Nina Dobson is doing Ironman for the first time. This time last year she was recovering from having a brain tumour removed.
Nina Dobson is doing Ironman for the first time. This time last year she was recovering from having a brain tumour removed.
There are many emotions Ironman athletes will experience today. Few are likely to fully appreciate the joy at being alive and able to make the start line.
For Rotorua Hospital nurse Nina Dobson, this year's Ironman New Zealand race in Taupo is the culmination of more than just the hardyakka of swimming, cycling and running.
The 42-year-old has overcome the effects of risky brain surgery, including learning to walk again, living with deafness and rebalancing. She also lives with the notion the acoustic neuroma (brain tumour), which spelled the end of her 2013 Ironman dream, could regrow.
The race involves a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km marathon run and must be completed within 17 hours.
"I know it's going to be a long day out and it won't be easy but I needed the goal to feel normal. I completed the half ironman in December almost a year to the day of my surgery. That was after being told if I did a 10km within the year I would be doing okay - I did three half marathons in the winter.
"I'm looking forward to sending a photo to my surgeon of going under the Ironman banner at the finish."
Nina is the president of Rotorua Association of Triathletes. Before her diagnosis she had finished a half ironman race and multisport races and had decided to enter the 2013 Ironman.
She had set things up to make her goal more achievable, including a secondment to the cardiac unit where she would work set hours.
Working with a coach she had a programme to follow and it was from these set workouts she initially realised something wasn't quite right.
"My time trials were getting slower, instead of faster. At work I was using a stethoscope but I was struggling to hear what I should have been able to hear. I assumed that because I was Ironman training I had swimmers' ear.
"I mentioned it to my GP who found a minor hearing loss. They said worst case scenario it was a tumour. Then I went to a specialist who said the same but they didn't think it was serious. Then I had an MRI and that was very clear."
She called the tumour Walnut due to its size. That was August 2012.
"My specialist said we weren't going to even discuss Ironman. It was null and void."
Surgery was booked for December and in that time she suffered balance loss and was unable to walk in a straight line.
To remove the tumour surgeons cut through the nerves required for hearing and balance, which means she is deaf in one ear. High risks included stroke and permanent facial palsy.
A section of her skull was also removed and the vault filled with fat.
Nina's stitches after surgery.
"I had to learn to walk again and at the end of January I could only manage 500m. I had to learn how to balance, how to walk in a straight line without feeling I was falling over."
She's also overcome not being able to fully blink, which left her eyes dry and irritable, as well as the permanent tinnitus in her left ear. Then there's the missing piece of skull which left her initially feeling vulnerable when open water swimming.
"I would have died without surgery. It was growing and growing quite fast. Because I was so fit and doing so many things that required balance my body was compensating so much more.
"I've had to alter my expectations from when I first entered [Ironman]. They've become more realistic but I do need people to remind me that 12 months ago I could barely walk.
"I expect to experience pain. I expect to cry at the end and I think it was also be a ball. Having been through surgery I know if I have to I can dig deep and get through."
Ironman New Zealand starts by the Taupo Yacht Club at 7am. The finish is in the Northern Domain, Tongariro St.
