ate a gu and went into the water ~10 minutes before start with cpjohnson. very wide start so we grabbed a spot on the line. as i stared at all the people piling into the water behind me i realized that i had no business being there. i reminded taco to start his watch (which he didn't), wished him luck and dropped back ~100 yards.
looked down at my arm "swam: 171753 yards"
the canon went off and we all headed out. it was always pretty crowded, but never dangerous. i've never had any issues in the swim. people bump me a little, but i've never been puched or kicked. i swim pretty defensively and always keep an eye out for crazy kickers.

nothing. i'm not a great swimmer, so i'll take that time. i didn't push it at all and felt fine after the swim.

wetsuit peelers are awesome. i want them for every race. the run up the helix into the conference center was fine and actually fun. the crowds were awesome.


if i was racing, i would have hurried a little, but i didn't want to forget anything so i took my time.

got on the bike and rode down the helix. headed out for long day on the bike. settled into aerobars and looked down at my forearm "biked: 3003.15 miles"

all i wanted to do was take it easy and keep my hr below 140. i managed to do that for most of the course. it would climb during climbs and i would tell myself to back off and recover on the downhills.

i drank all day. if i wasn't laughing at a spectator or getting more fluid an awesome volunteer, i was sucking on that straw. i had to stop and go to the bathroom 7-8 times. probably cost me over 20 minutes, but i have to say i never felt tired or overheated. i got sore, and bored, and lonely, but i never felt like stopping. i had to make myself slow down to stay in my hr range. i wasn't even sure that i would wear my hr monitor at first. we had a chance to talk with dave harju (2 time defending champion) for 10 minutes the day before. he was the nicest guy and the main thing he stressed was not to go too hard at any one point. if your hr spikes on the hills, slow down. if your hr drops on a downhill, push it. stay steady instead of going hard and recovering. i think that saved my day. i would feel great at times with all the spectators and excitement and look down only to realize my hr was 150.

i carried a ton of food with me, but ended up eating mainly gu and bananas (~ every 25 minutes) with a pack of crackers and a granola bar to mix it up.

the crowds on the bigger 2 climbs were awesome. it was just like the tour and even had several devils. yelling at us to get off their hill! best 2 signs of the bike:
girl in her 20's holding a sign that read "Holy Fuck! You're doing an Ironman!" and a group of college kids (boys in speedos and girls in bikinis with a sign that read: "Next lap, We're naked". i didn't see them on the second lap though.
i did get to see the awesome group of friends and family that came to cheer us on. first lap i stopped to talk with my dad and nate, and the second lap i found my wife for a big salty kiss.

not sure. could i have gone faster? sure. could i have drank less and stopped to go to the bathroom less? sure. would i have ended up on the side of the road waiting for an ambulance? who knows.

uneventful. voluneers (have i mentioned how great they were?) took bike from you after riding up the helix and i headed into t2. totally changed and headed out for the run.

nothing really. took my time though.

i had what felt like a pulled muscle in my hip/ass that hurt all week and really worried me. i took it easy all week, but thought that it still could ruin my race. luckily, i started the run fresh from the bike and it felt good. looked down at my thigh: "ran: 635.9 miles"

my run has been improving and become my best event, so i felt like i could go at a hr of ~150 and see what happened. crowds were bigger than on the bike and i go to see my friends/family more so i was really pumped up. 26.2 miles between me and an ironman and 8+ hours to do it. nothing could the smile off my face now. nothing except 16 miles and a bad decision...

my stomach was a little tight and i wasn't tired so i decided to stop the gu and stick to a full cup of gatorade and half cup of water at every aid station. i started fast. i hadn't seen heidi all day, but i knew she couldn't be too far so i started chasing her. hit mile marker 2 in 16:30 (including walking aid stations) and realized that was crazy and backed off a little. legs were getting sore, but i was still ok at the turnaround and finished the first loop in just over 2 hrs with a pace of 9:26, which included 2-3 bathroom stops. incredible. a full 1:00/mile faster than my only marathon.

then it hit me. mile 16. hands and head started to tingle a little. didn't have the energy to push through the leg pain and had to walk. started to think that my goals were all just guesses and at least i could walk to the finish which is all that really matters. walked/stumbled next 4 miles @15:00/mile. then i stopped to go to the bathroom and started swaying. i have never felt like this. it was getting a little scary. i finally realized that my stomach no longer hurt because it was totally empty i hadn't eaten in hours. gatorade was not enough for 26.2 miles. i had nothing left. as soon as i got the the next aid station i ate 1 banana, 1 gu, an enduralyte tablet, a tylenol, a handful of pretzels, magical chicken broth, and switched to only water. i was able to get back to a 12:00/mile jog almost immediately and by mile 23 i was back at a 10:00/mile pace. i felt like i was on a cloud. i was screaming at fans to get more excited and trying to encourage everyone left out there with me. i missed the mile26 marker, so the finish snuck up on me, but i sprinted all the way down the chute. it was all a blur. i didn't hear a thing. got my medal and one of the all time greatest hugs from my wife.
wow.




sign up for shorter race? i should have eaten and listeed to my body earlier.

ate a ton and hung out with friends and family waiting for a massage. after the massage, we went out to cheer on others and see cpjohnson finish. then we drove around looking for pizza, but had to settle for wendy's.


bad decision to stop eating and fear of not finishing. i could have gone faster if i was willing to risk blowing up and not finishing, but what's the point of that? almost 20% of the people were DNF and it was the only ironamn ever that no one broke the 9hr mark. i am happy to have finished with any time. i feel terrible for people that had the heat and wind sneak up on them during the bike and weren't able to finish.


this is the only ironman i have seen, but it was great and i can't imagine it being much better. expo, dinner, location, course, volunteers. everything was great.
i'll try to post photos later...

UPDATE: some photos added below.
pic1 - difficult to see, but if you save it and open it, you'll see it's a panorama of half of the transition bike area. it was amazing
pic2 - me after the finish with a smile and a sandwich.
pic3 - heidi and i with dave harju (2 time winner and all around nice guy/wacky canadian)
pic4 - taco and i sorting out the bike to run bags
pic5 - swim area and dreaded helix