At this point, things began to get real, yet felt entirely surreal. After 9 months of graft, planning, training and living this journey, the end was now very much in sight…..yet so was the beginning of the battle! And despite all of this training, I had never once swum 3.8Km in a cold sea at 7am in the morning, and absolutely not with another 2,000 or so people! The biggest mental challenge and reality check for me though was the sign that simply read “Athletes Only”….. Past that point I was on my own. At any time in training you can stop, phone for a lift, pop to a café or return home. Not now. Not when you cross “the line”. I almost cried. I don’t know why.