The washing machine really caught me off guard and I struggled to find some clear water. I continually got off line to the left and had to keep correcting the entire way. Not sure how much extra swimming I did but it seemed like a lot.

It seems I have a much stronger pull on the left, possibly because of the tear in my right shoulder. I should have accounted for this and started way right of the line. I really need to think about things like this more.

Took my time in T1. The wet suit stippers were awesome!

At this stage probably nothing. The extra couple of minutes saved by rushing in transition isn't going to help me much until I get better at the actual events

Ok so this is where the milk came back to bite me. I started out ok, managing about 20mph and then suddenly around mile 12 or so I became increadibly bloated to the point I couldn't stay aero for more than a minute or two. I also couldn't stomach anything except sips of water or gatorade. Even looking at a gel made me want to vomit. As we got further into the course I really started to struggle, totally lacking in energy. The winds started to pick up and I got even slower. I'd done the course in training at 18mph and was hoping for 16 but didn't even make 14.

Not drink a big cup of milk before a race, spend more time training hills over longer distances

Pretty basic. I was well behind the pack by this point so no trouble finding my rack and changing my shoes. Again, took my time knowing I still had 13.1 miles to go.

Nothing really

Really crashed and burned here. Running has always been the hardest for me and given where I'd already been I wasn't even sure I could finish. I'd run the distance a few times in training at 12-13 minute miles so hoped I could do the same but within minutes I realized there wasn;t a chance in hell. I'm pretty sure but this point I was very dehydrated and everything was cramping. Every time I breathed in it felt like a knife stabbing me in the back. This was the hardest thing I'd ever done and the point where I had to dig deeper than I thought possible. I lost count of the number of times I had to convince myself not to quit. I found a nice lady to walk with for the 2nd lap, and we even managed to do a jog 100 paces, walk 25 thing for a while. We both convinced another guy not to drop out when we saw him stop at the end of the 2nd lap. It really became just one foot in front of the other. I stopped thinking about my time, stopped worrying if I was going to make the cutoff, and just remembered what it took for me to get here and how I was going to finish no matter what, clock be damned.

Toooo many things to list here

Not enough time or training to prepare for this


I have to congratulate all of the people who finished this race and thank the organizers for doing such a wonderful job.

It wasn't until I got there that I realized just how out of my league I was. Not even 6 months ago I was an obese, lazy, asthmatic smoker on blood pressure and cholesterol meds with hardly a thought of doing something like this. I friend convinced me to do a super sprint so with 6 weeks of training I managed to finish and fall in love with the sport. Another friend convinced me I could do a half this year so in June I said what the hell and started training.

The expectation to finish well was unrealistic but I knew no matter what I could drag myself across that finish line and give myself a time to improve on for next year. It was the single most painful, tourturous, emotionally moving, and rewarding day of my life!