I was nervous about the swim but knew I'd get through it. About 1/4 of the way into the swim I had my watch ripped off. I took a couple seconds to look for it but no luck. I tried to keep calm and not let it bother me. Navigation wasn't too bad since there was so many others swimming at my pace to keep an eye on. Over all I am pretty happy with my swim. 5 minutes under my goal time!

Remember to put my wetsuit sleeve over my watch.

Wetsuit strippers had my suit off in seconds. That was pretty cool. When I got to the changing tent it was packed so I had to sit outside to change. Then when I tried to get some vasoline they couldn't find it. The volunteer suggested I go out to get sunscreen and he'd keep looking. When I came back to him he forgot to look!! I found the vasoline, applied it, and was on my way.(I made sure to give it to the guy so he'd have it for the next person)

Put cream in my bag. I shouldn't have depended on the race to supply at this point. Live and learn. I probably wasted close to 5 minutes.

The ride out was tough. Gradual up hill and into the wind. Coming back was awesome!! FAST!! I actually ran out of gears to go faster!! I passed a lot of people on the way back into town (I don't know why they weren't at least light peddling) After the first 4 hrs (My 2 original premade bottles) I couldn't drink any more perpetuem. It could have been because of the warm water I had to use to make the new bottles or the heat in general. It could have been from all the water I drank too. I was afraid I'd bonk so I switched to gatorade. Might not have been a good thing but I had to do something. At the special needs I re-applied sunscreen. Twice I got orange juice from an orange in my eye!! First the left eye and then the right. I could ride with one eye closed on the straight aways but I had to stop at one turn because I couldn't see well enough. I actually thought it was kind of funny...of all things to happen. The last 18 miles back into town I didn't push but still kept some watts (<100) going and still was over 20 mph a lot. Bike was pretty much what I expected. I was about 6 minutes slower than goal pace.

Practice with an alternate nutrition and have that ready at the special needs. Or, practice with race supplied nutrition.

Volunteers took my bike for me as I came in. Great job! I tried to keep calm and not push going out on the run because I didn't want to blow up. Stayed relaxed and got plenty of sunscreen.

Nothing. I could have gone a little faster but I wanted to keep calm.

Tough time! I ran slowly the first 2 miles. No idea pace or HR because I didn't have my watch (lost in the swim). I felt like I was going to vomit so I started walking. I was afraid to stop nutrition to let my stomach settle because I didn't want to bonk. I kept trying to run but I was ready to vomit if I ran too long. I even started counting steps. 100 then walk. 110 then walk...I tried to use to port-a-potty hoping to evacuate but no dice. Between mile 20-23 I stopped taking nutrition to see if my stomach would settle.The temperatures started to drop dramatically. My stomach started to feel better. I began to run a little more but my knee started to hurt. At mile 24 my stomach was FINALLY normal and I could run. My knee hurt but I wanted to finish strong. I passed probably 30 people in the last 2.2 miles!

Now that I have an IM under my belt I would have taken a chance and stopped nutrition sooner to let my stomach settle. I think it was filled with too much water from trying to keep hydrated so much.

I put my name in for a massage. Ate some pizza. Got my finish photo. Got my massage (AWESOME!) Ate some more pizza. Got my bike and bags and took them to the car. Went back to watch the last hour of finishers. Nice meeting you KSH :)


Stomach issues. Overall nutrition. Mostly...Inexperience.


Great volunteers! Great community! I stayed here a week before the race and everyone was happy to have me here! I would highly recommend doing this race!