The swim is definitely my weakest part. I didn't really see any buoys at first and just followed the pack and hoped I was on course. I definitely swam more right than I should have. I never really felt cold in the water, but my hands were frozen and I couldn't keep my fingers together. I got a few cramps in my calves during the swim, but they didn't last too long. When I was climbing up the ladder coming out of the water and looked at my watch, I knew there was no current. (To be honest, in retrospect, I am glad there was no current because it makes me feel like it was a legit IM swim.) I got some assistance from the wetsuit strippers, ran quickly through the showers, and started my run to T1.

I think I swam within my abilities though and felt good getting out of the water. I need to work on sighting though and strengthening my left arm so that I don't swim so right. And of course, getting faster with swimming would really help too.

I was shaking from being cold and had trouble getting my tri shirt on. Considering that, it wasn't a terrible transition. I changed my tri shorts from the swim and my top. I put on my tri top, a different pair of tri shorts, a bike jersey, arm warmers, compression sleeves (for warmth), and socks. I carried my bike shoes from the changing tent to my bike and put them on there to lessen my time running in them and put on thin little black gloves there too.

As soon as I started biking, I realized my bike computer was giving me funny readings...I was pretty sure I was riding faster than 5 MPH. I made a decision then to just ride without it (because it was giving me a speed reading, but it was just wacky, and it was giving me an accurate cadence reading, I figured that as a technologically-challenged person, I would not be able to figure out what the problem was quickly and it wasn't worth the time). I just went with riding comfortably hard at a pace I thought I could maintain all day. I wound up riding much faster than I expected. This may have been the most fun I have had on the bike. The headwinds and crosswinds for the first 70 miles didn't even bother me (and I generally hate the wind). I just kept telling myself I was going to cruise on the last 35 miles into town...and I did. For nutrition, I did a half a pack of Gu chomps about every half hour and did one Gu pack. I had one bottle of gatorade, two of heed, and three of water.

It was great to hand off my bike to a volunteer as soon as I got to T2. The volunteers with the bags had a little trouble pointing me to my bag, but we found it. I hit the changing tent, took off my bike jersey and arm warmers, changed my shoes, hit the port-a-potty and was off.

The run went better than I could have hoped. I was a little shocked when I hit mile marker one with a 7:45 mile. I slowed a little bit from that, but not too much. I walked almost every aid station for a few steps at least and got something at almost each one. I either went with Heed or pepsi and water (alternating). I had chicken broth at maybe 3 aid stations and it may have been the best thing I ever tasted (and I hate chicken broth). I did one Gu at Mile 2 and didn't do any more. I did grab some pretzels at one point, a few small pieces of a bagel and some banana. I basically let my body tell me what it wanted and it worked. I felt pretty strong on the run and felt like I was smiling and enjoying almost all of it.

No real warmdown. Took a couple of pics with my awesome support crew, grabbed my gear, got on a water taxi and headed back to our house for a shower, pizza and a beer!

Honestly, I couldn't have asked for a better race, especially for my first IM. I went sub-11 (without a strong current on the swim) and was thrilled. I also had a blast out there on the course and had incredible family and friends cheering me on. The weather was perfect too. I was more than a little shocked to have finished as the second woman and 30th overall.


I really like this race. Jeremy and Set Up Events did a fantastic job and I would highly recommend this race to others. The volunteers were awesome and I thought it was well-organized. The only two complaints I have were that I thought there could be more buoys on the swim course (and I wish we weren't told to turn at the Wiggly Man) and that last portion of the bike course coming over the bridge when we were forced onto the shoulder and there were a ton or cars didn't make me feel very safe.