Was a bit apprehensive about the start and not having touched the water at all but strangely felt calm right away once I jumped in. 6 of us were jumping in every 10 seconds. I feared this would create a logjam and chaos in the water but it seemed to keep it a bit less congested for the amount of swimmers. First swimmers jumped in at 6:50 and I was in at 7:14 according to my times so probably about 1/3 of the way through. Swim was going pretty good to me as I was pretty much just able to follow the splash in front of me without having to worry much about navigation. This became a problem for me about 1/3 of the way through when I kayak stopped about 4 of us and let us know we had made a wrong turn!!! We had cut in one buoy too soon so had to swim back on course. I'm guessing we had gone between 50 to 100 yards off course so for me a 3 to 5 minute mistake. I will probably just go ahead and get prescription goggles so I can take more ownership of my direction out in the water. Once I was back on course it was more of the same as we were with the current on the way out so it felt like I was making good progress. When we did turn back into the current it did seem like forever and a day before I could see the turn for home buoys. I started to experience so back tightness (this would be a recurring theme today) and what I could tell was some pretty bad chafing on the front of my right chest/arm from my wetsuit. Really no excuse for the chafing as I had plenty of time to make sure I was body glided correctly but obviously missed that part. Quite the picture/abrasion when it was all said and done.

Stay on course!

Used the strippers for the 1st time doing one with them and not really sure if it saved me any time. Not there fault as they were very helpful but it just may be more efficient for me to do it myself next time. I knew I wasn't planning to rush through transitions as I wanted to make sure I had everything covered for the long day to come. Took down a hot shot and off I went.

I could show a little more urgency.

Yuck! What an awful bike leg I had. I could tell almost immediately that my legs didn't feel as good as I wanted them to and by mile 5 my bike had begun to get uncomfortable. I decided to use the downhill areas as a way to stand up and stretch out my bike whenever I could but obviously the downside to that is I didn't take nearly enough advantage of any speed I picked up. The course wasn't super crowded for 2500 people but you'd run into pockets of congestion. Given my pace I was being passed by many more than I was passing but I had moved to survival mode as I was concerned I wouldn't be upright at all come the run if I didn't try to just get through it. I did stop on the 2nd and 3rd loops at the aid station out in the middle of the course to use the bathroom and take the opportunity to stretch so that is probably 8 to 10 minutes added to my time but felt like I needed to do it. Any benefit to my back would be gone within 10 minutes of starting back up. When we finally hit mile 50 and then the break in the AC Expressway to either continue on or head to bike finish I was super happy but it still seemed to me that the bike end just wouldn't get there. Still had what seemed like 10 minutes left and it was starting to get to me. Just wanted to be done. Finally got to dismount which went well other than losing the grip on my bike momentarily and it hitting the ground but that was no big deal as my legs felt ok and I was able to move/walk upright without much back discomfort which had me hopeful for the run.

More training and time in the saddle. As I've looked at my bike photos I can see that my seat is too low as both in aero and when out I'm not in the correct position and my legs are too bent at the bottom of the cycle. Going to get back to the bike shop for a fit and whatever adjustments are needed.

Slow transition as I didn't run in with my bike at all which disappointed me when I've thought about since the race ended. No excuse for not hustling a bit. Rest was fairly uneventful though I didn't reapply enough body glide as I did run into some issues on the run.

Run and body glide!

Had heard that Bader field could be tough and the sun was out in full force. I actually felt pretty good so decided to just put my head down and run and not think about how much more we had to run before we got to Rt40 and then the boardwalk. Really did work well and had decided before the race that I'd hydrate good in T2 and not stop until the 2nd aid station which was out by where we entered the boardwalk. Things were going well and passing quite a few people. Did stop at the boardwalk aid station and had the lovely lady there spray me with the hose which felt great. Decided I would try and drink one Gatorade and 2 waters through the first few stations and see how I did. I managed to then run all the way through to just short of 5 miles complete when I could start to feel some issues starting from a lack of body glide and the sun starting to wear me down. Decided to do a 4 to 1 run/walk at that point as a minimum. I was able to do this all the way out to mile 9 I think it was and was feeling good about my run. We were now near where the finish is but it was a bit tough to have to run by there and run out to the turnaround which just would seem to come. Did a bit more walking than I had been from miles 10 to 12 but decided I was going to run/shuffle it home the entire way as I knew I needed to do that to break 7 hours and I really didn't want to go over 7. Not that it was my pre-race goal to break 7 it was much lower than that but I knew that was toast 10 minutes into the bike. Ran around the building than back onto the boardwalk for the final straighaway and didn't see a reason to sprint so just kind of settled into a nice run behind a few people who were finishing before me.

Have to body glide more effectively as the issues were painful and caused me to walk and try and find a way to move that was ok. Maybe change into dry shorts in T2 for a race this long.

Went to food area. Even though the burgers and fries looked great I could tell I wasn't that hungry so didn't want to waste it so just took some bacon (there were just huge mounds of it!) , soft pretzel and a coke. Didn't even finish the pretzel but while eating commiserated with 2 of the ladies who I had basically run the entire 13.1 miles with. Was good to put a voice/name to the faces that helped me keep up out there.


Time to train is always my issue so I do the best I can with the time I get.


Delmo puts on nothing but top notch races and this was another one. Just so super organized and the vibe always so exciting and positive. Just a super experience when you can think about it after the fact and pain is over! Probably won't be back next year as race is scheduled for daughter's bday but hopefully the year after.