The start line was set up at a 45 degree angle from the shore, allowing for either a wade start or a deep water start. I chose to line up towards the left side about mid-pack. I waded into the water up to my hips, I didn't want to waste any energy treading water in case the start was late. This was the biggest start I'd ever been in, there were no waves, just one massive start so I was a little nervous. When the gun went off I was able to dive right in and start strocking since I lined up a little back of the crowd. Pretty quickly, I caught the crowd and as I expected, the start was rather rough, athletes seemed to come from everywhere. It was a never ending onslaught of arms and legs. Thankfully, I was able to keep my wits about me. I mananged to always find a set of feet to draft off of. The crowd thinned out a little, but I was never alone. Somehow my watch got stopped at around 18 minutes. So when I exited the water I had no idea what my time was. I was expecting around 42 minutes since I barely swam at all in training for this race. Imagine my surprise when the announcer mentioned 38 minutes as I crossed the mat. That put me in a good mood.

Swim a heck of a lot more.

Once I crossed the mat on the beach, I ran to the makeshift showers, rinsed my feet, then an uphill run from the beach to the bikes. Once I got to my bike I stuffed my goggles and cap in the bag, grabbed my bike and was off. Unfourtunately, the lanes were rather narrow leading to the exit and there was a traffic jam getting out. Once I reached the mount line I got on and road off. There was a very narrow line marked off leading to the Queen K highway, so it was tough to get going with all the people. But once I got to the highway, I got my feet in the shoes and it was free sailing.

Not much I could do, it was a very crowded transition. Maybe swim faster?

I'm a little disappointed in my bike. I was hoping to break 21 MPH. I felt strong on the uphills, flats and downhills. I did get out of the saddle a few more times than I liked but overall I stayed aero the whole time. My change in shift and the recent travel have played havok with my training but I was still hoping to do better. It was pretty cool on the climb to Hawi when I saw the leader, Chris Leito, smoking down the hill. That guy was flying! There was nobody even close to him.

Try to train more on hills at speed.

T2 was pretty normal for me. Other than the lanes being very narrow and some guy racking in the wrong spot next to me, it went ok. If I didn't put on socks things would ahve been about 40 seconds faster.

Nothing

When I came out of T2 and saw the clock reading 3:25 and change, I had high hopes of breaking 5 hours. I mean after all, the run is my strongest event, I regularly clock 1:25 half marathons no problem. I started along the golf course in a great mood. I was hitting about a 7:15 to a 7:30 mile with no problem. I even chatted with a couple of people I played tag with on the bike as I passed them. I was feeling good! Then, around 4.5 miles, I got the overwhelming urge to pee. I couldn't take it any longer by mile 5 so I stopped. Biggest mistake of the day! As soon as I quit running my body decided to rebel. My insides started to churn and my legs felt like lead. I was cramping everywhere! I tried to start running again but nothing seemed to cooperate. The only thing I seemed to be able to manage was a run/shuffle/walk! I felt horrible! All of the sudden the heat of the day was unbearable. The ups and downs of the golf course were torture. I won't even try to describe the hell of miles 9 thru 11, let's just say that if the run director had been there......nevermind. Anyways, I was never so happy to see a finish line. I completely underestimated the run and I was way to cocky about it. Funny how these races have a way of humbling you.

Start out slower and with more respect.

The heat and my underestimation of the run.