The swim start was from the boat launch allowing Dan to see me more easily and trek behind me far enough to maintain safety. The lighting was low at 7:06 when I started but the sky was brilliant, with reds and purples. This let me with a hopeful perspective for the day, and provided some motivational viewpoints during the swim.
The lighting at the start was low enough that sighting was going to be difficult early. This was not a surprise to me and I had given as much consideration to this as I could. I had even considered finding some method of placing buoys around the course but that may have created a logistical issue that I was not necessarily prepared to contend with, so I passed on that. There would also be bait traffic on the lake during the day before and, of course, after I completed the swim. I always hate asking for help, so asking for someone to support me 2-3 more times kept me from asking at all.
As noted above, sighting in the low light created some really challenging conditions. The usual markers were very dim as I started and finding them was a struggle. The sighting checks I am used to making with subtle rises of my head (barely clearing the bottom of my goggles from the surface of the water) were fewer than longer sighting pictures. In order to get a decent sight picture as I headed easy, initially, I was raising my head all the way out of the water, causing my feet to drop and slowing me.
the turn south was much the same, but I did find a light on shore to use that I felt was close to a normal landmark. This, however, proved to make me steer more to the east than typical. I didn't end up off course, per se, just teaching a little further east than normal. I couldn't notice this in the low light, but as I neared that edge of the shore I began to be able to see the normal landmark.
Once through these two turns I was into a longer section of the swim. This section of the swim is about .3 miles and is in clear needles water, whereas the initial .25 miles can become weedy if I miss the landmarks. This section is one of my favorite sections to swim because I only have to worry about sighting on landmarks.
Making my way into the second basin is little more likely to cause me to run into weeds. And I need that, strong!! I got into a weed patch that was brushing my face for a minute or two. The brushings were more like scrapings as the weeds were all the way up into my face and head, rather than just some minor brushings.
After getting into the second basin, I began to be able to se better. The sun had now come up and my normal landmarks were more visible, although not the best just yet. Beginning at this point I had little or no trouble picking out my landmarks, for the most part.
The best part of this swim was as I turned northward. Making the turn allowed me to catch brief glimpses of the sun. By this time of the morning it was just cellaring the trees on the east side of the basin, and man was it gorgeous!! A few times during this part of the swim I decided to take extra breaths to my right side so I could see the fire red light from the sun. There was still some red and purple as I swam north, but it was beginning to fade into the blues of a clear sky. I used this few moments to be thankful that God had given me this opportunity to complete this solo event.
The remainder of the swim became somewhat uneventful as I was under the sun or swimming toward it. Of course swimming into the sun created some sighting issues as well, but those were minimal. For the most part, I was not swimming due east into the sun. Rather, I was swimming at angles that allowed me to have the sun slightly left or right of my landmarks.
Coming into the swim out, I was little surprised by my time. Not too much, as I know I should be able to swim an Ironman marked course in about an hour, but I wanted to make sure I was VERY close, if not slightly over, the swim distance required for an Ironman. As it turned out, I was only about 50 yards short, making this a very close swim and an acceptable margin due to the inaccuracy of GPS in the water.

Nothing. Since this wasn't a race I wanted to complete the swim in a reasonable timeframe while preserving plenty of energy for the remainder of the day.

This segment was untimed. Again, not a race, but I also didn't jack around either. I spoke to my wife and another couple of people briefly and got on the bike. 15 minutes is close but there is a +/- margin in there too.

I cannot begin the discussion of this segment without mentioning the flats. Since I began triathlon on 2010, I rarely flat. In 2017, I think, I flatted 3 times in 4 weeks. Other than that, I am not sure I have averaged more than on flat every year. If I were to guess the average would be 1 flat every two years. But more on this later…

The beginning of the ride was cool, enough so that I felt I needed thin arm warmers. Before heading out I asked Lisa to take some pictures of the my forearms, of the names of the All-Stars. They had already begun to fade from the water during the swim, but I looked at them and hoped to be able to see them later after the temps came up enough o take the warmers off.
I left the campground and, officially, began the bike at 8:23 am. The target for the bike had been given at 200w NP for the day, with a chance of working toward 205w NP depending on how I felt at the beginning of the second half.
the beginning the ride is a hilly section. There are a couple of hills at the beginning that spinning up in my lowest highest gear will not allow low power outputs. As I grabbed the smallest cog, I was still turning about 230w (+/-). There would be other oils on this route that would also be similar outputs while climbing.
Once past this initial segment the route begins to become easier to hold the power on target, but there are still some hills and many rollers.
Over the course of the first hour I normalized 201w despite overshooting on the initial hills. VI points to a reasonable variability at 1.02 for this first hour, so I was on track reasonably well to track appropriately for the day.
The first hour I had some wind at my back to help propel me a little bit, with I was thankful for, but it made me wonder how the end of the day would be as I knew I'd be turning back into the wind, twice.
Stop signs and slow downs were going to be a part of the whole day since I wasn't on a closed/controlled race course. I knew this would keep me slower than I would have liked, but it was just going to be a part of the day. I was still hopeful that I would have a decent bike split so I could get off the course as quickly as possible.
There was little traffic on the course for the first two hours since I had begun as early as I had, but there was still some traffic passing me. I added a second taillight to provide a little more visibility since Lis was nervous about me being out so long. She had considered following me the entire time on the bike but I successfully talked her out of it. I felt a car going 20 mph with traffic following and wanting to pass would create more of an issue, angering more people, than 1 cyclist that would be easier to pass.
There are many lakes on the route I chose to ride and the views helped provide some distraction. To name a few, Golden, Whitmer, Dallas, Atwood, Hackenburg and Oliver. The largest lake was Big Turkey which I should have spent the least amount of time looking at, but more on that later.
The first loop pf the bike was pretty quick, mentally, and I felt like I was in good shape fr much of it. There was little fatigue that had developed over the first two hours, but the 30 minutes or so before getting to the feedstop I felt some fatigue begin to develop. SO far there had been little to no indicators that my exercised induced bronchspasms would cause any issues, but that always shows up late in a long ride.
Coming onto the feedstop at a little over 56 miles had me mentally ready to begin the second loop. I wasn't losing too much of my fire, but, having done 4 other full distance races, I know that fire would fade.
I pulled in and exchanged my bottles, got a fresh drink of cooler water, refilled the integrated bottle on my Canyon, spoke a few words to my wife ad was ready to leave. This is where things began to get interesting and, at times, frustrating….

After checking my Training Peaks account for data, I found that I was back on the road for less than 2 minutes before flatting my rear. Just as I approached the obstacle in the road I saw it, but I had no time to steer clear of it. As soon as I hit it, what I found later to be a bushing of some sort, I knew I was going to flat. The front rolled over it fine, well, sort of, but the rear was the one that took the brunt, apparently.
I pulled off the side of US 20 and asked to the next intersection. There, Lisa pulled just ahead of me and waited me out. I grabbed all of my gear to change the flat and felt I could be back on the road in about 10 minutes or less. No big deal, right? WRONG!!! I encountered more problems with this one flat than I thought possible. Since I was riding my disc, I knew it would take just a minute longer to replace the tube and air it up. Still, not a big deal. However, once I got the new tube inserted, my inflator wouldn't work. I tried two separate CO2 cartridge and got nothing. Thankfully I was close to the campground and could send Lis back for a pump. This was increasing my delay back to the road and developing frustration.
Once Lis, finally, got back to me, I was able to get the tire aired up and back on the road quickly. However, at this point I knew I was well behind schedule, although I wasn't sure how long I'd been there. Later I found our I was 33 minutes delayed from getting off the bike course… for this one.
Once back on the rad I took things reasonably in stride, especially for me. If this had actually been a race I would have probably burned myself out trying to catch back up to where I felt I should have been, and in ultra course racing this is a really bad idea. This is definitely one of my faults!
From here I tried to ride more by PE (physical exertion) than trying to hit the numbers. Again this not being a race I didn't want to slam myself too hard. Was wanting to more than just "complete" the event, but not necessarily "race" the event. I was still maintaining the 201w NP an VI of 1.02 so I still felting decent shape, but now I was paying more attention to how I felt.
I was about 70-75 miles into the race and could feel my legs begin to fatigue more, expectantly, and wondered ow the remainder of the day would treat me. Thankfully this begins the more flat portion of the course and I could settle in to a more routine flow of cadence and power outputs and get comfortable in my ride position.
Then I started around the lakes. While scenery is nice the roads can get a little more rough in places. This always proves mentally fatiguing as you tire out. Bumps in the road become frustrating and cumbersome to navigate comfortably. Occasionally, due to my character, I get angrier more easily once the fatigue develops, and today was no different.
I made through those rough areas and knew I was going to be able to settle in and ride, mostly, good roads for the rest of the trip in. And then…..
….flat number 2!?!?
I was 96 miles in and I hit a larger stonier the road. Again, this was something that I approached quickly, more quickly than the first flat. I Was moving over 28 mph so making adjustments quickly in the aero position would h ave been a poor mistake to make. I hit the stone with my front, casing it to pinch and lose air somewhat slowly.
Now, after the second flat in the same day, same ride my nature was coming out. I was straight up angry!! However, after only. short time I began to chuckle to myself (quit out of character for me). Maybe it was the fact that I wasn't going to lose my "first place postion," I don't know. Regardless, I settled my mind and called my SAG, Lisa, to come save me, again.
This time I made sure she brought both of my non-race wheels, just in case. It took her almost 30 minutes to get to me once she knew I was needing assistance.
Once at my location I was ready to change the tube. The time was partially off the rim and the tube had been removed. I will say, as I waited alone side the road, I decided rather than stand there and become frustrated, I would check my Facebook and update people. I knew Lis had been doing updates as well, but I wanted to check in. This helped settle my mind and laugh little at some of the comments others had made.
Anyway, back to the flat. I got the new tube installed and began to try to inflate using the pump… Nothing! The air wouldn't go in. I jacked around doing all sorts of tings to manipulate the tire and tube and, finally, after several more minutes I was able to get it aired up to the desired pressure. I disconnected the pump and mounted the wheel on the bike and calmed it down….
PSSSHHH!!!!!
Seriously!?!?
Immediately after mounting the wheel and clamping it down, another flat. Well, at least I wasn't riding I guess. At this point I was only 16 miles from T2 and I took advantage of the other, non-race wheels in the truck. I took the 90mm deep front off and grabbed my 60mm, aired it up and took off. This time LIs decided to stick with me since I was only 16 miles out.
I left ready for this debacle to be over. I was still struggling with the idea that I had 3 flats in 1 single ride after almost never flatting, ever. It seems I have gone years without a flat tire, and now 3?? In one day???? But I digress.
As I rode off I tried to regain my legs, which were now trying to tell me how stupid I was for doing this, and that I wanted to hold on to the 200w NP for the day. Over the course of the next few miles something was happening to me that I didn't know right away. I figured it out at a more inopportune time, my blood sugar was crashing.
When I determined what was happening I was on SR 327 and there was no place to pull off the road. I think I rode about a mile or so before making a turn on to the county road I needed to use. This involved an uphill, that wasn't that steep, but it felt like a mountain. I was hurting, BADLY!!! I didn't know if was going to be able to keep my legs moving.
Once the turn was made I tried to clear the intersection to allow any traffic to pass, as needed, and stopped to signal Lis to me. She pulled alongside and I asked if she had sugar in the truck. She had nothing. Now, I still had 300-350 cals of EFS Liquid Shot, but that seems like it can take 15-20 minutes to hit me, and I needed it yesterday. I also had about 150-200 cals of EFS Pro remaining. In both cases I knew, or felt, I would need that to get back to the lake, but I became desperate.
I guzzled what I am guessing was 300 cals of Liquid Shot immediately and another 50 cals of EFS and hoped it would hit me sooner than expected.
Lis asked, "Do you just want to get in and let me take you back?" The answer was simple, even with all of my frustration and feeling like I could just fall over, "NO! I'm finishing this thing!"
She suggested something I actually already knew, place some EFS Liquid Shot under my tongue for a short time. After doing so, I took off just wanting to be done and not knowing how bad this was going to feel for the next 15-20 minutes. But the shot under my tongue… MAN!!! did that hit me quick! I suppose in under 3 minutes I could quite literally feel it begin to hit me. I dialed up the pace and effort to close to target, maybe 10-15w lower, and kept riding in.
At this point in the ride it became about being back and about being done! I was watching the target power fall, but I determined not to let that other me, although it always does. Also watched my average speed, over the course of the day, drop from 21.5 mph to 21 mph.
Riding into the campground saw me 1 mile short of the 112 miles. Hat wasn't going t happen!! So I did some looping around inside the campground to make sure that happened. Later I noticed that my computer stopped, but still mapped me. I ended with an actual distance of 112.48 miles.
If it weren't for the flats, I would have ridden something close to 5:15 - 5:20, an expected ride for me.

UMMM??? Is this a question? Really?
…. NOT HAVE 3 FLATS!!

Just as T1, I didn't track this. I also tried to get some additional calories in me since I had lost so much during the 90 minutes of ride delays, so I knew the run was going to be miserable, but how miserable remained to be seen.
I took in some extra calories in T2 that I wouldn't normally take since I knew I was behind from the bike. This cost me some time, but I am not sure how much time.

NOT have 3 flats!! This would have been a better transition, although still not being competitive, if I had been on track and finished 90 minutes sooner.

Having had the difficulty on the bike course that I'd had, I knew the run wasn't going to go well either. I knew the 90 minute delay had caused me to become significantly behind on my nutrition plan for the day, although I didn't think about it until the bonk that occurred with 10 miles or so to go.
So, with that in mind, and the extra calories in during the transition, I left in hopes of having a somewhat decent run, for me.
The goal for the day was sub 9 minute miles and I was hopeful, although not expecting that to occur. I left feeling decent despite the bonk and felt pretty good about it, at the time. I have run this looped course multiple times over the past 5 years so I knew the course and where to expect slow miles and where the fast ones should be.
The first mile came in on track at 8:25. Ok, just a little faster than expectations but only by 5 seconds. The front of the marathon may have given me some 8:30 miles based on fitness if things had gone well on the bike. Since they didn't go well I knew this wouldn't last, but, I still remained hopeful to be sub 9:00 pace for the day.
Mile 2 came in slower ad inside of expectations at 8:46 but I cold feel the suffering setting in already. Now, understanding Ironman marathons start at The Wall, I knew I wasn't going to be on easy street for the day. However,I was hopeful that I would begin to experience problems early and, already at mile 2, I felt I was losing more than I could keep up with.
Mile 3 brought upon some pain in my shoulder. My trapezius in my right shoulder over the course of this training cycle would develop some extreme tension during runs. The tension would be over the last 2or maybe 3 miles of runs. What made it difficult to determine the cause was that it didn't matter if it was a long run or a moderate distanced run. Now, with 23 miles to go, I could feel the tension developing already.
I hit the first aid station at 3.25 miles and grabbed my fuel and water and paused for a short time. I wanted to keep this as short as I could but being self sustained for the run and having to get my own hydration, etc. I knew the run would take longer and have multiple longer than usual pauses because the aid stations were closed, so to speak. They were set up, but they were in coolers to keep insects from getting in the water and other hydration fluids. The stops at both aid stations, again, roughly 3.25 miles apart I tried to hydrate a little better, but I was carrying a water bottle with me for the miles in between.
After the first aid station stop I was able to keep moving somewhat well, but the pace was falling, pretty dramatically. The miles were now 9:30 or slower for this first loop.
The aid stop at almost 7 miles brought about a change in mindset, already. I told Lis that this would turn "real ugly" as I knew tings were already going south, very early. She decided she was going to follow me on our golf cart for at least this loop.
The tension in my shoulder was beginning to really cause some pain. I was able to get to the aid station on the back half of the course but I was struggling to do so. I wanted to stop and ask Lis to give me a massage to try to free up my trapezius, but I waited until I got stopped.
The stop at this aid station was longer than desired because of my shoulder but the pain felt like it was enough that I may have had to begin walking if I had kept running without the massage.
Once back up to "running," my pace was falling incredibly fast. I was above 10 minute miles and I hadn't even hit the half marathon point. Ugly was definitely the direction this run was going! After hoping for a 4 hour marathon before this thing had begun, but I was well past that chance and it was looking to get worse. The next 3+ miles after the aid station stop came in between 10:04 and 10:20, more than a minute and half from my best Ironman marathon.
I was now at the aid station to start the second half of the marathon and my low back was beginning to cause problems. The tension I'd felt in my shoulder had now moved to my low back and was increasing the stress to my body and mind. the day seemed to be getting longer and longer and I hadn't even been checking the paces all that often on my watch as the alerts were coming in. Even now, I am not sure I even realized they were coming in. I think I hurt too bad to notice my watch vibrating.
The miles were getting even slower. I knew it but I also knew that I couldn't stop it from happening. My HR was dropping, which was expected at the slower paces I was running, but I wasn't feeling any better. Paces to the next aid station were now beginning to touch into 11 minute miles. This is an experience I haven't had, ever, in any race.
The pain I was experiencing at the stop at the back of the 3rd loop caused me to lay down on the ground. I was in trouble! LIs, still flowing me on the golf cart, told me, "You'll never get up if you lay down." I knew it would be hard to get running again, much less get off the ground, but I responded to her that I would.
As Lis made her statement to me, all I could think of if I quit was that the children of Pinky Swear would be let down. I had to hold this together! I couldn't quit because of some temporary pains I was experiencing that would eventually go away.
Once I decided to get back up, which seemed only to be a minute, or maybe two, it took me a while to stand upright. I asked for the shoulder massage, grabbed a drink and tried to suck it up and put my big boy pants on.
The next miles were all above 11 minute paces and getting slower with each mile. I did pause for another couple of minutes to change my shoes. I had no idea if tis would help, but I had asked Lis t grab another pair of shoes just in case I'd had some sort of problem. I had never even considered this before, but this time I asked her to do so very early. This was at mile 18+. I didn't know if it would help at all, but it seemed worth it to me.
As the run loop changed I knew there would be an absolutely miserable hill that I would have to climb. I knew walking was likely to occur and I truly hate the idea of walking. This is one reason I didn't want to alter the run course at Lisa's suggestion. This climb was done during mile 20. I tried as best I could to run that hill, but running, at this point, was purely relative. What I was doing was shuffling my feet kinda quickly, nothing more. After not very long on that hill I decided to walk.
As I began to walk, Lis pulled along side me and asked if I wanted to her to drive me to the top of the hill. It really wasn't very far, maybe 40-50 feet, but I couldn't do it. This, I felt, would be cheating. I couldn't take away some of the misery of this event if I was indeed trying to do this for children who are dealing cancer. I told her, "No!" and kept moving.
Once to the top of the hill, I began an incredibly slow jog that progressed to what was now an incredibly slow run. This became my slowest mile at 11:51. I had no idea at the time I was running this slow, but I knew it was ridiculous. the mile also took me into the 5th aid station stop, which was also the next to last official stop at the front of the course, but definitely not my last stop altogether.
During this stop I took on 800mg of ibuprofen. LIs had asked a friend to bring some to this aid station to see if it would help my back, which was now in total rebellion. It was causing me to alter my running and making me try to stretch it out, while running. Obviously a bad idea!
I took the ibuprofen and almost immediately got nauseous. I sat on the back of the golf cart audibly groaning from the pain and the nausea. I sat there for far too long and when I stood up my stomach began to cramp BADLY. I stood for another short time and tried to move, but another wave of nausea slammed me. I told Lis I was going to the bathroom in the camp store. As I walked away, I staggered and Lis yelled,"You're done!!" to which I responded, "I am going to finish! Even if I have to walk, I am going to finish!" Again, I wanted to quit almost desperately but still thought of the let downpour James, the little boy with cancer that had sent me a special message on Friday. If at all possible, I wasn't going to let that happen.
I went in to the bathroom, took care of business and came back out. By now the sun was going down. I was about to finish my first ever Ironman distance ever in the dark.
I had just under 6 miles to go and I felt like I could die. I began to jog off at a pace that I thought was little more than a walk. I intentionally started slowly to determine if I would develop anymore GI issues. Thankfully there were no more.
Now as I slogged off, I bean to think of how slow this last 10k was going to be. All I could think of was another 90 minus of running. 90 minutes for a 10k???? I haven't even run an hour 10k in years, now I'm looking at 90 minutes??? I honestly have no idea what kind of paces I was running at the time, only that they were incredibly slow.
Mile 22 came in at 11:34, tying for the second slowest mile I'd run for the day. I as dying the most slow death. And then….
….something happened! I am not sure what it was! But it was as if, FINALLY, the nutrition had hit from all of the aid stations over the run course. I began to cruise!! I couldn't believe it!! I was feeling like I should have for the first 10k or more, like a rabbit.
Mile 23 and 24 came in exactly the same, at 10:20. I felt like I was on fire! I hd stopped doing mile 22 to get a drink for Lis and felt the snap somehow. She went on ahead of me to pick up the aid statin I was not going to need and she would meet me back after I turned around. to finish the out and back (course change).
MIle 25 and 26 came in smoking hot! Well, at least for what I'd been running, NOT what I was expecting to run for the whole thing, but I was cruising. I hit 9:49 and 9:35 respectively and was feeling strong. I quire literally could have dunmore miles.
I feel confident, now, that the ibuprofen took the muscle tension and pain away and allowed me to recover and run better, not well, just better, and finish the day.
To close the run out, Lis had mentioned that our neighbor girl wanted to ring me in to the finish line using a bell. I ran past the campsite too Riley ringing and yelling me through. There were others there too, yelling and congratulating me.
However, in order to get the full distance in, I had to run another short, quick loop to finish out the 26.2. This timed out perfectly as I was able to stop at the next round in front of our campsite.

NOT have 3 flat tires on the bike!

I also wish I had taken the ibuprofen sooner too. Now, looking back on the day, I believe the ibuprofen would have taken the edge off sooner and left me with a much better chance at having a much better day running.

There was no warm down or anything else. I stood and talked for a few minutes to Gage, Brenda and the kids, asked for a stupid tall glass of chocolate milk and wanted to sit down.
After a couple of minutes LIs brought out some cold watermelon and that sounded pretty incredible. I piled some in a bowl and drank the chocolate milk and talked to some of my there supporters for a few minutes.


Umm? Have I mentioned NOT having 3 flat tires on the bike yet???



Now, 4 days post event, I feel even more thankful that I have been blessed to complete these events. This one will be special for me, for sure. I didn't have to do it. I had no money wrapped up in registration fees. I was going to lose no money for hotel reservations, I had no real reason to do a solo event…

Or did I?
Becoming a unsolicited advocate for Pinky Swear Foundation has given me an unselfish reason to race, a reason to give back to someone better than myself. I truly enjoy representing them, even if its in an unofficial capacity, and I think they're okay with it too. I seek no recognition and expect none. I desire only to raise awareness for as many people as possible so that families who are struggling with one of their children with cancer can have a support mechanism.

If you, the reader, knows any family in this position, please contact Pinky Swear. There are links in their website provided to put them in touch with help.
Pinky Swear has helped support more than 15,000 families/children since their inception and they are looking to help more.

Donate here: https://www.classy.org/fundraiser/2752717