Lined up about half way between the ski ramp and shore, maybe 10 people back, adjusted position a couple of times when it got to crowded for my comfort level. Without much warning the cannon went off, I was expecting a countdown or something, but it didn't happen, just boom, and we were off.

Holy crap, I'm doing an ironman swim. This thought/emotion was going through me the entire swim. I was elated. The start was/is everything you'd expect. I didn't take any serious blows, but my right eye got kicked four or five times. I was regularly pushed, swam into, swam over, etc. Nothing excessive or violent, but it was rough.

I don't remember a whole lot about the swim, it went by so fast, I was really enjoying it. Swam wide the entire time, cut in fairly close to the turn buoys, then went wide again. Every once in a while I'd catch a glimpse of the announcer or hear the crowd. Heard "sweet emotion" by Aerosmith as I was starting the second loop.

Somewhere mid swim my stomach started to not be real happy. Perhaps it was my effort to drink the lake dry, I don't know. Being surrounded by swimmers, the previously calm lake had an odd irregular chop, I had some trouble getting clean breaths through much of the swim and drank a lot of water. Well hydrated I was.









Nothing, except the water consumption part. If I could swim in a straight line closer to the buoys I might have gone faster, but the line I took gave me a pretty clean easy swim after the first 400-500 yards. And seeing that my pace was faster than any of my half iron swims (Racine excluded), I have absolutely no complaints.

I continue to excel at changing clothes. T1 and T2 were my best events relative to the field, T1 - 123/339 age group, 644/2397 overall.

When I saw the clock coming out of the water I was absolutely thrilled. Managed to get out of the water without issue and made my way to the wetsuit strippers. I think I passed Amy Jo here, but everything was such a blur. The wetsuit stripper knew me, but I had/have absolutely no idea who it was. I'm sorry, I just surrived an Ironman swim, and did it faster than I thought was really realistic, nothing was fully registering with me at this point.

Made my way up to the terrace, grabbed my bag, and headed into the changing room. The mens changing room is not a pretty sight. Got in, got out, and tried not to look around.

Carried my shoes and made my way through the bike racks to a volunteer waiting with my bike. I promptly told him "That's not my bike." Did I mention I was having fun? I don't know that I've ever seen a grown man become so flustered so quickly, but he took it really well.

Made my way to just shy of the dismount line before putting my shoes on. Let's go for a ride.



I would have stopped for sunscreen. I have two nice sunburn stripes on my back. The top I raced in is cut a little differently then anything else I've worn regularly. Ouch.

I'm doing a feaking Ironman. Couldn't have wiped the smile off my face. I was having so much fun. Ride out to Verona and the first loop absolutely flew by. Rode in the aerobars through the flats and downhills. Sat up and put my hands in the elbow cups and just spun easy up all the hills. Many commented that it looked like I was just out for an easy sunday ride. I was.

Second loop was much of the same. The three b@tch hills took some effort to get up this time, but it was still easier than any training ride on the course. Stomach continued to be unhappy with me, but it was tolerable.

The ride back to Madison was more difficult. A slight wind had picked up and we were now riding into it. It was also pretty warm by this point. It hadn't really bothered me, but in combination with the wind, and the 100 miles I'd already gone, I was now ready to get off the bike.

Tina's hill was my low point on the course. That hill is never mentioned when discussing the course, but it's a real bear 100+ miles into a ride. Once up that the rest of the ride in was easy again. Riding up the helix was a great feeling.

I really don't know. I had so much fun out there. I could have backed off some, but I never really felt like I was going very hard. Watched my heartrate and went off that.

Like T1, T2 was one of my better events relative to the field, 105/356 and 843/2307. 35+ years of getting dressed myself is finally paying off.

Swung a leg over my bike at the top of the helix and coasted to the bike catchers. Grabbed my garmin and ran into the terrace. My friend Wade was volunteering in the T2 bag room, he grabbed my transition bag and got a huge hug (I'm not a hugger), that's how happy I still was.

The faces in T2 weren't nearly as fresh and happy as they were in T1. Got in, got out.

Nothing, I did stop for sunscreen this time, but the damage was done.

And now Robert's race falls apart. As usual, any stomach issues I have get exponentially magnified by running. I headed out of T2 at an easy pace and it wasn't good. Made it to the first aid station and walked through that. Ran down State and Henry, made the turn onto Dayton and ran maybe another block. I wanted to puke, seriously needed to puke. The heat finally hit me full bore and the stomach wasn't having anything to do with this running bullsh#t.

So I started walking, thinking it was a long race, if I can get my stomach to settle, I'll be able to start running again and hopefully salvage the run. So I walked, and I ate and I drank, nothing was helping. Oranges, grapes, coke, water, ice. GE has never settled with me, so I ignored that. I had been chewing tums on and off since starting the bike and had a bag with me so I tried those as well.

Tried running again at Camp Randall, made it about half way around. Didn't try again until the downhill at Observatory, was easier than walking. By this point I was good and pissed off. I didn't train all year to walk my way through Ironman. I still wanted to puke, half wanted to quit, and definitely didn't feel good about the effort.

I don't remember when but the stomach finally started to come around, but by the time it had, the walking had caused major blisters on both feet. Walking was tolerable, running was not. On the second lap I only ran the first downhill on state and observatory again.

Somewhere on the return leg of the second lap, my attitude came back around. I realized I can actually walk pretty darn fast and I wasn't looking at a 7 hour death march. Started talking more with the spectators and volunteers and I think the smile more or less returned. Dumped a cup of water over my sons head at one point, which earned a pretty good laugh from the crowd on Henry.

Hardest part of the race for me was the last 2-3 miles, not because of how I felt, but because I was watching so many people heading out for there second loop. I knew how they felt, and I knew how difficult (if not impossible) it was going to be for many of them to make the cutoff. It was inspiring to see them head out and not give up, but it was really hard to watch.

At the last aid station I grabbed one last cup of water, needed to fix my hair for the finish :) There hadn't been anyone behind me, but just before I made the turn onto MLK I noticed a runner coming in from behind. So I ran. The crowd was great, I high fived a bunch, at one point (unknowingly) knocking my garmim off its wrist strap and into the street. Tossed my glow stick into the crowd and crossed the line. Awesome feeling.

I initially felt pretty bad about my run. After looking at some numbers I'm coming around. I had what I consider an awesome swim, finished 304/356 in my age group and 1968/2397 overall. My cr@ptastic run yielded me a 251/356 age group rank and a 1601/2397 overall rank.

That either says something about my swimming ability or the difficulty of an ironman run. You decide.



Under the circumstances, I don't know what I could have done.

Got some pictures taken (thanks Craig) walked around. Drank some water. That's about it. Hung out on the course until midnight cheering runners in. What an experience.


Training, genetics, cheeseburgers, french fries, pizza, doughnuts.....


My only complaint, large portions of the run course are really, really dark, can't see the trail in front of you dark. When you know that maybe 1,000 atheletes will be out after nightfall after a gruelling day, lighting up the course might not be a bad idea.