At 703 out of about 1400 I have re-affirmed that I am firmly a "middle of the pack" swimmer :)

There's just still room for improvement in my swim ability, but outside of becoming a better swimmer, I wouldn't have done anything differently.

I took my time here and also stopped at the sun screen/vaseline tent to make sure I would be mostly sunburn and chafe free throughout the bike.

I should have stood up in my pedals more often than I did. I think this would have solved a few issues.

I didn't do enough power training on my bike. I used the time I had to prepare for this race, but I know where I could have worked harder.

I took time again here to get coated with sunscreen and lube.

Lap 1 and 2 I was running strong and solid. With a 1:45 1/2 marathon, I was on pace for my 3:30 marathon! At the end of lap 2 I could tell that my stomach was not digesting well, so I had to slow down to let things settle, this led to walking a couple aid stations, skipping a gel, and then becoming light headed during the long gap between aid station 2 and 3. I walked for two minutes at aid station 3 to get plenty of water, ice, and gels. After this I came back to life and had a more solid (but still slower) lap 4. When I reached the turnaround point to start my final lap I knew I was in good shape and had over 1hr 15min to break the 11 hour mark. At 38km everything hurt...at 40km all the pain went away and I charged through the final 2km enjoying every minute. The finish line was absolutely awesome!

Apparently I still have a little nutrition issues to workout, although this was a huge improvement over my previous races.
And, of course, I could have put in some more run training.

FOOD!
No massage as I didn't want to stand in line, but the post race food was great and there were plenty of volunteers to help any athletes that needed it.


1. The Volunteers were amazing.

2. Spectator support is great (dwindled on the third lap of the bike, but was really good on the run)

3. WTC put on a really bad expo/Ironman Store. This has been common among non-USA Ironman events. All I wanted was a cool finisher jacket or polo-shirt and all they had was a crappy hat that was available before the race happened