Family & Friends,  Ironman

My biggest IronFan

She deserves a special post. To the best sister ever, the most awesome #IronFan that I could’ve asked for, THANK YOU for everything you did ❤️

She was initially going to fly up with me on Friday, but then after race dates came out she realized Redhill Marathon was the Saturday. She then booked another ticket to fly up to EL on Saturday immediately after running Redhill 42km, but then collapsed in the last km of the marathon and ended up in the medical tent. Being sick and not in a condition to fly, she couldn’t come even if she had made it to the airport in time. We were both disappointed but I completely understood, because her health had to come before anything else. There wasn’t even a question about that. So I had made peace with the fact that I wasn’t going to have biological family there. My #embarkfamily supporters promised to look after me, and Shameema was already a pro at supporting and she was definitely going to be screaming her lungs out for me.

On race day, after the swim coming out of T1 with my bike, just before I reached the mount line I heard someone shout GO TIETIE!! in a voice that I would recognize anywhere in the world. That was Fadeelah, but how could it be?? I looked up to the left and there she was. It was the best surprise ever. She had organized another early morning flight to get there to be there for me on race day, and had arrived there just 2min before that moment. And she was there supporting me all day at different points in the course, taking pictures and videos and posting it to social media. It definitely gave me another reason to smile even when there were no cameras around, even if it was to myself while sukkeling up yet another hill on that brutal bike course.

Fadeelah you are amazing, and the best sister ever. Love you to bits! 

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