8:00am – “GO!”
The gun fired and the pros dove in. There were waves assigned – younger swimmers to older. But in this case, it was 1900 athletes being unloaded in 6 minutes – Chaos. Swimmers started pouring off the side of the Ferry I just keep hearing “1, 2, 3, Jump” I inched closer to the door until . . .
8:02am – I am up to the line – I watch the person in front of me jump straight ahead, I decided to jump to the right into a clearing. Hop, Cover goggles, and drop 4 feet into the water - Great decision! I avoided being jumped on and had plenty of room to go. I just started going. It was a washing machine at first. This brought back thoughts of Ironman in 2007. Only difference was the current and slight chop tossing us around a bit. There was plenty of bumping and establishing. I took on water in the first 5 minutes. I just tried to swim through it a bit. When I stopped to fix them, I turned to look at Alcatraz Island and the ferry, quite breathtaking. I swam some more and looked back again. The plan was to swim hard for the first 15 mins or so and stay conservative to the left. I kept aiming at the radio tower and somehow kept it right of me. Just proves my pull is to the left. I did not have to sight too often to stay on course, a real bonus. I could just swim at a comfortable pace and toss in some harder intervals. On occasion I had to slow up after breathing on a wave and crashing back down into the bay. It affected the goggles twice, and had to empty and reset.

After 20 minutes I looked at the swarm of people around me. There was always plenty of people to my left and the kayaks seemed to be about 25 - 50 yards over. But, to the right, they seemed WAY over to the side. I decided at this point I was safe enough to start drifting more to the right to take advantage of the current. It was a lot of fun. I could feel a bit more of the pull, but I was still trying to swim across the river. I did run into a few swimmers here and there, but realized I was more central in the pack. The swimming overall was more wide open than the first half. I did start to notice the Rock was drifting into my vision on the left. I did stop to view it a few times on my back. Still awesome, especially since I was swimming home from there. I started to adjust my aim at about 30 minutes. I figured I had about 15 minutes to go and started to aim at the Golden Dome and go harder about 5 minutes. This really seemed to pull me in faster. I could see one of the buoys on the bay. It was to my right and I decided to pull for a bit more and come to the left of it. Ten strokes later I looked up and it was way to my left. It just proved how strong the current really was. I was now aiming for the finish chute, I could see the masses. It was a great feeling. I was almost there. I just cruised in to let the HR drop a bit and be able to actually get out of the water without falling over. I hit shore about 10 yards from the stairs. I stood up and walked out of the waves. I actually found a cap stuck in the sand, so I picked it up – no littering and spare one for Jeanne. The ear plugs must have worked, I was able to get to the bags for T0.5 with little problem.

SWIM TIME – 45:34 Rank 589 overall (prediction 45 mins)

T0.5 – I got to my bag, real easy to find. As 701, I was the second bag in my line. I did not need to Mooo them. I dumped the bag and swapped wetsuit strips with another swimmer. I pulled his, he pulled mine. This really helped. His came off easier, but I was able to manipulate around my big feet. I grabbed my socks, knee straps, and shoes - slipped into them quick. The wetsuit packed fairly easily. I tossed on my winter cap to warm up faster, grabbed the arm warmers, and run donkey run. It was about a 0.75 mile run around the harbor. The road was lined with people and fun to run along. I saw the family. I hugged and kissed each of them. Jeanne told me my lips were freezing. I do not remember feeling that cold then.

T1 – I rounded the corner into transition. I had to run the right side to the 700 row. I found the house and the US flag I marked yesterday very easy. I ran to my bike and grabbed my ear. I put on the helmet, glasses, biking gloves, Garmin, and grabbed Darth. We moved relatively quickly out to the end of the aisle and left to the mount line. I hopped up and . . .

BIKE – I rode down Marina Blvd and past the family. I stayed out of the shoes about a mile before I slipped in – with little issue. I maintained a steady pace into Crissy Field. I knew there would be a good first climb at about 2.5 miles. We rolled to the first climb and left up the Lincoln. I was feeling pretty good. I held a steady effort the whole way up; passing at least two dozen people quickly. It was a real confidence builder. I did not hit this road on Friday, so it was a surprise, but easier than the road I took then. I just kept climbing, in the saddle the whole first hill. I continued to pass more people. It was great. I remember 2 years ago at IMCA70.3 getting passed a fair amount. Not today. Once I crested Lincoln, it was a quick descent. I had to break a bit for control and to avoid a few fools. I could have gone faster, but did not want to tangle wheels. We weaved down hill with great views of the ocean and the coast. There were several great houses in here. The route began to climb again, we were on our way toward the Legion of Honor. This was a longer ascent with a steeper climb past a golf course. I was passed by a few, but over came many more. At the top we hit our first aid station. I made the mistake of taking some Cytomax up here. I do not think it was mixing well with the Hammer products I was using. The nutrition plan was to consume some water to supplement the 4-8 endurolytes (taken early in the ride) and Sustained Energy mix in the aero bottle. The Legion was the crest of the hill and down we flew. I did not pedal much on descents, I could not keep up on some. From the Legion I did not, the road was too irregular and I wanted to maintain control. I had a few people pass me on the down that I took on the up. They also were flying to fast into Clement Street – a sharp right turn.

Once on Clement, I passed most of the flying fools again. It was a small incline into an increasing decline. At the end of the decline was a another sharp left into a sharp right. Again, people were everywhere. I navigated it well and made my way onto the Camino del Rey descent into the Great Highway. I gained some serious speed – It was fun. I took this into the Golden Gate Park, turning left past the windmill. The park roads were quite irregular. I tried to maintain a decent pace and avoid bikes and bumps. The park was non descript to me. It was a nice park, but nothing that I can recall. A slight up, some down, some faster down, more holes. It went by fairly quickly. I flew the last mile out and onto the Great Highway again to return to home base.

Of course this meant going back up Camino del Rey past the Cliff house. I think the hills coming back were worse than going out. Camino was the best example. I needed to get out of the saddle twice here at the steepest portions – partly to maintain pace, but also to pass more people. I feel like I passed over 200 riders today. I just climbed like a goat, using the good old donkey gear- stubbornness. Once at the top we turned left and a quick right up Clement – good thing for the course ride through. I geared it right and smashed this portion. I passed only a few here, the better riders were consistent. Once we crested here, it was down hill again until the Legion climb. I stepped back on the descent to allow for a safe turn, 2 idiots flew past me, causing me to slow a bit again. Once on the hill, I dropped both of them. I stood up again for a brief moment to pass a pack, but otherwise, mostly saddle time. (My ego on hill climbing is really inflating my head – can you tell?). At the Legion I was a bit more winded than before. This climb was a bit steeper and I decided to hammer the hills harder on the way back. The descent was fun, I flew past a few people, but the crowd was thinning. I did catch up to a few bikers ahead of me, but had to hit brakes twice due to people weaving ahead of me, and allowing more downhill speed demons to catch up and clog the area. The turns through here were a bit technical. I really had to pay attention, I almost ate pavement due to a biker and the road reflector.

At the base, it was time to go up Lincoln again. Definitely harder on this side than the other. I had one final out of the saddle stretch for about 10 seconds to power through the steepest portion, but overall – saddled. I knew the hard areas ended around 15.5 miles, so I kept it strong until then. At the crest I let it go and flew down the hill. I again had to brake once at a turn because one guy, same as twice before, would fly down, brake in the turn, and turn in a weird pattern. Once on Marina Blvd again, I just dropped him and past a few more people. I flew past the Sports Basement cheering squad and at 17.7 mile I slipped out of the shoes and dropped gears to increase rpms to prepare for the run. I was peeking for the family, but did not see them. I dismounted at the line and checked the Garmin.

BIKE TIME - 59:52 Rank 294 overall (prediction 1h1m or 17.7 mph)

T2- I jogged the bike to the rack, nothing hard or fancy. I racked, degloved, dehelmet, and desocked casue of crap stuck to them. I dried the feet and grabbed new socks and slipped on the runners and shorts (which I stashed extra goodies for the run). I switched the Garmin over and grabbed the race belt, visor, and bottles. I was off . .

RUN – I left transition and headed out to a short 8 miler. The course was unknown to me. But I was happy to see Andy Potts coming in for his 3 peat, after I left transition. Whew, I beat the winner out. The first 2 miles were relatively flat, but very scenic as we ran towards Golden Gate Bridge. The crowds were great. They really cheered everyone on. M problem so far was I had to pee – since the swim. I was able to run mile 1, but had to walk 45 sec. Then I made it to mile 2 marker. I saw a runner duck out of a bathroom, which is much better than the foreign guy a half mile back pulled to the side to pee on a tree. I hit the lap button, it took a min to stop. I considered this a walk break and ran what I could. That would be about 100 yards to the Warm Up Stairs. These were tough. Short, narrow stairs headed up into a gravel path. Most of this run was sand or gravel. I would like to go on record, I hate running on sand.

Once at a peak, we headed down a couple stairs and toward the tunnel. I was able to enter it normal, but left it bent in half. I was so happy it was a sort tunnel, distance wise. There was a bit more climb and at mile 3 we peaked. It was off to Baker’s Beach and mostly downhill. I flew down through her, about a 7m/m pace. The Garmin’s distance was off by a quarter mile at this point, probably due to the tunnel and winding paths. Before mile 4, we hit the beach. It was hard to push off on the loose sand. Everyone cut down to the beach for more sound ground. Until the turnaround, we had to turn around on a little mound of loose sand. It took me about38 minutes to this point. I was holding a 9:30m/m pace. My goal on this run was to use HEED and take a gel. Unfortunately, I was unable to get any gel down. The stomach went into rebellion mode early, so I stuck with the HEED and dumping most water over my head to stay cool. I think this worked out very well.

Down on Baker’s beach, I could see the infamous Sand Ladder. It looked like a column of slowness. There was no running. I actually walked throught eh soft sand to the base. The race meeting said to use the center of the wood beam to get a little rebound in the steps to go up. I realized it was easier to use my arms to push on legs to propel myself. Since the arms were no longer tired thaty really helped. I was not blazing up the Ladder but efficient. I peaked it well and was able to run through the path after wards. I felt really solid. I planned to power walk the stair and the plan paid off. Once at mile 5, it was down hill again. I was ecstatic.

So down the hills and paths and stairs I flew. I used a quick trot down the stairs and quick pattern through the path areas. I came upon Heather, Matt, and Mike at this point. They were all alive and well. I ducked the tunnel and carried on down. At mile 6, we turned along the beach front and ran the path home for 2 miles. I felt good. I tried o keep it up. I was within reach of my goal. I may have pushed a bit harder through her, but it was time. I saw the photographer a posed a picture on the run with the GGB behind me. Mile 7 took a while, but 8 came and went quicker. I could feel the pull of the Finish line. There it was in the near distance, the big red finisher bridge. I cruised along Marina Blvd so I could enjoy the chute. I hit the final turns in and looked for the family. Nothing Nothing Nothing. The about 100 yds form the line, there was Will and Jeanne (Luke was a sleep). He jumped up, I wanted a hug, he wanted to run – so we ran. At the finish we threw our hands up, enjoyed the moment, and got that hug. He even put the medal on my neck.


RUN TIME – 1:14:01 Rank 810 overall (prediction 1hour 15 mins


Nothing I actually found myself smiling during this run, more on the way home though. I had fun

more info coming