Easiest swim ever! Just stayed with my plan to keep swimming and not deviate due to crowding to nerves...was able to stay very calm. Couldn't believe how easy it was.

Nothing!

Wetsuit strippers were great! Got a little confused going into T1 and ended up going down the wrong row, but soon realized my mistake and was able to cut through. Was a very typical, easy transition.

Make sure I know what row I'm in...write it on my hand or something!!

Bike was a lot easier than expected. Took it very easy on the hills and stayed at the comfortable pace on the flats and rollers. Lost my spare bottle at mile 7, so grabbed some gatorade...not the best choice as I just didn't take in enough for the last hour of the ride.

Choose water for additional hydration and maybe bring Hammer Fizz tablets with me.

This is where it fell apart for me. Saw that the race clock was at 4 hours and I started 20 minutes after the pros, so I knew I had some wiggle room to get sub-6 hours. Spent too much time in T2 getting garmin on my wrist. As I ran out, realized the zipper on my jersey was stuck but the zipper part at split open..ugh!!

Run while putting garmin, double check jersey (and bring a spare) before leaving T2.

Had planned to stop at the first porta potty, so I did and then spent about 5 minutes (VERY DUMB!) wrestling with my tri jersey to get the zipper to go down. Finally just ripped the zipper off and started running only to find that my garmin was dead and I had no way of knowing my pace. Was very disappointed as I had really made huge improvments on my run over the last year and knew I could easily throw down a 9:30 pace...but with all the mis-steps I just lost it mentally and never really found my stride.

Check and re-check everything is working the night before (thought the garmin was charging but..who knows!) Bring a spare watch and a spare tank next time. Get better and knowing my pacing and how slow is too slow.

Straight down to the beach and soak the tired legs.


Getting too caught up in the little things on the run. Need to understand pacing better.. I was trying to take it slow only to find it's too slow and it drains my energy and I'm unable to pick up the pace.


Ironman needs to step it up a bit and not just rely on name recognition. The expo was seriously lacking, the SWAG bag was a joke and you get a shirt at registration and a hat (if you finish) but it doesn't even say finisher on it. The race itself was fairly well organized and the volunteers were outstanding. But after the race it's quite confusing were the different tents are...took quite awhile to find the food tent, never found massage tent and just too many people in a smallish area.