Started wading out the start buoy. I could not get my suit zipper up. I asked a guy on the way to help me out . It was stuck. I told him he was a life saver. He told me that will change when the race starts and he unzips it. Ha ha. Everybody was wondering when the hell the gun was going to sound. Finally it did and we were off. I was positioned at the front and swam like hell to find an open position. That was tiring me out and I finally settled to an easy pace slowing occasionally to find more open space. I could not site the buoys very well. They were too small and too far from each other for me. I had to follow other swimmers until I spotted them, then headed straight for them. I think I lost some time screwing around with that. There was a slight current going right to left. I really did not notice it until the turn back when I saw that I was much to far to the right and had to keep moving to the left. About half way through I felt what was like a basket ball in my hand I took another stroke and saw that I was accidently dunking a guys head in the water. We looked at each other and I said “I am soo sorry” He looked at me like I just stabbed him. I moved as far away from him as I could. When I got out of the water I saw my friend Christine and high fived her. Took my wetsuit off immediately and ran the ¼ mile or so to the transitions area.


Be more watchfull of other swimmers. I feel really bad about dunking that guy. I have to learn better form to swim faster. I did my best. Other than that nothing. I had a blast!

I moved as fast as I could. I don't see how so many can be soo much faster then me.

I have to practice transition.

Got on my bike and just took off. This is my first race with my Cervelo P3 and I wanted to see what she had. I was constantly trying to stay at 20 per hour or more. It might have tired me out for the run but I did not care. I was really enjoying the ride. It is a small race and at times there was noone in site. I did play tag with a few people. I met a woman who was also doing the Florida Ironman and we talked while maintaining the 3 bike distance as not to draft. I love to socialize. It keeps my spirits up. I had a slight back cramp for about 20 miles but it was gone around mile 40. I think that slowed me down a bit. It happens during training too. I gotta figure out how to fix that. I kept standing up and doing a strange humping motion to alleviate it. I am sure it looked quite weird. I packed my shirt pockets with all kinds of stuff. Beef jerky, energy beans, a cliff bar and chomps. I did not eat any of it. I could not event think about eating. I did fill my two back bottles with Accelerade sports drink. It was an experiment as I never used it before. It seemed to work quite well. I kept a large water on my frame and did not need any refills at the 20 and 40 mile water exchanges. I saw Vic’s wife at around mile 45 so I know Vic made it. My bike odometer showed 53.5 miles when I sited the finish. It was a nice surprise. I am going to have to fix that.



I am going to have to train harder to maintain that pace for the Florida Ironman. Either that or learn to slow down and pace myself. I think I will train harder. I would not change anything. I had a blast!

I moved as fast as I could. Almost forgot to fasten my helmet strap. I remembered just before mounting. Saw Chrisine going in and coming out of transition which gave me a good boost!

I gotta practice transition.

Started out nice and easy at around a 10mm pace. Waited for that warm and fuzzy before picking up the pace. Saw Christine at mile 1 and asked her how I looked and if my hair was OK. I was doing great until I hit the gravel road. I am not good on gravel. I felt too hot at times and had to slow down. I know if I push too hard in the heat it burns me out. Water stops were good. I drank a cup of water at each water stop and poured another over my head. They had gu at each water stop. I took 3 during the run and ate some energy beans on occasion. I ran most of the course. Stopped at water stops and walk/ran up the huge gravel hill on the way back. I wanted to walk but kept telling myself that I would count to a hundred then think about it. Good advice that I read in Be Iron fit. Thanks to Bar92 for the tip on the book. I kept looking at peoples calves that passed me to see if they were in my age group and did not see one, so I thought I was doing OK. My placement showed differently. They must have all been ahead of me already! I got back to the park. I saw no signs at all and there was no one insight. I had to stop at the gate and ask the guy where to run. He said go left. If finally saw the last water stop with one more mile to go. Finally the finish line. I looked up at the clock to see 5:59:15. I made my goal of under 6 hrs. Yea!



I really have to work on my run. I can see that my training runs are far too weak. I have to push through more pain and do more intervals. I have to do more Bike/run bricks. This was a practice run for Florida Ironman on November 5th. My goal is to finish under 5 hours on the marathon. I am not so confident about that now. I beat my syracuse 1/2 Iron that I did last year by 44 minutes overall so there has been some improvment.

Hung out for a while. Vic came in about 8 minutes after me. Locked my keys in my car and had to get a hammer from the gate guy to smash the window.


Sloppy swimming, not enough focus on running, have to put in more miles on the bike. I put 100% into this race. I need to put 100% into training. Stay out of the bar on Friday night.


Its a small event. Can't expect too much as far as amenities. It was alot of fun and I will try to place in my age group next year.