I probably had the best swim start ever. Until we hit the bridge I was like "OMG this is great!" Then as we went under the bridge, things tightened up and it got a bit thicker. Then within the next 200 yrds the sun came from behind the buildings, and was totally blinding, right on the horrizon. Some chick who was kicking so hard that her feet actually came out of the water was right in front of me the whole time. Couldn't get away from her. She was causing such rough water it was hard to breathe! My swim to the first buoy was slow because I kept having to try to see where I was going. Plus, I somehow managed to about drown myself. It's like I put my head up to try to spot the buoy, but my right arm didn't get the message and it continued to swing around and pushed this whole huge wave of water into my face! I have never taken in that much water in a race before. I literally had to stop and cough, and gag, and do what i could to bring it all up. Man I hate swimming!!! They say the course is a rectangle, but it's sooo not. As I was swimmig toward the first turn buoy, I hear kyackers yelling. They're not yelling at me, right? I am going straight toward the buoy! Well, I look up, and sure enough they are! Me and a whole group of people are heading toward the 2nd turn buoy!!! I look clear over to my right, and there is a yellow triangle over there! DOH!!!! Grrrrrrrrrr!! So I go swim around that one, and am finally happy to not be looking into the sun!!! On the final long stretch this chick swam right up next to me and I thought...you know I am always the one that moves away when this happens! This time I am going to hold my ground!! Well...I quickly learned why I SHOULD move away. She came up with her left arm to stroke and I turned her way to breathe at the same time, and yep...she punched me and twisted my goggles off the sockets. Nice. At this point I just wanted it to be done. But the fun was not over yet! During the last 300 or so yards the first wave of the Oly men started running over me. This made the last stretch to the steps like a washing machine. I kind of just tried to say to the outside and let all them do their fast thing, while I was just trying to survive and make it to the end!

Swim on dry land.

Wet suit strippers were awesome and had me out of the suit in no time flat!!
Had lots to do here. Trying to get the dry, cut grass off your feet is always fun, and putting on all the crap for the bike took me a while. I threw on bike shorts over my tri shorts so my arse could make the whole 56 miles!!!

Bike course is what it is. I think there are 21 90-degree turns, and 4 u-turns PER LOOP. Fun times. Feel fine on the bike. Kept doing thigns to keep the blood going to my toes. The 2 water hand offs I did were perfect.

My T2 was pretty quick, but this time included potty stop #1 before I left transition. This was the begining of the end for me.

As I started the run I was feeling good. I had a good pace going, and it was not as hot as last year. I had 2 hrs 10 min in order to do the run and meet my goal, and if things kept up like this for me, I could do it. As I passed the first port-a-potty at 1.1 miles in, I debated using it again, but passed. Mistake. Next one was not until about mile 2.5, and that's where I made potty stop #2. By the time I hit mile 5 and potty stop #3, I was hopping it was all out of my system and I could have a good lap 2. I had 1 hour left to do the second lap. I could do this. (Someone should have told my stomach). Lap 2 was just a matter of running when I could, and walking when my stomach was not cooperating. Constantly testing to see if I could run again or not. Tottally sucked. About 35 min into loop 2 I knew I would not meet my goal. As things deteriorated, I knew even beating my "slow" time from last year was out. I thought about just hanging back with Jerry and saying screw it, (he was just doing it as a training and was pacing himself to finish in 7hrs), but I told myself I had to try to keep pushing. I was happy that my body cooperated enough to allow me to run the last half mile as I came into the crowd and across the finish. My son met me at the last turn and ran across the line with me. We did not plan this...just happened. He proved usefull as he held my fuel belt as I ran and slid through the slip and slide. That felt SOOOO good!!!

You know, I followed my nutrition plan, just like I did last year, but my body was just not cooperating. I have been to the Dr. about this, and need to continue trying to find a way to make my stomach cooperate while doing long events. It was frustrating because my legs felt good, but every time I ran I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom again. OH well..I did what I could, I kept going, and I did my best. That's all I can do!

Did the slip and slide, and then walked clear over to transition to get out of my wet shoes and grab my gallon zip lock bag containing my change of clothes. I changed and met Lisa, Kerri, Paulette and Sally at the food tent. They served salad, rice, spicy beans and spicy chicken. WTF? Soo not what I wanted.


My colon.