The first leg of the triangle shaped course was the longest and I did not remember that and I thought I was really going slow when I made the first turn.... but as I finished the next turn things were looking up since both the second and third legs were much shorter....
I was in a good groove at that point so a little Bostic voice in my head kept saying conserve energy on the swim...I hoped to be faster but I am satisfied with the swim....

This was a good swim for me... pretty steady and no major issues....


Go out slower and get into my breathing rhythm much faster...

As you can tell I take my time in transition...checking blood sugar and just making sure I do not forget anything...and as you will read I did forget something :( It was nice to have a wetsuit stripper though.... they told us it was just for the IM people so when they help me get it off I was really pleased...one less thing to have to mess with....

remember to take everything I need out of transition with me the first time....

This is a very challenging bike course for me for a lot of reasons but mostly the hills...

As I got out of T1 and got about half a mile down the road I realized I for got to put my Insulin pump on after the swim...(yes Wendi yelled over the fence not to forget my pump) Unfortunately I forgot it anyways ... so I turned around and rode back to transition and found a USAT official who let me run back through transition and come back out where I came in and not have to start from the beginning again...

So now I am a little shaken but on my way...I am glad I had ridden the course several times because I had a pretty good idea where I was going...The first 25-30 miles were good I really though I would be under 4 hours but “oh nellie” that did not happen....

I got to Buckhill Road and made it up and down all 3 hills without stopping or having any issues.... I hit my max speed going down the second hill at 41.3 mph (I feel the need...the need for speed...) then you wind back up to Sugarloaf Mountain...man that is a big hill...I got up about three quarters of the way and had to walk it to the top....

Now the tough part...as I was going over the hills the sun came out and I did not drink enough and had a huge cramping problem in my left quad.... It was so tight I could not bend my leg...so what do you do to bend a straight object? You put your leg on the top tube of you bike right at the knee and pull your ankle.... I am not sure if this is the best way to do it but it got the muscle to let go and I spent about 10 minutes walking eating and drinking lots of fluids...for about the next 10 mile I rode real slow and could not hammer up any hills without the cramping firing up again...then with about 10 miles to go I guess I had dehydrated pretty well and was about to pick up the pace back into transition...


Hydrate better going over those dang hills.... and not leave the insulin pump in transition...

This was a better transition...checked sugar and was off to the run.....

really not much other than just move faster....

I was pretty much spent.... I ran and walked the whole 13.1 miles...but I made it to the finish line...coming to the finish line you had a major up hill run and then a couple hundred yards up to the finish line...I ran up the steep hill then realized I still had 200 to go.... I could not run any more until I saw Wendi and the kids yelling for me to finish.... so I started running (well at least I was moving my legs faster...lol) and crossed the finish line with the kids one on each side....

Keep training get stronger....

stretched a little...ate some pizza....and walked up and down the hill again to get my gear out of transition and back up to the truck...(;) Wendi carried most of it...thanks hon....)


my level of conditioning....


race was good ...it is a very challenging course....