Miami Man 1/2 Iron - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

nearly 5 minutes faster than last year's time for this course, the wetsuit definitely helped. Never felt crowded on the swim - some of the first wave swimmers were finishing by the time my wave started.

Should have been thinking positive thoughts. Remembered thinking "I wonder if anyone has gotten a flat while they were rolling out of transition...."

happy with the time. Took off the wetsuit half-way into the transition, realized I had dropped my goggles and looked to see them 50 feet back - figured I had gotten a season and several races out of them so didn't bother turning around to get them.

Jumped on the bike, clipped in, started making the first turn only to realize my back tire was FLAT. Had done all the usual bike check steps the night before at the camp and rode the bike to the race - have no idea how the tire went flat while in the transition area, and didn't hear it go flat after I jumped on....

Did I have a premonition while in the swim that I would get a flat? Maybe...guess this just helped me deal with it mentally.

Then the first 2 miles I could not get over 17.5 mph - finally realized the front brake caliper was twisted, and after fixing it was able to pick up speed. Biked mad the rest of the ride which may have helped gain back a little bit of time, but overall figured that these problems cost me about 6-8 minutes.

Nutrition worked MUCH better this year - last year was thrown off by the race course not having any of the advertised gel packs and protein bars on the course so brought plenty with me this time. Alternated 3 gel packs with 2 PBJ Uncrustables and a Powerbar, and drank 3 bottles of AminoVital and 1 of Gatorade.

Overall was just happy that there was no wind. Despite all the troubles on the bike still was 15 minutes faster than last year's bike for this course.

Triple check the bike.

was 4th overall out of 477....not sure how I got through so fast, but I was REALLY happy to get off the bike. Ran the bike in, grabbed my stuff and ran out.

Decided to just relax and enjoy the rest of the race. Felt hungry every 15 minutes. Had brought 3 gel packs, but ended up getting two more at the aid stations. The hula girls at the last 6/12 mile aid station were great - the gel packs they were handing out were chocolate and must have been sitting in the sun.....surprisingly tasted good. Paced better than I thought I would for the first ten miles, and still felt strong mentally after that. Decided to walk just through the last 3 aid stations which may have added a minute overall.

Improved the run time by about 12 minutes compared to last year. And happy that overall 34 minutes faster for this course compared to 2005.

Iced my neck, ate a burger, took a shower, hung out at the camp with the families, packed up camp and drove home. Iced my foot - 2nd and 3rd toes were numb for a week, but have slowly improved - fortunately not painful.



The trolls messing with my bike.


Well organized race.
The camping accomodations were great - cheap and not crowded, plenty of shade - would definitely camp again depending on the weather.