Even though it has taken me a while to find the time to actually sit down and share my thoughts on Cozumel, I already know where to start.
First and foremost (... this sounds like I'm about to break into speech ... I kinda am) I want to dedicate this blog entry to a woman by the name of Lynda Watson Plummer (Competitor #103), a woman I've never met before, but who, single-handedly aided and inspired Steve to complete his second Ironman race (well, her and the three dreaded letters D-N-F). Through her actions, Lynda sacrificed her own Ironman journey to enable Steven to complete his and in doing so displayed sportsmanship and unparalleled selflessness in the true sense of the words, ever so slightly restoring my faith in humanity. If you're interested in learning more about this enlightening afternoon, you'll just have to read on ...
Our trip was fairly smooth. As Cozumel is an island off the coast of mainland Mexico, our first flight was from Vancouver to Cancun. Boy was I sitting next to a cracker. By the end of the five hours I was convinced this man had absolutely no concept of spatial boundaries. For five hours he sprawled himself all over my area (including stretching his legs out in my leg space), hogged the common elbow rest (so badly that I couldn't even get to my tv remote controls) and he even tried to pull at my seat belt several times because he kept thinking it was his. No amount of dirty looks and loud, exaggerated sighs seemed to register with this man. He did however, redeem himself slightly when he helped us get our bag down from the overhead locker.
Unfortunately once we'd arrived in Cancun, so had another four flights, thus ensuring a long and painful wait for baggage, which included Steven off searching for his bike and me standing with our carry on baggage waiting for him, next to a snotty little three year old who knew only two letters of the alphabet (B & C incidentally) and proceeded to recite them over and over again in some kind of sick, messed up alphabet tune. I like to think of myself as a patient person (when I'm asleep) but after five hours next to space-hog man, my tolerance levels had dwindled significantly. My little friend then progressed to licking the retractable straps of the line up poles - a special child that one!
As I mentioned, Cozumel is an island off Mexico (Fun Fact: Mexico's largest Caribbean Island), so our second (and final) flight was via MayAir. Walking in to the small, almost makeshift MayAir terminal, a federal police officer with a massive machine gun pops up out of the darkness and says "Good Evening Miss". I nearly had a coronary. Three things I knew in that moment for certain:
1. The only things I could clearly see were his pearly whites and glistening combat boots/machine gun combo;
2. He could shoot me dead in one swift action; and
3. If I didn't say "Hello" I was probably going to die.
Melodramatic? Maybe slightly....
So as my brain went in to overdrive siphoning through French, Italian, Japanese and maybe a little Russian (if you've read the Cancun entry, this will make sense!), I managed to crack back into Spanish just in time to whimper a little "Hola" and swiftly make my way into the terminal.
Our MayAir flight took approximately 15 minutes. It basically involved 15 minutes of praying for my life (and imagining a host of plane crash scenarios in which I'd miraculously survive and end up in the ocean and be able to safely swim to shore). The MayAir plane sat no more than 20 passengers and was one of those 'so small and fragile looking you don't tell your mum you ever stepped foot on or she'd have a heart attack' type scenarios (Hi Mum, Love you!). Thankfully we survived and all agreed on the entertaining aspects of the plane trip - a) the 70's style carpeted roof of the plane b) the fact that the pilot and co-pilot used the intercom system to announce departure and arrival, even though they could easily just turn around and tell us (we could see all the controls and them, quite clearly) c) the mysterious white smoke that began billowing through the cabin shortly after take-off (I swear the people behind us fell silent once this started and I thought they'd been gassed and we were next).
Thanks to the super organised, researching extraordinaire Lisa, the four of us (Steven, Richard, Lisa and myself) stayed in this amazing three bedroom condo which boasted awesome amenities (I was thrilled with the fact there was a hairdryer) and even better views. We even had a personal cleaning lady who came in every day to tidy and clean the apartment (I think we need to employ her here).
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| Gorgeous views! |
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| Gorgeous views #2 |
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| Our condos - from the front |
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| Our home phone - yes, it's a real, big-person's phone!! |
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| Chilling in the pool |
The first two days I am sorry to say I spent mostly sleeping. Cozumel reminded me a lot of the Sunshine Coast - a lot more laid back and less party central (whereas Cancun would be more like the Gold Coast). The gorgeous ocean breezes didn't help with my sudden onset of chronic fatigue either. Thankfully after a few good rests, I was able to enjoy swimming in the pool and the ocean (yep, we could dive right in!) and sun-baking with Lisa, while the boys did their race prep. The ocean was magnificent and the water was so clear, dissimilar to Hawaii in that there were no colourful fish, turtles or coral etc, but clear and gorgeous nonetheless.
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| Nap time = all the time! |
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| Sun baking and general relaxing-ness! |
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| Our ocean playground! |
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| A gorgeous Mexican sunset |
Pre-race, our days consisted mostly of swimming, sun-baking and grocery shopping at our favourite supermarket - Mega. True to its name, Mega was, well, mega. It was pretty much a combination of Woolworths and Big W and every visit was an experience - you try grocery shopping in Mexico! Even though we were restricted in what we could buy prior to race day (i.e. no chicken, limited vegies and fruits, generally stayed away from dodgy looking things - we've all heard the stories about Mexico) Lisa excelled as head chef and cooked up a storm. Groceries in Mexico are crazy cheap too, so we ended up eating really well for very little. For example, when Steve and I braved Mega for lunch supplies on the Friday, we bought 6 large, fresh bread rolls and a packet of peanut M&M's for US $1.30.
Our Cozumel transportation was a story in itself! We ended up renting a beat up, stripped down, bright yellow VW punch buggy. Another one of those 'don't tell your mum you actually drove around an island in this car'. With no seat belts, every trip was a life threatening experience and for some inexplicable reason, even though the entire roof was off most of the time, I always felt compelled to lock the door.
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| Our little buggy |
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| Don't look Mum, I'm not wearing a seat belt!! |
If life was always easy, it'd never be any fun ... that's what I was telling myself (and trying hard to believe) most of Saturday afternoon. Steve's group was due to rack their bikes for Sunday's race at 3.30pm but fortunately we decided we'd head off a little early just so we had plenty of time. We needed every second. This is the point where the wheels started falling off (can't think of a more fitting pun!) ...
Preparing to drive to Transition, Steve dismantled his bike (by taking off the front wheel and placing it against the car) and I was stuck in the back of our beloved little buggy holding the rest of the bike. As Steve went to reverse we heard a heartbreaking crunch. At that moment my heart stopped beating and I was pretty sure I was about to vomit. I knew straight away – the front wheel! The result was four broken spokes and a whole lot of emptiness.
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| The beloved bike - prior to wheel incident (cringe!) |
The car trip to Transition was very quiet. I opted for the "stay out of the way yet be as helpful as possible" strategy. After spending a good couple of hours or so trying to work out what to do (try to get it fixed, look at renting a front wheel, look at buying a front wheel, figuring out how we were going to get the money to buy a new wheel because our stupid bank had a daily cap), in the end, we decided we'd have to buy a new front wheel - a lot of money but what else do you do? The alternative is for Steve to pull out of a race he'd been training for for pretty much the entire year. It’s hard to convey in words how distraught we were both feeling. So, once the money issued had been sorted, we bought the wheel. It was in this moment I almost burst into tears – the feeling of relief – I can’t even imagine how Steve was feeling but for a while there I think we’d both slipped into thinking of the worst possible outcome. God works in mysterious ways and after Steve himself acknowledging he didn’t feel as focused for this race, I think Saturday's events really sparked the anger and motivation he needed.
But, just when we thought the Universe had already dealt us its most unfavorable hand, along came race day.
Ironman Cozumel started off in what some would term "spectacular" fashion, with a dolphin show following the starting gun. Lisa and I opted not to stay and watch though as we were both feeling afflicted, given that these dolphins have to be injected daily with antibiotics so they don't get sick from all the germs humans pass on to them when they touch them. I firmly believe if more people were aware of this, swimming with dolphins (in captivity) would not be anywhere near as popular as it seems to be.
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| The boys pre-race |
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| Just about to head off to the start |
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| Out of the swim and on to the bike leg |
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| Rich on the bike |
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| Lap 1 on the bike - going well!! |
From the Support Crew perspective, Ironman Cozumel was pretty entertaining. Combine cute little Mexican children handing out Gatorade on the run course ("Gay pour aide!"), Brazillian and Mexican drumming and dancing, having local Mexican kids asking for photos (I don't think they'd ever seen anyone so white!) and almost getting "arrested" by police for attempting to cross through the course (we joked, but were half serious - we didn't want to be thrown in Mexican jail!). As for the competitors - the day was hot and windy (at times), it even included a torrential downpour which resulted in flooding through much of the run course (and associated putrid wafting smells - I don't want to know what was coming up out of the flooded drains!!) and athletes having to run, at times, through shin deep stink-water. A very tough day indeed, but my proudest as a supporter yet. As Lisa and I waited for Steve on the run course, we talked about how you liken your expectations and hopes as a supporter on race day to your expectations as a bride on her wedding day, based on how the day begins to unfold - i.e.
Race Supporter: "I hope he's in a good position in his category"; "I hope he's not too far behind now"; "I hope he hasn't pulled out"; "I hope he's not in that ambulance I just saw go past" ...
Bride: "I hope the weather is gorgeous and sunny the whole day"; "I hope it's sunny for the ceremony"; "Even if it does rain during the ceremony, I hope it will just hold off for the photos" ...
As my watch hands moved further and further away from his expected arrival on the run course, I knew something was up. I started walking back to the T2 tent and felt a wave of relief when I saw him. He then proceeded to stop and walk next to me, giving me the low down on the events that had unfolded on the bike course ...
After all our messing around on Saturday to find a new front wheel, it was the back wheel that was the devil on race day. After three flat tyres and nothing left to try, Steve had resigned himself to the fact his day was done. This was when Lynda Watson Plummer (Competitor #103) stopped to offer him her Co2 canister to inflate his tyre. When that didn't work, she proceeded to offer her bike to Steve, telling him she was only on her first lap of the three lap course and would not make the bike course cut-off time. Despite repeatedly refusing to accept her bike and telling her to keep going, she wouldn't take no for an answer and made Steve take her bike, enabling him to finish the bike course. In an event the scale of an Ironman - something that most people will never even attempt in their entire lives, something you don't dare take lightly and something you would have trained for and dreamt about for months - to have the ability to undertake such a selfless act is completely awe-inspiring to me. In all honesty, I don't think too many people could do it, but, even as a mere supporter, I am so grateful she did.
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| Lise - my fellow support crew! |
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| Rich on the run |
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| Steve - finally on the run! |
So the events of the bike course, combined with the torrential downpour stink-water run and dizziness on the run leg resulted in not the greatest race time-wise for Steve, but I was truly humbled by his ability to overcome these obstacles and complete his second Ironman race. The test of a true champion is to see how they can overcome the greatest and most difficult of challenges. Steve is no double amputee but in the context of his race day, in my opinion, this was the most rewarding crossing of the finish line I have witnessed to date. Cozumel didn’t love us like Busso did, but it made me feel so lucky that Steve had the dream race at Busso when he did – we were really spoiled by that and it took the events of Cozumel to remind me that a dream race is very rare.
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| In Ironman, survivors are grinners!! |
Once we'd made our way home to our cozy condo, we capped off the night with some well-earned pepperoni pizza, garlic bread and coke (the dinner of champions!) and a Friends marathon. We then fell asleep listening to the sounds of what I swore was Hurricane Katrina #2 and I began dreading the MayAir flight back to Cancun on Tuesday if these cyclonic conditions kept up. Honestly, the wind was so strong and was howling so violently I thought for anyone still competing, the winds could have blown them straight across the finish line (or into the ocean, depending on their direction).
Although we'd initially planned to do some snorkeling on Monday, the bad weather wasn't particularly conducive to ocean related activities. In the end we decided on a sleep in and lunch at a local Cozumel home (I think these people had half converted their living space into a dining area/restaurant) - it was delicious! This was where I swiftly developed my guacamole and handmade corn chip obsession which continued through to dinner at El Focos restaurant. The afternoon was made complete with a Corona toast - it was my Mexican dream to finally drink a Corona overlooking the beautiful ocean!
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| Coronas on the balcony! |
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| The house |
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| Lunch at someone's house - in Cozumel! |
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| The lounge room from the lunch house! |
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| I don't know what it was, but it was tasty! |
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| Delicious taco! |
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| Dinner at El Focos with Rich & Lise |
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| Taco selection at El Focos |
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Cozumel. It was a lot more relaxed and laid back than Cancun (not that I didn't like Cancun - just a completely different experience) and I felt as though I had the opportunity to embrace Mexican culture a little more in Cozumel. The Mexican people are lovely - so friendly and have given up on the fact that stupid foreigner tourists like us only know how to say four words to them so they've (thankfully) embraced that and learnt English instead!
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| Didn't take him long ... post-race Fruitloops breakfast!! |
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| A light pre-flight meal on our way home |
In this moment we have been home for just over two weeks. Christmas is fast approaching and we're definitely looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, but at the same time I know it will be hard being away from our families too. We're trying hard to drown these feelings out by booking Zip Trek in Whistler for Christmas morning and skiing for four days. Also, much to the delight of Steve's "inner fatty" and the dismay of my hips, bum and thighs, I have recently embraced baking (I think it was mostly due to procrastination) - brownies, cupcakes and date loaf - and I am now a gas oven snob. We've just come off two weeks of wings, pizza, ice cream, creamy pasta, quiche and burgers (Fat Steve's rewards for Ironman #2) so it's almost time to face the reality of training and healthy eating again (I must say I think my body is looking forward to it!) - but let's face it, probably not before Christmas.
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| Our baby Christmas tree! |
Happy Holidays xx
