The swim was really better than I expected as far as my comfort level. I never pushed my pace. Just tried to relax in the water. After the swim, I felt like I could have swum for another hour.

Swam straighter, maybe pushed the pace a little bit.

I took it really easy. It was more important to me to have everything I needed. I didn't run to the bike because there were rocks under the carpet on the way to the bikes and I didn't want to mess up my feet. Walked with my bike because I was afraid of falling in my bike shoes. The bike start was about a million miles from the bike rack.

Open the new can of sunscreen before the race. Put on sunscreen before the swim start. Practice running in my bike shoes with my bike for about 100 yards.

I felt really good when I got on the bike. Did well on the way out. The only problems at that point were that I really needed to use the bathroom and at the first bottle exchange, they were out of water & gatorade. I used the portapotty at that point. Luckily, I started with water & gatorade that I brought with me. I still had about half of that left. Felt much better after going to the bathroom. I really was enjoying the ride at that point. My speed was averaging about 17.5-18 mi/hr and I was comfortable. At the second bottle exchange, They did have water, but not gatorade. I got off my bike to get the water & pour it into my aero bottle, but not before I forgot to unclip & fell off my bike in front of God & everybody. How embarrassing! I wish I would have gotten those bike shoes years ago instead of 2 months before my race. But I was ok. Got back on & ate a gel & drank some water. Refilled water at the third. Still no gatorade. Glad I had extra gels in my pocket. The wind on the way back was bad & got worse. The course had us going over every overpass in East New Orleans, or so it seemed at that point. Slow going at about 12.5 mph . I was trying to save my legs for the run. I don't think I was too successful.


Not fallen off my bike. Do more outside rides with my shoes. Get the shoes earlier.

Was wiped out after the bike, at least mentally. Afraid to run with the bike again. Walked all the way. Changed shoes. Visited the gross porta potty. Started running. Moved pretty slow on purpose because I was trying to recover from the ride.

Learn to run with my bike shoes on with the bike.

This is where I really fell down. It was really hot & I'm not a good hot weather runner to start with. It was warmer than it was any day I trained. I took it easy the first few miles. Stopped & drank a lot of whatever they had & ate a get in the very beginning. Just when I felt like my legs were feeling better & I was finding a rhythm, my back started to hurt. That was about at mile 4. I was worried because there was so much more to go. So I had to take a lot more walk breaks. I actually hadn't planned on taking any except for thru water stations, so I was really disappointed & feeling very down on myself. At about mile 7, the back pain went away. But by the the heat was really getting me. The volunteers and spectators were very encouraging and I started to feel better. Took a few walk breaks after that, but felt pretty strong. At mile 9 we were in full sun and I was really suffering from the heat. I was nauseated & dizzy. I knew I was ok because I was like a human drinking machine. In fact I think the nausea was because of too much water & gatorade in my stomach. No more Gatorade for me at that point. I feel like I kind of wimped out because I took so many walk breaks. But at mile 10, I just tried to keep going. I still walked some, but I tried to stretch the running out block by block. I was really getting disgusted with myself for wasting so much time. Also, my family was waiting for me at the finish and I knew they were gonna start to worry because I was running so far behind schedule at that point. Somewhere around mile 12, somebody said "you have 11 blocks to go!". So I picked up the pace & started counting down blocks. Didn't walk anymore after that. When we turned the corner on Decatur St., I started looking for the chute & the time clock & I couldn't see it because there were so many people on the street. When I saw it I picked up the pace. Tim and my son & parents called my name & I knew it was almost over. I felt strong through the finish line.

Not wimp out so much because of the heat.

Talked to my family and appreciated finishing. Walked around a little. Tried not to think about how bad I did running. My family was wonderful. They made me feel great about finishing. Tim reminded me that my second goal after finishing in 7 hrs was to finish in under 8 and the main goal was to finish the race in relative comfort, which I did. But I didn't feel like I had anything left to give physically after the race.


The wind, heat, and overall inexperience.


There was very little at the post race party. Racing in the New Orleans area, I've gotten used to great food, great music, & lots of beer trucks. All I saw was junk food & massage tents. They didn't even have cold water. It was definitely below par. Also, there's no excuse for the fluid shortage on the bike. I hope they look at that for next year & They should talk to some locals about the post race party. All of the finishers deserve a lot better than what was there.