WHAT THE HELL???? I felt absolutely great during this swim. I was churning it out like never before. Up until today I had been swimming faster than I ever had before and while I was in the water I was having a ball.

I started in the front of the middle of the pack and enjoyed the scrum then just bolted off. Good call on the shaded goggles as the sun came out and was right in my eyes. Felt good the whole way and thought for sure I'd have been out of the water around, if not under, 1:10. However, today was my slowest IM swim and I have no idea what happened.

The only thought is that I didn't kick enough?? My pull was so good that my body felt like it was in perfect position the entire swim but I don't feel like I kicked very much. I find it hard to believe that without using the weak kick I usually do would cost me that much time. Frustrating.

Nothing, I felt like I pushed it just the way I wanted to push. The time doesn't equate to the way the swim felt. I'll get back in the pool and keep working, but the sight of the 1:15:xx on the clock was a real shock to me when I got out of the water. piss.

So nice not having very far to run in transition. No wetsuit strippers so that was new but I can easily get out of the suit. Had my tri shorts and shirt on under the suit, bike, helmet, glasses, garmin were already on the bike so all I really had to do was put my suit in the bag.

Very crowded due to the slow swim so the congestion slowed me down more than anything else.

Swim faster and get to T1 earlier

Knowing that my run wasn't going to be as good as I wanted it to be I had a plan for the bike. I was going to push it. Driving the course with Rowena and the kids we mapped out a few sections on the course where it was clear that I needed drop the hammer. Rowena even told me that I needed to crush it...her words "don't think about it just hammer it."

Got on the bike and felt great. Climbed out of town with zero effort as I was flying high because my bike had been strong since the injury. Got out of the first little hilly section and hit the beach....POW...blasting wind. It was brutal, but I had biked in worse and knew that I needed to just go. After I wrapped my mind around the wind I settled in....until....holy crap the road surface switched to not so good to this stuff sucks. Really, my rear didn't stop vibrating until the next day. I am very surprised I didn't see more gear on the road that had fallen off bikes. It was so bad that one of the bolts on my xlab came off. These bolts don't move and have lock-tight on them. Finally got back to the not so good section of road and kept on pushing. Every turn the wind was in my face but it was okay as I was nearing the turn around.

You know those days when the wind is in your face then you turn around and the wind is still in your face? Well, this was NOT one of those days. The wind was at my back and I just started pushing. It was awesome! I was surprised at how many people were just sitting up and chilling instead of taking advantage of the wind. Didn't matter to me so I just kept on going. Roads still sucked but the push of the wind made it less noticable. Coming back into town there's a hill on Matthew Flinders road that is get out of your seat and try not to go backwards steep. I whipped up that hill like nothing and hit finished the first loop strong.

Came in so fast that Row actually missed me coming back into town. As I was headed back out I saw her looking the wrong way and gave her my super loud whistle. Gracie whipped around at the sound and started screaming. It was great to see them.

Second loop was basically the same windy and rough then fast and rough. Felt a bit of tightness in my hip towards the end of the loop but nothing too bad. Climbed back up Flinders and back into town.

Tons of officials on the road enforcing the 12m drafting zone. I didn't see one peleton like I saw in the other IMs, even during the second loop when the 70.3ers were on the course.

The course was definitely easier than IMLP and IMJapan but the road conditions and the wind made it equally as brutal.

Nothing, I think I had a good ride. The Infinit mix I had tasted good and worked well. I stayed hydrated and had fun.

Road into T2,hopped off the bike, gave it to a volunteer, and ran to my bag. I knew it was going to be a bit longer because I had to stick the pad on my heel and wrap it before putting on my socks and shoes. Injinji socks fought me a bit but I'm use to it. A bit of lotion, glasses, hat, and fuel belt and I was off.

go faster

I knew this was going to hurt but there was nothing else I could do except just go out there and do it. Ran out of the chute and felt good. My plan was to only stop to drink at the aid stations until the half way mark then play it by ear until I had to switch to a run-walk finish. With only 3 good months of running I had no idea what to expect.

First loop felt fine but you can see by my splits that I went slower as the day went on. Met some nice people out on the course but I was in no mood to talk, I was chasing time.

Infinit mix worked well and I didn't have anything else besides the mix and water until the end of the third lap. That's when I started feeling the pain. Not cramping yet just legs that needed more time on the road. Somewhere on the 2nd lap as I was thanking a volunteer a young girl said that she loved my accent....now there's something you don't hear everyday. I told her I loved hers and kept on moving.

Saw Row a couple of miles into each loop and she was getting the beat down from the kids. Each time I came by either Maddie or Christopher was giving her the business. Tough day for her but it was awesome to see her, as it always is.

During the last 3rd lpa I started thinking back to when I injured myself and was pretty proud of how far I was able to come but since I still had another lap to go I had to get rid of the thought..there was still a lot of running to do.
Started the 4th lap and was hurting, I went from a 6' run 2 walk to a 4/2 to a 3/2 to a run until I couldn't walk 2'. The clock was ticking and I had 5k to go with around 40 minutes until the 12hr mark. I smiled a bit and let down my guard and.....WHAP.....cramp. Time started flying by like crazy. I'd get the cramp to subside and start running until I felt it's angry teeth then I'd stop and go. Went like that the rest of the 5k. Ended up walking a lot of that last 5k and that cost me the handful of minutes but the math in my head let me know that I would come in under my goal time of 12 hours and that's all that mattered.



Not play basketball and tear my achillies killing my run base 7 months before the IM.....but you knew that.

Nothing else I could have done, I pushed it the entire day. I know I started a bit fast but I got it under control quickly and settled in. It was a decent run but I can still do better.

Crossed the finish line and heard Mike Reilly call out my name and tell the crowd I was from the USA. Mike then turned around spotted me and we gave each other one of those "you the man" points to each other. Got my medal and my shirt then walked to the food tent. Met up with Anibal, an aussie I met at the carbo dinner and had a nice "good on ya" chat. Nothing looked good to me so I went outside to meet up with Row who had been juggling 4 kids all day by herself. Gave her a big hug and we told each other about our day.




Fully ruptured achillies 7.5 months before the race. Month in a cast, another in a boot, then a long rehab program.

Other than that I was spot on...


Fabulous race. Hard to compare anything to LP but this race was great. Great people, great town, great things to do....just great. Dissapointed that I didn't get to hang out with Mark (markz here on BT) but I did stop by his bike on the morning of the race and we chatted and wished each other luck. Not having a huge supporting cast of BT'ers makes for a longer day but I thought about a bunch of you guys as I raced.

I was worried coming into this race as I had gotten slower with each of my previous IMs leading up to this one. Sure there were good reasons but they were things that I could have controlled. I had told Row, and only Row, I knew I had a sub 12 in me and if I didn't hit it I would have to seriously reconsider everything I have been doing including these IMs. I hit my mark and felt great but I was beat. More beat than I had ever been at the end of the IM. I pushed it all day long and I could feel it. My muscles were more sore than they had ever been. I gave it my all and it felt good. A week later and I'm still tired.

Still hoping to go for a 2 IM year next year but it's hard to plan since we don't know where we'll be moving yet.

We then spent the rest of our vacation in downtown Sydney in an apartment that had a huge window looking out over the Opera house and Harbour Bridge. It was wonderful.