2008 Ramsay Health Care Triathlon Pink Inspirational Pinkie
Allison Jones

I was diagnosed June 06 at the age of 45 and had two operations, the second to remove the balance of lymph nodes.  This was two weeks after the first operation because I went to Darwin on a fishing trip we had planned for a year and I thought it worth the risk as only 2 out of the 5 nodes taken were positive.

I then started Chemo mid July and had one interruption when I got an infection in my breast as I was still having aspiration for the fluid on my breast.  I had 4 courses, 3 weekly of EC and 3 weekly of Taxotere.  I wore frozen gloves to protect my nails for the last treatment and only ended up with one thumb nail affected.  During this time I only walked and did a small amount of swimming.  The swimming I did in the ocean and loved the feeling of freedom in the waves and could just be at one with the elements and forget everything else.  I guess the danger of mother earth took precedence over anything else.

I started doing short bike rides whilst on Radiation for two months but was easily tired so just took it very easy no hills.

When Matt, my coach, started training me I was still very unfit and struggled with tiring and lack of oxygen….it was quite frustrating.  He made me wear a heart monitor and did hypoxy breathing to increase my lung capacity and I had 3 monthly Gatored Heart Tests.  My heart muscles decreased from 77 percent on Herceptin to 62 but still remained in the normal acceptable range probably because I had been fit prior and was not underweight.  I am a solid person 1.6cm and weigh around 70 kilo.

My first race was an enticer race in the Gatorade series, 200m swim 5 k bike 2 k run I think and then I went on to do the BRW series which is a team event but each member does 400 swim 10 bike 4 k run.  I finished but was very scared before the event that I would let my team down because I was not confident that my body would cope with the stress of 1 hours continual exercise.  It did however, my time was slower than before chemo of course.  I was still encouraged that I had finished and it gave me the determination to keep fighting and the will to get faster and train harder.  Matt had trouble holding me back.  I suffered quite a lot with aches and pains as my muscles were not quite ready for what I expected of them and I had to learn to stretch and do as I was told  (none of which I am very good at).

I have since done a couple of Breast Cancer Fun runs, Brisbane and Noosa 5k 2007 and also quite a few Ocean swims, Palm Beach, Noosa, Moloolaba and Byron bay which is 2.2km and the Gold Coast Mile where I was placed 5th in my age group.  I definitely am now better than I was before Cancer, stronger in my mind about motivating myself but I don’t know if the fear that my body wont always cope with what I expect of it and I expect alot.  I still tire before others when I really exert myself like on a big hill or sprinting .  It is something I have to keep working on.

My advice to any women would be make sure no one around you ever says " I know how you feel".  No one knows, deal with it how ever best you can.  A support group was not for me because there were too many cases of recurring cancer. I wanted to believe if I did exactly what the experts told me I would survive.  Find something to make you fight but of course there will be good days and bad.  I still cry, there is nothing to be ashamed of and try not to look for reasons to blame yourself for getting it.  It is just bad luck and the medical information coming through is fantastic.    I would be more than happy to do any thing to help this cause and would love to compete so long as I am not expected to win.  I will however expect the best from me.

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2007 Ramsay Health Care Triathlon Pink Inspirational Pinkie
Karina Kiely

Last year I signed up for the Triathlon Pink with a bunch of my colleagues from Head office in Sydney. I chose to do the 600 m swim, 9 km cycle, and 3km run. Firstly I set up a fundraising page with “Everyday Hero” and sent the link to my friends and colleagues. I wasn’t expecting to get as great a response as I did but ended up raising almost $1000.

Then came the training part and this was the fun bit. Every Sunday morning a few of my colleagues and I would meet at Centennial park and cycle around the park a few times. This was great fun and got us out in the fresh air and helped us form a great friendship and bond. Of course we also paid a few visits to the local cafes for a coffee or two so that became our official meeting spot!

So after a few weeks of training I felt I was as ready as I would ever be and the day of the event was upon us before we knew it.

Arriving at Sydney Olympic Park at 7am in the morning and seeing all these “athletes” in front of us was amazing. There were women of all ages and levels of fitness and everyone had a huge smile on their face. Once we registered and collected our goodie bags which contained our t-shirts and pink swimming caps and got our racing number “written” on our arms, just like they do in the full on triathlons I was really beginning to get excited and nervous at the same time.

We positioned our bikes on the bike racks and laid out our clothes to make a swift transition and headed over to the swimming pool area.

This is when the adrenaline started pumping and the excitement kicked in. We queued up according to our numbers and we went in heats of 10 people at a time. I have to admit the pool was my least favourite event of the day and I will admit I did swallow a couple of mouthfuls of water in my eagerness to dash to the finish line. But saying that I wasn’t last out of the pool and I was happy with that.

Then there was the dash to the bike area, I was clever on this one and had my running shoes at the pool so was able to make a much quicker dash to the bike area than others who had to run bare foot so probably made up time for my less than impressive swimming effort!

So on with the helmet and off I went on my 9 km cycle. The circuit was a 3km circle of the parameter of the park which had a slight incline for a km which was great on the way down but was a different story on the way up! But along the way there were the Ramsay cheerleading squad jumping and shouting words of encouragement to urge us along which made me push through that pain barrier.

Once the cycle was finished it was then on to the 3km run. This was entertaining as my legs now felt like jelly and I felt like I was running for the very first time without my training wheels! But the wobbly legs eventually went away and before I knew it I was on my last lap. It’s amazing how you get that final burst of energy when you know the finish line is in sight and sure enough I upped the speed limit from a very very slow jog to a moderate run / sprint over the finish line……. And what a feeling to get over the line. I had completed my very first triathlon. I didn’t care what my time was I was just so pleased that I had done it. It was so great to see so many women from so many different walks of life challenging themselves and uniting together for a wonderful cause to raise money for the breast cancer foundation. So come on girls, pull out your swimming costumes from the wardrobe and pump up those tires on your bike and join in the fun for the “2008 Ramsay Triathlon Pink”.