Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

I made up my mind the night before to get up front and blast out of the gate. I didn't want to lose time waiting for the masses to get going so I thought I would just jail break it at the start and go from there. It worked great. Before I knew it I was in my zone and trucking along. Did some drafting on the way out and was having a good swim. I actually saw my friend Emily pass me around the first turn and Jashac two or three times during the swim. I found that to be pretty weird. I felt like my swim could not have gone any better. It was the fastest I have ever swam when going that distance. I swam a little wide the entire time and found myself swimming in open water for the majority of the swim. I was never kicked or punched and I couldn't have been happier with the results.

If I had to picture a perfect swim for me....this would have been it. I'll take this swim ever time.

I was very surprised that so many people were taking a Sunday stroll out of the water, through the strippers and through the showers. I had to push my way through a group of people standing in the shower like they were looking for their conditioner. Got through there, grabbed my bag and went into the tent. Wow, tons of people and too many of them naked. I spent very little time in the tent went and grabbed my bike and got moving. I had been training with my shoes on my bike but the rules did not let you do that so I laughed a little while trotting to the mount line with all the others trying their best not to slip.

Not be as polite getting through the masses. I probably lost at least a minute trying to get through.

Got on the bike and got settled in early. Did a Gu and water 10 mins in and began the task of passing all those people who swam faster than me but ride slower ( 400+) Had to laugh at the people who were already drafting in two-three man teams within the first 5 miles. Whatever. Hit the first aid station and grabbed a water and gatorade. Feeling good the whole time so good that i'll skip ahead to the 40+ mile mark when a Tour de France peleton. No kidding a group of 100+ packed in and moving fast. The kicker was that the ref was right there yelling at them and they wouldn't break it up. I ended up sitting up and slowing down to about 13 mph to let them pass. Then I began eating those cheaters up one by one for the rest of the day. Pass the penalty tent and only two people were in there. Whatever. Shortly after the peleton I passed CubeFarmGopher who passed me back a bit later. I then caught up with Q for a bit then saw him stretching on the side of the road. I wouldn't see him again untill he blows by me on the run. Saw some BT'ers at the short out and back cheering, sweet.

The ride was perfect. I hoped to avg over 20mph and I did. I hoped to not feel any pain on the bike and I did not have any pain. I hoped that my nutrition worked as well as it did when I trained and it did.

The only thing I noticed that was different was a salty sweat line on my shorts. Only one time in the past year had I sweated out a salty sweat line. At the time I didn't think anything of it. I was taking in the right amount of calories, water, and gatorade. I felt great and was more than pleased with my performance so far.

Nothing.

Off the bike and handed it to a volunteer. That was cool. Grabbed my T2 bag, ran to the tent while pulling my helmet off. Got inside, fumbled with the injinji toe socks, hat on, sunglasses on, race belt loaded with Gu on, shoes on, rubbed down with sunscreen, stopped to pee, and I was running.

Nothing. I wanted my T1-T2 total time to be under 10min and it was.

I could not have felt better when I started the run. My goal was to run sub-4 so I knew what I needed to do and I tried to contain myself. Saw Rowena, my kids, and my parents .5 miles in. You can't beat the smiles Gracie Maddie and Chris gave me. Or seeing your wife and parents jumping up and down going absolutely nuts cheering you on. I'm telling you that you just can't beat it. I was right on track. Hit the turn around feeling great I was a bit too fast but I felt freakin awesome. Slowed it down the second 6.55 miles hit message board and got my message from Rowena "You Got This". Man I felt great I was running under 9 min miles and I was on pace to hit my super perfect day goal of sub 11. Finished my first loop in 1:51:xx giving me 2:08 to finish the last 13.1 miles. I was already smiling. By now my tri top and bottom were super salt stained. That is new for me, but I felt great and kept on moving. Ran past Rowena and the family again. Row ran with me for about 15 seconds telling me everyone of our friends were tracking me online then she said what we always say to each other..."You Got This". Said love you then turned the corner. Not 200 yards later -BAM- my right hamstring is blasted with a cramp. I stopped and stretched and it got worse then the right calf cramped. This poor little girl was right there looking at me so I just smiled and said I was fine. Got it to go away...you know, as muc as you can get a wicked cramp to go away knowing you still have a half mary to go. So within a few minutes I went from flying down the road to doing the Ironman shuffle. All of a sudden I was that guy going from aid station to aid station. Taking everything they would give, dumping ice down into my shorts so it would rest on my tight hammy. This is what it is all about right! How dare I think I could just breeze through my very first Ironman. Here was MY test. So I shuffled and stopped and stretched and shuffled, and gelled, and iced, and brothed, and cola'd, and smiled the whole freaking time.

I saw Q lighting up the freakin course. I saw Torbjorn and Bella. I saw and hugged Emily who was smoking her race. I saw Jashac, CubeFarmGopher, Coconutbug, Aimeep, Fast Cat? (bridgett?), it is great finally getting to meet people from BT.

Well i'm going to have to figure out what was going on with all the salt, but since I had never had that problem I could not have planned for it. So I don't think I could have done anything more.

Crossed the finish line and was caught by a BT'er. And for the life of me I forgot your name. I can see your smiling face as you pushed the other finish line catcher out of the way and said "I know him" and the even bigger smile you gave me when I said this was my first race. Thanks.

Rowena had our kids, my parents, and our big stroller so it took a bit of time for her to get to me, but she got to see me cross the finish line and gave me her big hug as did the rest of my family. I learned that most of my friends and family across the nation were watching on their computers and texting the entire day. How cool is that!

I felt great so I went and got my T1-2 bags and my bike which was racked wrong but luckily my wife found it 3 racks away. Saw Trihardathena and her friend Rick, so sorry she got sick but she looked great and happy.

We walked back to the condo and dropped my kids and parents off. I put on some warm clothes and we walked back to the street to cheer on our friends. We saw Emily again, Sonja (forgot her BT name), Cube (again), jccbulldog-looking strong, bridgett ?, zaichikmiller, and some others but i'm forgetting their names.


I'm thinking it was loss of salt that caused the leg cramp but I don't care. I had a great time.


I can't tell you how much fun this was. I'm so happy with the way everything went and I'm already planning the next one...