There wasn't any chop until you got out to the turn around. There were huge boat swells (larger than the wind swells from last year).

This was the roughest, nastiest swim, in terms of other swimmers, I've ever been in. The start was impossible to properly swim, so there was a little bit of dog paddle, a little breast stroke. I got hit in the head a dozen times and punched in the ribs 3 times, but felt that this was just par for the course.

My problem came up when I got kicked in the sternum 5 times, the second time was so hard, I had to work not to hyperventilate, and I wondered if I broke something. The charlie-horse I got in my right thigh only registered until after the first sternum kick. I must say though, that one fellow who gave me a good elbow in the ribs, looked horrified and apologize profusely. It helped me feel better. :)

I found it extremely hard to find the buoys this time. We started at a severe angle from the course and had to swim a diagonal line to meet the course properly. My sighting was terrible and I'm sure I swam a longer course. On the second lap, I was looking so hard for the 4th turn buoy that I didn't realize I was right on top of it.

Two of the 3 sternum kicks slowed me down a lot. I swallowed a lot of water (and burped a lot on the bike).

Swim more than 5-6 times before the race and for longer than an average of 1/2 hour.

This was better than last year and about the same as Silverman. I was really disoriented getting into the tent. Also, I made a pit stop in the washroom. My T1 volunteer was awesome. I kept forgetting things I need, so she had to unpack my bag 3 times. She was super patient and extremely helpful.

Not need to pee.

I cut slightly over 30 minutes off my last year's bike time. I did not get enough biking in this year, though.

EXTREMELY pleased with my bike handling. I was one of the rare people that took hard corners in aero-position and used my brakes infrequently on the downhills. My max speed downhill was 66.5km/hr. I took downhills hard. I almost died on one downhill turn because there was a guy blocking me on the downhill. I skidded out bad at the turn and did everything I could to avoid the volunteers, which I did. Particularly pleased with my bike handling there. REALLY ticked off at the guy who was blocking and braking. If you can't handle the heat, get back in the line, buddy. He continued to block throughout the day. And he wasn't the only one. I took great pains to stay to the right when not passing. I was rare. VERY rare! Way too much drafting and blocking the entire race.

Not go out so hard on first loop. Didn't make this mistake last year, but did go out a bit hard this year.

Pray to the weather gods to give me nicer weather during training. More interval training on the bike. More hard stuff. I need to start pushing on the bike. Go back to my former style of weight training for legs (and do more of it, again).

This could have been quicker. The volunteers were fantastic, again.

Not change from jersey to tri top. Have tri top underneath or not wear different jersey. Totally vanity thing.

So, I totally broke the rule about not using new gear on race day and paid. It took me almost no time to realize that the new Ironman speed laces were a bad choice. My shoes were too tight and my left foot was hurting from the bike (same Morton's neuroma as at Silverman). It hurt so bad that I totally loosen my shoe off and had to remove it 3 times on the first half of the run to walk a few paces in my sock for my foot to feel better. I got some interesting looks.

I was extremely tired off of the bike this time. Mentally, I was pretty much going to walk the entire marathon. The first 5K were really not great and I ducked into 2 porta potties because I thought I had to pee. I wasted about 10 minutes sitting in porta johns not being able to pee. Arrgh!

Despite this equipment failure, I was most pleased with my marathon. I never imagined that I would run as much of it as I did, and finish as strong as I did. The last 600m down Sherman, I kicked it up so much, I passed 2 people.

I want to thank Mike from Seattle for pacing with me in the middle so perfectly. You really helped. I turned the corner on mile 17 where I went down from hypothermia (it was just at the end of the grassed area with the signs everyone makes to cheer people on) and thought "Not THIS year! I'm gonna make it." Felt good. :)

The volunteers and spectators (and even other competitors) were FANTASTIC! There was so much emotional support and cheering. The last stretch along Sherman was packed with people cheering me on by name. I almost started crying as my favourite finish line song (Open Your Eyes by Snow Patrol) came to my mind.

Not wear new speed laces. Be more wary of swollen feet for run. Continue the type of run training that I've been doing, especially the bricks. Training to run hard after biking long really taught me how to tough it out and pace.

My finish "catcher" was fantastic. She led me where I needed to go and was so gracious holding my stuff for me to get my picture. I got pizza and talked to another finisher and a volunteer who were eating.

Brittany allowed me to use her and Zach's hotel room to shower up after, which I really appreciated. I remembered to put a toothbrush in my warm clothes bag, which was great. I also put in 2 Lindor truffles as well. Good thing, I was super hungry and didn't get to a Taco Bell until 11:30 p.m.


Not enough bike and swim training. Period. Really slacked on the swim training and couldn't bring myself to ride indoors as much as before Silverman. Bad weather in spring sucks.


Finishing this race as unfinished business was so important. I am really pleased with my final result.

I didn't stay to watch the end, but was too hungry.