Mr Jibby

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Mr Jibby

Postby Faith » 01 Oct 2012 13:14

im sat here watching a half broken man squeeze a bike that(that im sure he never wants to see again) into a box......yes that's right im watching and not assisting as despite his DOMS im most certainly less of a help than a hindrance.

yesterday was a total mixture of emotions for me ranging from pride, admiration, fear, relief and pure joy.

an ironman is something i will never fully understand. i have no desire, no wish to put myself into that abyss of pain, exhaustion and mental dig deepability but watching it yesterday did help me to understand, on some level, what it takes to conquer such an endurance event

watching the swim start i was blown away by the bravery it takes to swim over 3km in choppy sea water. no calm lake with the odd pike or swam that sends me into a panic. yet James managed without fuss or complaint and out he gets on the bike.

i hop on a train and watch him around 60km then again around 80km. he is flying looking great and smiling. next time i see him, its a different ball game. its about 140km, the winds picked up and he looks like he's had enough. i stay to watch the last small lap, standing on a downhill im lulled into a false sense that all is ok and i know ill see him next after the first 10km run

first 10km comes and goes with what looks painfully grim, but he's running,holding pace and i begin to think the end is in sight.......how the tables can turn.

waiting for James on the second lap seems to take an age but i finally see him coming towards us looking a broken man

after walking with him for 100m or so it becomes apparent he's in all kinds of trouble. i can't understand him, he has that vacant look in his eyes and all i can do is say its ok and i believe in him. as he stumbles off i fight back the lump in my throat and i push aside my gut feeling that says 'what if he's not'. standing with Mr and Mrs jibby we all look at each other in silence knowing there is nothing we can do for this man right now other than hope. he really did look that bad.

trying to nervously laugh off the fact that he has 2 more laps we wait for him to complete the 1km turn and run past us again. but he never comes past. we laugh it off for 15mins saying things like he will be queing for the loo or eating but deep down we all know we are kidding ourselves. 1hr 20later and ive walked bk so far im basically in the transition zone. no sign of jibby and now people we recognised as being near him are starting there 4th lap.

i starred as hard as i could at the turn point willing him to come around. partically beginning him to run around the corner, not caring what state he was in and not daring to ask myself if he's overdone it and secretly cursing myself for teaching him to push through the pain barrier.

with batteries dying on our phones, light fading rapidly and thousands of people around as finishes meet loved ones, we all just felt really rather useless. in a panic we split up and went different ways only to find each other 20mins later but with no more info. totally dark and suddenly feeling very foreign we managed to persuade a steward to search the medical tent, scroll down the list of people taken to hospital and hunt on line for his chip location. no joy. by this point Mr jibby snr has him on a ventilator, Mrs jibby has him collapsed and lost and i don't even know what to think. its now 11.50hrs since we saw him enter the med when an official come to find us to say the computer tracked him and he is still on course. not quite sure we believe her broken English but at least it was something. so all three of us head to the finish line and wait. watching finishers come in, take children in their arms as they cross the line was incredible but all our eyes strained into the darkness willing jibby to turn the corner.

finally as the clock edged nearer 12 he came into sight. having not seen him for 2.5hrs there was a mixed emotions of pure relief, laughter and total admiration. i burst into tears swearing blind id never come on holiday with the jibsters again!

watching him cross the line with his hands above his head i saw a modest and brave man conquer his challenge. i was privileged to have witnessed it, proud to have in some small way helped him along the way and in total owe of my friend James.

no one will totally understand his ironman experience but i was pleased i came a bit closer than most

congratulations x
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby Tritans » 01 Oct 2012 14:38

Yep Ironman takes you to some pretty dark places. In some respect it's easier doing it than spectating, at least you have some element of control. My support team had similar concerns this year, whilst I was blissfully unaware.

For me that's what I love about Ironman, it's seeing people time and time again overcome adversity.

Well done Jibby and I bet the experience lit some spark of intrigue in you Faith.
One who wants to do something, will find a way.
One who doesn't, will find an excuse.

Confucius
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby ris » 01 Oct 2012 14:56

well done, buh, gud job.
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby Bendy Ben » 01 Oct 2012 15:30

Love that Faith

Well written and with meaning and souk. It's a great event hey. :shock:
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby TRIumphant » 01 Oct 2012 15:56

Always good to see the race from the supporters viewpoint, it's not often we stop and think what we might be putting them through,
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby AMS » 01 Oct 2012 16:29

Well done Jibby. Was watching the tracker online and feared the worst for a while but huge congratulations for getting through it.
Top effort.
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby scibby » 01 Oct 2012 20:14

Well done jibby and jibby support team....

Looking forward to the race report...
15/06. Windsor Sprint
2-7/07. Les Stables
03/08. Guildford Sportive. 100km
06/09. Sundowner Sprint. Needs BAT approval
28/09. Hever Olympic
12/10. Malta Champs? Needs BAT approval.
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby Big_Show » 01 Oct 2012 20:15

Well done Jibby and support crew - I'm looking forward to this race report.
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby Kevy427 » 01 Oct 2012 23:09

Big shout out to the Jibbensteins and Faith - well done to you all! :D Going to be one hell of a race report...
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Re: Mr Jibby

Postby CCS » 03 Oct 2012 08:24

Epic work Jibby.
Hate to think how fast you will be when you have a season where everything goes to plan!!!
Well done.
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