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Lena Wahlqvist



Ironman Lanzarote Champion 1999:

It was the 3rd of March 1999 my coach told me “well Lena, now it is for sure that you will be in the Iron man in Lanzarote “. At that time I was just laughing at him and said “ if I can run by then, sure . . . when is it ? “ or something like that. I had just, the 18th of February got a fracture in my foot when i was out running . It was no running for 6 weeks, but I could do some biking and swimming though. “It is te 22nd of May so it won't be any problem” I did some fast calculation and realized that it was three months unttil the Iron man so I had plenty of time to recover
One week before we were supposed to go to Lanzarote for the Iron man, Anders and I went out biking a couple of hours and it was really windy. “well, it can't be windier in Lanzarote”, Anders said. Just before we went Micke, my coach, told me that they have a tradition that the winner of the men's race and the women's race start the dance. The thing is this: there is a few things that I am not very good at, and dancing is one of them Micke also said that he promised Kenneth that I was going to attend the press conference before the race. Talking in front of lots of people is another thing I am not pleased to do :)

Before I knew, it was May 14th and we left about midnight. Our apartment was about 100meters from the beach in Puerto Del Carmen and only 1kilometer from the start. 
“As usually, my bike was missing when we got there together with 15 other bikes. 
We took some rest before dinner, but hey . . times flies...... we didn't wake up until next morning. My bike “the Merida” showed up about lunch that day so everything was just fine.

On Monday morning we got ourselves a rental car for the rest of our staying. We surprised Micke and Ann-Charlotte by picking them up at the airport when they arrived with the other Swedish people. We did some running all four of us that night. After that it was just to get some rest. 

On Tuesday we went into Lasanta by car, and god, I got so nervous. Everywhere it was people in Iron man outfit. Micke found out that the press conference wasn't until Friday at 2pm. That felt real good. 
While the other guys went out running, I was watching a video of last year's Iron Man. I was studying it real good. 

Wednesday, it was time to do some swimming, so we swam the whole lap and that was tough. About 5pm we took the car around the biking track and that was good. Even though I have been going around that track so many times it felt good to do it without pressure. 

Thursday morning and time to try to wake up. Micke and I went through the first part of the biking track. That afternoon it was time to do the registration and pre race meeting. After that we had some very tasty chicken for dinner and after that we relaxed with a card game.

We slept in late that Friday. I did some running and biking, and after that Anders followed me to the beach where I was swimming for a few minutes . Micke and Ann-Charlotte were busy doing some sunbathing. When we got back to the apartment we just couldn't get the key into the lock. We called for someone to help us. The reason why we couldn't get the key into the lock was quite simple we found out. We forgot to remove the key from the lock on the inside before we left earlier.
I started to get a little bit stressed up, because today was the press conference at 2pm. Actually I did pretty good I think. I tried the best I could to answer a few questions with my “not-so-good-English” and left. 

This Saturday we went up EARLY !!. We got up before 5am. I didn't feel too good that morning but I managed to have some breakfast anyway. I mean, it sure was a loooooong day of work ahead of me that day. At 6 o'clock we went to the start. And of course, I just have to go to the bathroom. I was looking after a bathroom and saw this trailer with toilets. I ran over and no one was inside so I did what I had to do you know. On my way back Anders and Micke were laughing their “- - - - “ off. “Didn't you see the long line outside” ? they asked me. “It was like 20 people standing in line and you just passed all of them” hahahahaa.. 

711 contesters came to the start. I think that the swimming was the worse swimming ever. After only 25 meters I lost my watch. After the first buoy (?) I started to get water on the inside of the wetsuit . Well I was just going to be in the water for about an hour so. . . . It felt like forever. When it was time to get out the wetsuit I noticed that it was unzipped. It had been unzipped more or less through the whole swimming. Just when I got on the bike Micke shouted “ you are in 3rd place, one minute after the first and Zeekant 40sec ahead. Shit, I was hoping to be ahead of Zeekant. But after only 5 kilometers I was next to her. 

Almost through the whole race I had 1-3 camera Mc's and a Jeep around me. At Lasanta a poor biker came in the way of the mc and fell into the beverage stand. An enormous soar and shouting welcomed me when I got closer to do the change (?) , I loved it. When I put on my running shoes my calves really wanted to cramp. Someone smeared sun protection on my back and then I was heading out towards the running track. Micke and Ann-Charlotte was cheering and shouting, asking me how I was doing. “You have 4 min on Gangon, GO, GO ,GO. Damn it was tough. It felt like I wasn't moving forward at all. I saw some real tanned man standing along the road waving with a Swedish flag. 

At the turning point I saw Anders and he shouted “it can only get better, go Lena, GO! “. Gangon came running on light feet and took over the lead. She took in six minutes on the first lap. Some vacation celebraters gave me some information and one of them shouted “ Hurry up”. It kind of made me pretty mad so I answered by shouting back at her “why don't YOU do the running instead” , and her friends were laughing their butt off. Stefan came up by my side asking how I was doing “ c´mon Lena, run with me, it is fun running with you” but I just waved at him and didn't go with him. Shortly after that I was thinking about to start staggering so they should pick me up, but I knew that I can't fake it. No, that would give so such a bad conscious. 

After 11 k´s I passed Micke Thorén again. Again I had to “go” so I stopped between two cars and did what I had to do. From there I saw the Dutch Van Djikk pass me. Wow, now I will get far behind i thought, but the distance was the same. Anders shouted “ hey, it´s looking much better”. And yea , it sure did. I passed the leader and got back my master. I passed the second and got back the master. I ran with much lighter feet now. I saw Gangon who didn't have as light feet as me anymore. I passed even her so now I had the leading master again. By the 32 km mark Micke shouted like he was in ecstasy “Now Lena, this is what you have been waiting for all the time. You are running fastest of them all ! ! “ 
I was thinking about what I have been waiting for all the time. Was it running? leading ? winning ? or what ? I am just doing the best I can. What else can I do ? 

The camera-mc-guy began to sing and clap his hands but I thought “ hey, it is not over yet”. I knew that the distance to the Dutch was at least 3 minutes but . . .. anything can happen. 

And just like that . . . there was the finish . . . .just in front of me . . . Everyone was shouting and cheering and screaming . . . . it was unbelievable . . . . 
AND I WAS THE ONE WHO CROSSED THE FINISH LINE AS THE WINNER
My legs just stopped running at soon as I crossed the finish line. Kenneth was the first one to catch me and he pushed me out towards the crowed to wave at them. He even pushed out Micke, my coach. and he was just as happy as I was. After the finish I was resting inside a tent among all of the others for awhile. Micke called up Göran, my parents and Erik (who attended his own “going-to-get-married-party”) . 
Then it was the press conference and doping test, Lots of walking. That night Anders and I weren't back to the apartment until 9pm and there were Micke and Ann-Charlotte already with the champagne waiting. We went after that to the closest pizzeria and t waiter got real curious when he found out that I had won the Iron man contest, so It was champagne on the house. 
We decided the following day that I should apply for the Iron man in Hawaii. That night it was the price ceremony inside the famous caves. The scenario was amazing. I got a little bit nervous about the dancing. I never said anything to Anna about it though. One after the other was called up to the podium. How should I handle this ? I was watching the others how they did. I got up on my feet when they called up the number two and tried to shake my legs loose. When they called ME up I was doing anything just to “look normal” , like it was raining if you know what I mean? It was no problem until Kenneth grabbed the mic and said “ As you all know there is a tradition here in Lanzarote Iron Man, and that is that the numbers one woman and number one man has to hold a speech. 
“ what the hell is he doing”. I tried to locate Mr Thorén but just got the spotlight into my eyes. “Matheu, you can start” he took the mic and after that I thought he'd never stop talking. I was looking at Kenneth and and I guess I looked worried because he told me “ don't worry, you just have to say thank you” 
I took the mic and by then I didn't see anything at all, it was spotlights all over the place. God, I didn't plan this to happen. My speech was real short and quick. It felt like All of English vocabulary was gone, just gone. At that time I was almost longing to do that dance instead. That would have been a piece of cake.
The day after we gave Micke & Ann-Charlotte a ride to the airport. We had four day by ourselves now to explore that island. BY CAR. 

Yea right, I almost forgot. Remember the watch I lost in the water ? A diver found it when they brought everything up from the water after the contest. THAT is luck :)