bike ride of my life catching the Jo Lawn, Gina Kehr and Kate Allen pack by about 40 km to go. I let them go in the final 20 km after getting sick of playing the “speed up and slow down” game associated with being swallowed up in a huge pack of age group men – I wasn’t going to risk a drafting call or win this race wondering if I had an unfair advantage. Integrity and fear won out and I got off the bike a bit over a minute behind that pack and a solid 11 minutes down on the leader Michellie Jones. I was ecstatic – that was my smallest bike to run deficit ever!!! I had accomplished my goal of setting myself up to use my run following a solid swim-bike combination. I then had the run of my life – for the first 2 hours, that is – and then, the marathon – true to its history – got very difficult indeed. By about 2 hours into the marathon, I was in third place having just passed 6-time champion, Natasha Badmann. What an absolute thrill it was for me to pass this incredible, gracious woman. And then I entered the Energy Lab still feeling good but hearing the pitter-patter of Gina Kehr’s feet behind me. I picked up the pace to try to break her, but she persisted. Then on the way out of the Energy Lab, on the slight uphill with a tailwind that made it feel like a sauna, Gina passed me and I moved into 4th. I could not respond at all. I felt like I was moving backward.

At this point, we were about 11 km from the finish line. This was the roughest patch of the race for me. It is interesting how you can go from running 3 hour marathon pace to wanting to lay down on the side of the road and go to sleep. I didn’t want to slow down – I just wanted to stop! I stopped for a little porta potty break hoping to relieve my GI issues and then I re-grouped, re-focused and returned to running. With 2 km to go, I re-passed Gina who had put over 1 minute into me out of the Energy Lab. At this point the race has a significant downhill followed by a flat and another slight downhill and then a flat to the finish line. I hammered as hard as I could without looking back – not wanting to relinquish my first ever podium and hoping somewhere along the line, I might even snag 2nd place.

Thankfully, I crossed the line in 3rd place – my best finish ever in the Hawaii Ironman World Championships! The top ten women all finished within 20 minutes of each other for one of the most competitive days in history. My beautiful husband, Dave Cracknell, was there at the finish line with a wonderful hug – my reward for a hard day’s work! It was, after all, our 1st wedding anniversary – my first podium and my first anniversary all on one fantastic day.

Thank you for all of your cheers and support – it means the world to me. More later – there are photos on www.tridubai.com as well as those below. Click an image for full size.

Lisa

Ed. Note – When you’re really fast, you get your own
personalized shoes, or ‘Magic Slippers’ as Lisa calls them.

It was wicked. I was out running on the Queen K in the middle of nowhere – out here in Waikoloa near Mauna Lani and Puako – and this sound came up – like a freight train or when you are driving and only have one window open and you are driving at high speeds – and then the road started to shake and I screamed and couldn’t believe it – I saw rocks falling – of course – I kept on running – then another hit – it was a weird sensation – very weird.

Dave was out on his bike at the time and he thought he was going to crash. He knew it was an earthquake whereas I thought that it was me being a little nutty. He stopped his bike and then saw big rock boulders – as big as a car – falling on the road up ahead. He made his way home very carefully – careful of the aftershock and careful of the rock faces.

When we both returned to the Hilton, it had been evacuated. The power was out – some of the beautiful antique tables and vases at the Hilton are overturned and broken – it is such a shame. In our room, a table was overturned and my lucky new Dell helmets were on the floor (they were on display on my television before!!). Our room usually looks as if an earthquake hit so now I have a good gauge before I use that expression!

It is always an adventure here in Hawaii – but we are both safe and sound and I think that most people are ok – thank goodness!!!

Training has gone very well – life is good and I cannot wait to race!!!

Lisa

So, yes the Hawaii IM is more than 3 weeks away, but I am going to Kona early to train on the roads and get acclimatized. This has worked for me the past 2 years (despite falling ill both years!!). I was thinking on the plane this morning about my trip and about my race and I think that the theme of my race is going to be LOVE – you are probably laughing right now – but the reason is that race day is the same day as my 1st year wedding anniversary with my husband, Dave. Someone asked me what I was going to do for my anniversary this year and I was about to say “I’m going to sweat for 9 hrs and race fast .. blah blah blah” and I thought – “heck, it is my anniversary and all I want to do is surround myself with love” – and so I decided that my theme will be LOVE – love for my wonderful husband – love for my sport – love for my career – love for my competitors – love for the spectators! At the end of the race, all I want is a kiss from my husband. Last year, he did the ultimate in love – he pulled me off of the marathon course because he knew how sick I was (I ended up having a ruptured appendix) – why is that the ultimate in love? Because he loved me, the person, so much, that he risked breaking my heart by pulling me out from a sport and event that I love.

Today isn’t a big training day – it is just travel and waiting and traveling and waiting and renting cars and waiting – but in many ways it is a “growing” day because I am spending a lot of time with myself and learning lots about myself in the process.

Be safe!

Lisa

My training and preparation has been excellent. Over the past 12 weeks of training, I have swam at my best, thanks to Brian Kelly, my swim coach, I have biked at my best and I have executed career best runs. And thanks to my Kona training buddy, Nigel Gray, I have maximized my training sessions and gotten every ounce out of the fantastic coaching which Lance Watson has provided me since 1999.

It is because I have been supported so wonderfully by everyone that I am wanted to share this note. I have been battling abdominal discomfort for the past 10 days. It started last Tuesday. It improved gradually and I felt pretty good by last Sunday. But then on Monday, I became uncomfortable again. All told, I spent two days in bed in quite a bit of pain. But it would always improve enough for me to battle on and rule out anything sinister.

This past Tuesday, the pain got pretty severe and I started to seek out a doctor on Wednesday. The trouble is that with all of my positive thinking, I had convinced myself that I was going to be fine. After all, I was improving and I only felt really uncomfortable at the end of the day particularly after eating.

Thanks to Dr. Hiller, my friend from my Labman sodium studies, I was able to see Dr. Park today, Thursday. I either have chronic appendicitis or sigmoid diverticulitis (inflammation of the colon). Both are treated with antibiotics. I was going to get a CAT scan to confirm the diagnosis, but the end result was going to be the same regardless – antibiotics to treat the infection and lower my fever. Oh yes, I’ve had a fever for a few days but never knew it. Can you say “high pain tolerance” or perhaps “stupidity” or it is a weird form of “positive thinking”? I’d like to think that it is positive thinking.

I decided to delay the CAT scan until Sunday. Dr. Park does not think that I can harm myself in anyway by racing. But that said, I will be respectful of my body and I will listen to it on race day. My health and well being are most important (and marrying David Cracknell next Wednesday). In the meantime, I will take my antibiotics to get rid of the infection. I know that racing on antibiotics is certainly not the way to optimal performance, but I plan to replace whatever the antibiotics take away with a lot of heart and passion.

As always, I will race with heart. Cheer loud. I will do my best. Regardless what happens on race day, there will be no “what ifs” from me. I will be very fortunate to start the race and like everyone else, I will be a champion to finish the race. There is a reason for everything. I accept my path and am grateful for this journey. Thank you for your support.

Lisa