It’s a fairly pleasant morning. 10am and I’m already feeling a tingle of excitement as to the up-coming day.

I check out my surroundings and before trying to get some much needed nutrition into my body I take a slurp of the noxious liquid that is in my hand. This is going to be a long day and I wonder whether I’m really prepared for all that lies ahead of me.

I check out the others around me and see that they are, to a man, in a similar state.

Nevertheless – the strong pear cider – the first of many this weekend at Glastonbury – should see me through!!!!

Fast forward 4 weeks and I’m lining up with 1200 fellow competitors for the start of Antwerp’s 70.3 Ironman event.

Never have I been so under prepared.

For an Ironman or 70.3 event I regularly put in at least five 20 mile runs at an average of 6.30 pace or under. This is amongst 60 – 70 mile weeks, plus the occasional long bike!!!!

This summer however I’ve had 2 weeks off following an operation, followed by a week on conference in Alicante (no training – plenty of boozing!) and a hardcore week in Glasto by which time I found I was unfit, a stone over racing weight and in need of rehab!!!!!

Being someone who usually prepares meticulously for such an event I knew that this one was going to require a month of serious focus, planning and a whole lot of luck!

So, on the Thursday before the event, my wife and I loaded up the car with our baby daughter Cerys and her (so it appeared) complete collection of toys plus my tri gear and strapped my bike to the roof mounted cycle carrier. We set off gingerly for the Euro tunnel as the bike has a rear disc and this being the first time I’d used the mount I was more than anxious that I would lose the bike in the cross winds!!!

Luckily, it held firm and we arrived in Antwerp 6 hours after setting off.

On arrival the weather was incredibly hot; 35c at 6pm. I knew this would suit me more than most if it were to last till race day but a severe electrical storm and crashing thunder the same evening brought temperatures back down to a more civil and competitive 22c.

I went out for a leg stretch – 3 miles at race pace – and found a local park. I was reminded of my time in Glasto four weeks before as every other person I passed appeared to be drinking super strength lager!!!

The following day the family visited Antwerp zoo and I was again reminded of Glasto!!!!!!!!!!!! That evening Mark Taylor and Tim Clover arrived and met up for dinner at a local Egyptian eatery. With the menu being in Flemish the only meal that appeared recognisable was Sphinx mixed grill, so ignoring the need to carb up we indulged in a protein loading regime!

The following day was registration. Now this was unlike any registration I’d previously been involved in. The race office was miles away from the race start and the ‘expo’ consisted of one clothing stall that had run out of any gels/small sized clothing just one hour after opening! At registration we received a reasonable kit bag filled with sports drinks, a DVD featuring a local athlete and ….. a bottle of white wine!!

Strangely, however they were handing out the Antwerp 70.3 ‘FINISHERS’ T-shirts at the same time. We did discuss whether we should therefore put on the t-shirts, crack open the wine and sod the race.

The consensus was that we should carry on and following registration we handed in our RUN bags which would be placed at transition 2 (bike to run). It didn’t fill us with much confidence that we had to write our phone numbers and other contact details in the event of them losing the bags!!!

We left the registration area and walked (in flip flops) 3 miles back to the car. To get under the Schelde we had to take 2 wooden escalators and walk a 1k tunnel that was spotlessly clean but in Britain would most probably resemble a tramps bathroom.

We got back to our lovely, comfortable and peaceful B and B (Mabuhay lodgings if anyone is thinking of venturing out there) and I proceeded to have the best night’s sleep of my life! Seriously, I slept like a log with no stressy dreams of forgetting my kit or running in the nude through treacle.

A civilised start time of 11 am meant that a lovely breakfast of freshly baked bread and peanut butter and jam was taken and we drove to the competitor’s car park 3 miles away. This time we took the lift down to the tunnel and rode our bikes aerostylie to the other end!

We found the Galgenweel where transition one was situated and were marked up and given a blue basket to deposit our casual wear into. Following the swim we were to, drop our wetsuit/goggles into the basket and then rely on the organisers to transport our gear. I foresee chaos!

1200 of us enter the water which is already cramped when they usher the front line back 5 meters and sound the starting horn! It was sheer chaos. You literally didn’t have room to doggy paddle (or swim as I call it!!). The marker buoys drifted across the start and we had to swim under them to get to clear water. Crazy.

37 minutes later I’m exiting the water two thirds down the pack and having probably swum an additional 400 metres. I run the 500 metres to my bike to find 390 quid’s worth of helmet and glasses on the floor where some $£%%^^% has knocked them off my bike.

I jump on my bike and knock my drinks bottles out of their cages and swiftly lose the gel strapped to my cross tube! Typical of me really.

The bike though was great. A mile after leaving transition we entered a tunnel that was smooth as silk and fast as..hell! Exiting the tunnel I came across the first of Antwerp’s numerous tram lines. The organisers had kindly laid carpet across them which did little to make the process of crossing them any more pleasant.

In fact – 26 miles in – and having endured an horrific downpour – I saw 2 guys crash their bikes spectacularly whilst trying to cross a set of lines. I quickly made the assumption that they were numpties and accelerated towards the crossing where I spectacularly crashed myself!! It seems one of the lines lay at an angle that tucked the front wheel under, whatever speed you approached it. As I mounted my undamaged bike I saw competitor after competitor crash. I’d take a guess that at a least 2 thirds of the pack went down at this one spot.

I continued the bike leg and quickly caught Tim Clover. I knew that my running is generally quicker than his so was glad to have taken him whilst still on the bike.

Before I knew it I was on the second lap and approached the dreaded tram line at about 5 mph. I was lucky to still hold the bike up as the wheel juddered violently. AGAIN I SAW people go down all around me. Check out www.sporza.be for some fantastic footage.

The last 10 miles were horrendous. Driving wind and rain made it an unpleasureable experience and sections of cobblestones hit at 25mph made it feel like the Paris Roubaix!! My teeth are still chattering.

I approached transition to see that I’d covered the 56 miles in 2 hours 31 minutes which pleased me enormously!! I made a quick transition and set off at speed on the run through Antwerp’s town centre. The run was uninspiring, but at least it was flat and well supported. I knocked off the first 10k in just over 36 mins and suddenly found that the guy in second place overall – on his third lap – was behind me with a camera crew following him by bike. As he came alongside me I fell into step. I don’t imagine his intention was to pace me but he helped me cover the next couple of miles in record time!!!!

Last lap and I’m approaching the end of the run. I look at my watch and work out that I’ve got plenty of time to go sub 1 30 for the half marathon so I look for my wife and baby in the crowd and gesture for my wife to hand me baby Cerys who is 2 days off being one year old. I give her a hug and carry her carefully to the line, acknowledging the crowd and making a meal of it! Afterwards I find that I’d completed the run leg in 1 30 34. Good job I didn’t realise this at the time as Cerys would have ended up under my arm as I sprinted to the line.

I see Mark Taylor who has completed the course 9 minutes quicker and see that he is also pretty bashed up having come off whilst taking a corner in the wet a little too fast. We crack open 2 bottles of Old Speckled Hen, neck them and go find a pub to have few more!

I’m pleased. I’ve completed the half in 4 47 to go sub 5 and my wife has agreed to me racing Ironman 70.3 Cancun next September to beat 1 30 in the half.

I’m a lucky guy whatever way you look at it!!!!