Other than really no time to get down to the swim after the race briefing, it was a good swim. It was narrow path to the "beach" which is barely 50ft wide.. so all the waves were in the water. Unforutnaly b/c of the location, no spectators could watch down at the water and bascially could only see us exiting up the path to T1. The water was great, and fresh is always nice too. I got into a pretty good pace - I coould have pushed a little harder, but the point of this race today was to finish since it was my first HIM so I took it a little easy. B/c there were plenty of swimmers ahead, it was realatively easy to sight, and I think I improved quite a bit in my line compared to other swims this season. I checked my watch exiting the water and was right at 40 min so I was happy.

Next HIM I'll push a little harder in the water to get a better time.

I was really surprised to see it was only 3:29 in T1. The entire day I planned to take kind of conservatively, so I was pleased with that time considering.. Now comes the the fun part of the day..

Pick things up a bit next HIM.

Whoa.. here we go. Well, I started out pretty well. There is a climb right at the start and I felt pretty strong. Of course the big guys on their scream machines started to fly by pretty quickly. Man I love the sound of those things. I was all smiles and thanking the police and race staff and probably avg around 18mph which I was quite happy with.. Anyway, things were going well up until about mile 22 (I think). On a nice open stretch of flat, wide residential road some rider calls out a loud "on your left" which is great.. but I took a quick look back and to my amazement she was right on my back wheel - so to, uh avoid an accident I swerved pretty hard right and lost it. Several expletives and a few seconds later I was on my way down, hard on my right side.. THUMP, WHACK.. I couldn't believe I was crashing. BAM, my head was the last thing to hit and I saw a nice white flash and stars - I thought wow, a helmet really WORKS! I'm down. Then the adrenaline kicked in and I popped right back up and a couple of riders asked if I was okay on their way by. Of course I said "yeah I'm fine". In reality I had no idea. I was pretty concerned about the bike though b/c I HAD to finish this thing - even with 35 miles and a half marathon to go. One rider was awesome and stopped (Runners Edge gear on - thanks!), she said she told an official to radio transition that there was a crash, and that rider was riding like an idiot and was screwing with everyone back there. I don't know who she thought she was - we were in the bottom 3rd of the pack! I later learned that my wife and mother heard the call back at transition and of course thought it was me. :) I told her I think I'm okay, and going to get going again if I can. She said, okay just take it slow.. Then a spectator came over, and helped me gather up some parts that broke off the bike and my helmet and asked if I'm okay also which was nice. I shook my head to clear it (hoping I didn't have a concussion) and then I swung my battered and bloody arm around and said "guess it's not broken!". I put the chain back on, checked the wheels, and said thanks and hopped back on. He was with a bunch of kids on the side and when I started up I heard some of them say "look, he's going again!" so that got me pumped. After that, the worst part was not being able to get down in aero b/c my arm was killing me. I finished lap 1 and passed the fam, hoping they couldn't see the "damage".. They didn't, and I decided to keep rolling.

Hmm, not CRASH maybe? I figure I lost around 10-15 min with the crashing and the slow going for a few miles after. Too bad, I was doing surprisingly well but either way I'm happy I was able to finish.

I took my sweet-a$$ time coming into this T. I can't belive it was only 3 minutes. I was moving in slow motion in there. I walked my bike to the rack, and checked myself over. Seemed okay considering, so off to the run and "murder hill" it was..

Pick up the pace after a better ride hopefully.

Okay, I made it off the bike in mostly one piece, so now just had to get through this run and I can put my first HIM behind me! I started out amazingly strong. I thing I did pretty well with nutrition (perpetuem) and hydration on the bike, so I was feeling pretty good (minus the knee, hip, arm, and back that I banged up on the bike). I hit the "hill" and was really taken back by the view of the crystal clear water at the top of it. It pretty much made it worth it. I thought about my family, and baby boy on the way (Nov 10th) and teared up I think. I knew at that point I was going to finish this thing. I finished the first loop in about 60 min so I was at 5:15 with 6.5 miles to go. I was hoping to keep up the same pace for lap 2, but the hills and the day caught up with me a bit and slowed down bit - I finished lap 2 in about 70 min so still pretty good. Amazing finish in 6:24. I was pumped.

More training with some big bricks to be able to keep up or better yet negative split the second half of the run.

Cold water, 1/2 banana, and a bunch or oranges. I stretched out a bit and packed up transition. I was dreading tell the fam about the crash, but knew it would be okay now that I was done..


Uh, let's see.. maybe falling on my a$$ on the bike? :)


Wow, what can I say? I did it. Finished a HIM in my "second season" - although my first season, I only did 1 sprint.. so I was happy. I was down about the crash, but in the end I was just happy to be able to get back on and keep moving it made it all worth it. The next day, I felt like I fell out of a tree. I'm pretty banged up - nothing a little time and advil can't fix. What a day - I guess this is what Ironman is all about. 3rd marathon in Jan coming up... and can't wait for next season! What a season.. I love this sport.