My plan was to start with Tomo and see what happens. We get into the water, I turn and look for my family which I can't find, turn back and now I can't find Tomo. I start to panic, I only see light blue caps & hot pink caps and goggles everywhere. Decide to head towards the middle of start line seed myself about 10 - 12 people back and calm down. I look back and 1/2 the people are standing in knee deep water and big gap between those of us treading water and the rest. I said OK KSH lets go....7AM gun goes off and immediatly I get raked by a fingernail in the face, and we are packed in. Keep swimming but almost like an accordian and we would go and then slow, go and then slow. POW a fist to my Jaw, more startling than painful and I think that woke me up. I said just keep swimming it has to open up sooner or later.

About 500 yards out I culd see the lane line and things started to open up. I was getting some good drafts from a guy and stayed behind him until the turn which was again bottled up and crazy. Made the turn and found a Pink cap to draft behind and nice and easy. It is so funny to watch people swim. I really pull hard, glide long and hardly kick, others kick very hard the entire time and arms almost twice as fast as mine entering the water. See the swim exit, stand up, think phew one loop down (38 minutes and change) one more to go. Jump back in get going, find the line, others around me, start thinking of Lawerchick and ask her to get aggressive and clear me a path...LOL (I really thought that) 2nd loop goes very well and before you know it I'm getting out of the water and it is POURING.

Ater the first 200 yards it was OK, after 500 yards I knew I would get out of the water and onto the next portion of race.

Not much.

Exited the water and it was Pouring but the crowds were going crazy, and I saw most of my peeps cheering me on. I ran past Hot Tamale and her daughter Mandy and high 5's then saw Vanessa and my wife which I stopped and gave her a kiss then ran down to transition. Thought...OK Swifty your turn.

What a mess, mud already everywhere get my bag into transition tent and it is so steamy HOT in there you can bearly see. get on shoes, helmet, sun glasses on front of shirt (I never did need them) nutrition into shirt and off I went.

Not much.

The first couple of miles had tons of riders and you couldn't really pass or get passed. Raining hard and first mile down hill with lot of braking to not hit the riders in front of you. second mile down by horse stables and still pretty clogged. Tires in front of you tossing lots of water back at you etc. Feel pretty good first 7 miles and then hit Keene 6 mile downhill and I took it pretty fast even with the weather conditions. Ate gel or nutrition every 20 minutes.

Note: Enduralytes in my Bento box disinigrated in the rain and just caused a mess.

Turn onto 9 mile flat section and have good pace going, slow at each aid station and grab water refills and pour into Aero bottle. Each corner and turn are basically single file and taken in such away as to not spill or hit the rider turning just before or after you etc. JessXU passed me just about mile 25 and as I say hey JESS, she looks back and almost gets in accident (whoops...sorry Jess) Out and back goes great, good on climb back to Placid but the rain is throwing down and a rider would pass me and I would say "Is this swim almost over" would laugh with the rider and keep going. Hey atleast it wasn't Humid and 95 degrees. The other part was once you got soaked you couldn't get any wetter. Just being SAFE was the main concern. Lots of flat tires on the course and I would just keep saying ...please don't flat, please don't flat. Polly passed me on Northwoods and said "Hey Tom" at about 54 miles and it was nice to hear a friendly voice. Hit Mirror Lake Drive, saw my family and they all screamed...It was Awesome to see them all and I felt bad that they had to be out in the rain all day.

Stopped at bike special needs grabbed new fluid nutition bottles, gummy lifesavors, new gel flask and a poptart (brown sugar cinnamin) which tased great after all those gels.

headed into town was pumped that I had just about completed first loop took turn onto road with all the flags a little to fast and almost biffed it into the spectator safety fence (had about 7 inches to spare) with really wet surface (Heart in throat) Mental note: Much slower here 2nd loop. Not sure of exact time but about 3:35 - 3:38 I think.

2nd loop much of the same, just a little slower and then from the Hungry trout back into town (about 11 miles) I really slowed down. Stopped to relieve myslef 3 times during bike course.

2nd loop slowed more than I had hoped but it was all new. Never gone 112 and especially not sith such a hilly end. think loosing my endurolytes didn't help either. Pam (stumfossil) passed me on Northwoods the second loop and it was nice to see her as I was wondering how she was doing.

Took that tight turn back into transition much slower this time.

put endurolytes in rain proof container.

Oh, so wet, muddy etc. There was a guy in transition sitting there with bike shoes & helmet still on just sitting there. I took off bike shoes, feet just wrinkled mess, tried to dry them off appl body glide, thought about bandaid for toe that always seems to blister but then figured the rain wouldn't allow it to stick and it would be just in my sock.

MY lower back was stiff and they had an ART massage guy that I waited in line for and got my back stretched a bit. Took about 5 minutes to wait and get stretched but I figured it was worth it. thus the extra T2 time.

Started off in the rain again and run shoes soaked after just a mile or two. I think I hit the 3 mile mark in just over 33 minute and 5 miles in just over 1 hour but not exactly sure as I just wore my Ironman watch. Was going to wear the Garmin but with all the rain decided against.

Nice to see all the other runners on the course and I saw Polly twice, Juliapurr, Friend Kevin from Michigan,Tomo & KathyG who now I knew along with myself would finish and become Ironmen today....that made me smile :)

After 8 miles I really slowed down ad walked the hills and shuffled (insert Death march) my right leg was starting to lock up but I knew I could basically walk the rest and still finish. It was all good. reached the 12.5 mile mark and my family and friends went nuts and that gave me extra motivation. Coach Judy had a rain bag on and ran with me some (or I should say she could basically walk as fast as I was shuffling LOL). each aid staion I got either, water, gels, chicken broth..which was so good and warm on this wet day, coke. the funniest thing when the lady says to me "would you like a wet spunge" I said "No thank you...I've had enough water today" UGH - finally the rain stopped with about 2 hours for me to finish.

I kept my sense of humor and would high 5 someone in the crowd and say RElay...your turn and they would laugh. One girl who had finished and was pushing her bike home....I asked if I could borrow her bike (about 3 miles to go in race).

Hit mirror lake drive, head back towards ovall and I am in such joy and happiness that I forgot how much my legs hurt. Hit the stadium hear Karen and friends yell to me. Turn in see all my friends and family point up to Karen in the stands and head towrds the finish line. Cross the banner in 15:54:31 and so surprised to be caught by Hot Tamale and give her the biggest hug I could muster at that time.

Perfect ending to a perfect day.

I am an IRONMAN!



After the swim and first loop of the bike I thought I might actually be able to break 15 hours or real close but after the 2nd loop realized that wouldn't be possible but that I could go sub 16. Kept that in mind and kept pushing mile per mile and made sure I was on pace to finish under 16 hours.

I had a great time, awesome support on course and of course all of you watching out for me all over the country! You all ROCK and seriously couldn't have done it without all of you.

Thank you, THANK you, THANK YOU!!!