Had a great swim, although I likely swam slightly above my comfort zone. My HR monitor gauged that I hit 100% capacity at one point. At the start - I got a little caught up in the chaos and took one solid kick to the jaw :)
Felt like I was pushing it a bit at the half way point and slowed to focus on form and breathing. Swimming in those waters regularly helped with my sense of spotting and the lack of visibility.

Start more aggressively actually. I waited for a lot of the clydes to wade in ahead of me and then got clobbered passing people.

The timing pad for the swim seemed a long way from the transition area. That coupled with a long run through the corrals of 3000 bikes made for quite a time. Getting out of my suit and into my socks and bike shoes went fairly quickly and smoothly. Left ahead of the competitors I came in with.

Bike went alright. There was one section of rolling hills where I felt like I was pushing too hard, but I came away from it fine. I believe that I benefited from training on the course regularly as there were a number of people that I passed through the rolling sections of our hills. I had cheerleaders out and back at about 1/3 through :)

Balance my cycling training. A calf strain kept me off the bike some and then I had technical problems this week and the bike was getting repaired Tues-Sat.

Seemed to go fairly smoothly. I took my shoes off at the dismount line and ran in my socks and that seemed to help. Although a lot of the relays had finished at this point and I was running through the people (ChrisM I am looking at you! ;P )

I was tired, and just plodded along. Not yet a strong runner, not near enough base miles. But I endured and actually finished well ahead of my anticipated time (my wife almost missed my finish). I was quite pleased by the Clydesdale love from fellow racers. Nice to know they appreciated the wattage output from me. :)

Higher run base (and I had little miles in the last two weeks due to injury)

Total chaos: So just after giving me a hug, my 2 year old disappeared between all of the adult legs. He was missing for a couple of minutes and we were all in a panic. We even had Frank from the stage (and at one point Michael Epstein) announce "Jackson to the stage." A race official brought him to us. Turns out he had made his way up the finish chute and was running around by the FINISH LINE!!!!
Then, as we were leaving, my wife realized that, having valued my son more than her bag, had dropped the Nautica athletes bag that was doubling as her purse on the sand and someone had picked it up. Bleh...

So, I rode up to church and delivered my sermon. My church was very gracious and fun. They sang the spiritual "Guide my feet while I run this race" as I came in :) After snacks after worship, Camille and I went back down to the beach and up to the main stage, where THEY HAD HER BAG, keys and wallet still intact. God bless the good and kind tri community!!!!

Got an ice bath in after and a little bit of stretching, plus a solid nap.


Prerace injury, but I had the distance in me :D