Ok, first off, I needed to pee, but when we were in the water, I was thinking to myself, "alright dude, I could pee right now, but that wouldn't be cool for the people behind me." So I held it in. However, I have to be honest and mention that during the swim, I was trying to force myself to pee regardless of whoever was behind me; I needed to go to avoid peeing on the bike ride, but it still didn't come out...anyways, proceeding on...so i thought the water was going to be extremely cold because I was fricken freezing outside, even with my wetsuit on. Vance blog mentioned that this swim would most likely be a pr for most people, and for me it was. I didn't want to exert too much energy, but as I was swimming, I was surprisingly passing by people, and as I was doing that, people were hitting me with their hands, kicking me in the face , but i was expecting that to avoid from being flustered. I kept swimming away from the buoys though. My sighting was not very good and I was trying my best to follow the crowd in front of me but I kept wandering off. Swimming for me is the weakest of all the legs, but this time, it was goot one mang...

Sighting needs to be better. Planning on joining a masters swim group...oh yeah...pee before I get into the water...

First off, the volunteers are awesome. I usually have trouble unzipping my wetsuit but coming out of the water, they unzipped for me. The transition took way too long. I used a bike jersey, and it took me awhile to put it on because I was wet, and the bib number was pinned on, and the bib came off and everything wasn't going as planned so I got a little flustered and I STILL needed to pee. My body was a bit cold, so running into T1, my legs were still getting acclimated to land.

Run faster, Get an xlab rear mount. Don't wear a jersey. Practice getting onto bike with shoes already mounted on...it's very hard and the thought of jumping onto the bike and the possibility of crushing the boys is just something I need to overcome (should buy a cup to practice)....

Ok, so still the pee thing, I still needed to fricken pee man...and I already spent 5 minutes trying to get my crap together for the bike ride, so I made a decision to Pee on the bike ride. I'll come back to this in a bit.

The first 4-5 miles was cruise control, trying to get my legs warmed up and get dry. I had tapered all week, and I wanted to crush the bike from the very beginning, but I knew that I would get destroyed later on, so I made sure I didn't go out too crazy. After I settled in, I started to pick up the pace a little bit. I was planning on finishing with a 2:50-2-52, which is about 19mph. With that speed, I would have enough strength in my legs for a decent run. To compensate for the slower pace in the beginning, I started to pick it up to about 20-22mph. The whole way, I was thinking about that monstrous hill that everybody keeps talking about. At about mile 30, "darr she blows!" I thought to myself...everybody looked like a bunch of ants. To be honest, it wasn't bad at all, it was pretty fun actually, people were going 5-10 mph, i was going 6-8mph. Additionally, what goes up, must come down...and that downhill was glorious...the second hill was just as fun. I hit a headwind at mile 35-40, but it wasn't that bad. I started to feel my left hammy gettinga little bit tight , so I made sure to massage it and drink some more gatorade and eat a shot block. Miles 45-56 were faster for me. I started to pick it up to about 23-25 mph all the way back.

Now back to the pee thing. I decided to pee on the bike. I didn't care at this point, I needed to go really bad and I wasn't going to stop so I wanted to make it was as subtle as possible. I decided that I would only pee if no one was behind me. Now mind you, the entire bike ride, I was trying to pee on the bike. My bladder was about to implode man, but I still could not pee if my life depended on it...I had to hold it in...AAAGAIN!...

that bike ride was awesome. The course was beautiful, and the hills were awesome....




Not wear a bike jersey, climb more hills, get more speed...

Ok, so another long transition, which shouldn't have taken too long, but taking off the jersey, putting my socks and shoes on, and running belt took about 1 min....i was deciding if i should piss or not...and I was thinking, if i pee on the run man...there was no way to be subtle about it unless i stuck a sponge inside my jersey and squeezed it whilst i pee, that way, people would just think the substance dripping off my leg is the water..but I decided to just pee...so I went to the Portalpotty and peed...now...can i tell you that this was the longest pee i have ever had IN LIFE!...I started to piss...and I think I was going for a minute straight...and it stopped...and then I WENT AGAIN!!!!....for another 35 secs...and it stopped...AND THEN AGAIN FOR however long....what the heck man....i was trying to stop but....my bladder was doing the Wilson Phillips thing... you remember that song.."Release Me".....anyways..i felt so good after that and it was off to the run...so to break it down..it was about 1 min of putting my stuff together and the rest of the time was urination time...

Piss before the race, Pee in the ocean, pee in the bike ride....I don't know...anything to avoid peeing for 3 mins adn 43 sec during transition...

Get a pair of tri shoes to run sockless...

Alright, so my first mile, I felt good. I ran a 7:40, and i was thinking it would only pick up as the miles when on. But I started to get a little more tired and my left hammy started to get tighter and tighter...by mile 3 I was going a 8:15 and I knew that this was going to be one of those runs you just have to power through. I made my first 6.5 mile loop and it was onward to my final loop. I was resolved to finish the last 6 miles on a 7:30 pace, but on mile 7, my entire body started to hurt really bad. My left hammy got worse, and now my left calf was cramping too. I wasn't going to stop, and I didn't want to stop at all. But I knew I needed my sodium, and electrolytes and drinking while running was just not going very well, so at the drinking stations, I would stop and get my sponges and drink gatorade and water. On the way to the half way mark, I saw a guy having a seisure, and there were people around helping him, I was going to stop, but I was thinking, they really didn't need my help, and so I prayed for the guy while running. The last 3 miles were brutal man. I think for 2 miles, I avged 945 and a 920..so for me..it was really slow. My goal was to finish with a 5:30 or under..and I maintained a speed that would get me that time. And thankfully, I got 5:30 and some change..
My friends were at the finish cheering me on and as I was running towards the finish line I gave them all high fives...it was awesome man..Got my very first HIM medal, hat and went into the tent and got some pizza and bananas..

I carried only two gels with me, probably should carry more...work on my run a lot more...increase milage and do more speed workouts..

My friends and I went to a Korean BBQ restaurant and got our meat on....Meat up the wazu for the protein defficiency...took some pictures and did some stretching...


Not enough food?..probably should bring some salt tabs..


Volunteers were awesome...it was a good preview for a full IM for me..I'm planning on doing Ironman Airzona in 2011..I am planning on doing HIM Cali again next year and next time...I'm going to make sure I thank the volunteers...My goal was met, my body hurts...can't complain for a first Half Ironman..loved this race.....Finally could play some more basketball now...