Ironman Florida - TriathlonFull Ironman

Water felt nice! I was a little dissapointed in the start. Last year it was an impressive mass start where everyone started on the beach and ran into the water. This year people were all over the place, in the water and out. Seemed a little more disorganized. Once I got in the water it tighented up quick, a bit of stop and go traffic for the first 500 meters. I rememeber wadding in place for a moment and just looking at a girl and saying "This is so awesome!" it truely was. I also really enjoyed the sunrise as I swam.

I would probably start a little wider, I got swam into on the turns and not surprisingly it didn't really think out at all. But otherwise Im happy with my swim.

Luckily I volunteered in the changing room last year so I knew what to expect. I litterally had to stand in place and strip down and change in less than 1 square foot but I managed. Things went fairly smoothley, got my tracking device on and got off on the bike with out issues.

swim much faster or much slower to have less people in T1 ;-)

What to say, it sucked! 7 hours is too long to be on a bike. I also have never had to pee so much. I stopped 5 times! It was cold. But the roads were in great condition, I was able to eat and drink with out issues. People seemed friendly and it was a sunny clear day. I had planned on stopping at half-way turn around for lunch. I happened to run into one of my BT friends and we ate our PB&J's together. That was a much needed rest.

train more on the bike,

Much less crowded. Transition was smooth. It was kind of a surreal thing to sit and let the realization that I was about to go run a marathon. I was looking forward to the run for the last 4 hours of the bike so I was happy to be on my feet!

Felt great coming out of tranisiton. Surpised myself on how good I felt. I tried to make sure that I didn't go out to fast knowing what was ahead of me. the sun was shinning and there were people everywhere! I was enjoying myself. I tried to get on a food/drink schedule and did pretty well with that. That was until about mile 19 when my stomach shut down. I've never felt so sick running. Chills, naseau, the works. Even though a secret goal of mine was to run the whole marathon I had to walk. I walked for 3 miles not being able to eat much at first. As soon as I could stomach it I took cola and chicken broth. I had issues with staying warm and tried to wrap myself up in a space blanket but the wind made that difficult. Finally by mile 23 I felt like I could run or more likely just made myself run to get it over with. Derek and dad were waiting for me at mile 24 and tried to run back with me. I outran dad and derek made it back with seconds to spare. I felt good! The finish came up quick and I don't remember what song was playing. (everyone says you should remember). I heard all my family and friends screaming though which was nice.

Its all in the training. I would have eaten my snickers sooner if I knew I wasn't going to be able to digest in so late in the race.

Walking around finishers village and got some pizza! Which I started to wolf down but then quickly realize that maybe my stomach wasn't ready for that yet.


Lactate thresholds, vo2 max, and all the other training BS. My head was in it and I didn't have any negative thoughts with the exception of maybe a couple miles on the run but even though I knew I would finish.


I waiting a couple months before writing this race report to let myself process this race. One of the things that Im still struggling with is how I feel about the race in retrospect. I don't want to say it was easy because it obviously wasn't but I think my expectations were that it was going to be more grueling or difficult than I thought. I guess Im a little dissapointed that it wasn't. I also am a little dissapointed that I wasn't affected emotionally by the finish. I've cried in every marathon finish I've had but part of the difference was that this was an all day thing so I think I was just more ready to be done with everything. My first words across the finish line was that "I will never do that again" but I can't say that it true. i just know that it won't be for quite a while.