Chrissie Wellington: ‘One Of The Hardest Decisions Of My Life’

Chrissie Wellington has described how she made one of the ‘toughest decisions’ of her life in her latest blog post. As everyone knows, Chrissie was forced to withdraw from the Ironman World Championships after she developed flu-like symptoms. In this extract from her blog (which you can read in full here), she explains in full her decision and, and how she feels about that decision 48 hours after the end of the race.

“I started feeling slightly ill on Friday lunchtime, with a sore head and throat. I did my usual three short sessions that day but, on the run particularly, I knew something wasn’t quite right. My legs were like jelly and I was sweating much more than usual. My tired head hit the pillow at 7pm and I woke up several times during the night literally drenched in sweat, my head pounding and feeling like my throat was closing. I got up at 3.45am, had a shower, and went through my pre race routine hoping that I would feel better. But nothing improved. I knew I had to make one of the toughest decisions of my life.

“Like all the other athletes, I invest so much time, passion, energy into getting myself in the best possible shape for Kona. I have so much respect for this race, and the toll it can take on your body. It is demanding and brutal, and competing when ill risks greater health problems. Furthermore, I believe I owed it to myself and all the other competitors to be able to give the performance I had trained so hard for. I sought counsel from those closest to me, but mostly tried to listen to my body, and what it was telling me. I said to myself, if I woke up on an ordinary day feeling like this would I train? The honest answer was no. At around 5am the decision was made. There was no going back.

“Those that know me will understand how incredibly difficult, frustrating and heart wrenching it was to make that call. Two days later, and although I am starting to feel physically better, I know I made the right decision for me at that particular time. Yes I could sit here feeling sorry for myself, reflecting on what might have been, but ultimately wallowing in self pity doesn’t help me, or anyone else. My heart (and head) are hurting but my spirit is not broken. I will look to the future and all the amazing opportunities it will bring – putting Saturday behind me and moving on to fight another day. This is sport. As I have always said, it has ups and downs. Highs and lows. Yes, i do have a mountain to climb. But it is no different from any other I have faced, and scaled, before.”

To read the full blog post, visit www.chrissiewellington.org

FILED UNDER: Features / News TAGS: Blog / Chrissie-Wellington / Decision / explain / Flu / Illness / Ironman-World-Championship / Kona / Looking Forward / mental / pain / Physical / Retire / Tough / Withdraw

Paul Moore

Paul Moore is the Online Editor for Triathlete Europe. When not glued to a computer he can be found writing books - most recently Ultimate Triathlon: A complete training guide for long-distance triathletes which you can buy on Amazon

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