THE RETURN OF IRONMAN

At the end of the third lap of the marathon, I start to crack. I feel my core temperature increasing despite the cold rain and my vision is becoming blurry. My heart rate speeds up, too. A sense of pain permeates my whole body and I start to shake. I’m at kilometre 32 with 10km to go. “Not today,” I tell myself. “Today, you will not fade. You are strong. Keep your focus. Go, go, go!”

I’m not only running a marathon today. I’m in the run leg of Ironman Tallinn, Estonia, my second long-distance triathlon. When I signed up for the event in December 2019, little did I know that I’d have to juggle the training and logistics process with the restrictions of a global pandemic.

Now, I’m running surrounded by volunteers covered with face masks and face shields. Wearing gloves, they place cups, gels, bars and fruit on the designated tables. The aid stations are otherwise ‘self-service’ so athletes grab what they need by