The swim was by far the most fun for me. The cannon went off and complete chaos ensued. I started in the middle of the middle and got punched and kicked a few times while doing the same to others. It took about 750 meters to get my breathing under control but after that, I felt great throughout the swim. Each turn bouy brought total gridlock as everyone tried to round the turn as close as possible, myself included.

Nothing much, I held back a little saving myself for a long day. I would swim a little harder next time.

Wetsuit strippers are awesome as were all the volunteers. They had changing tents, which were hot, stinky and overflowing. I had to change standing up with someones butt in my face. When you come out of the tent, your bike is handed to you (how cool is that?). I headed out on the bike feeling good and started hydrating immediately.

I would wear my tri shorts and jersey under my wetsuit.

since I bike better then I swim, I spent much of the bike passing people (I picked up 500 positions on the bike). Being in Colorado, I wasn't used to sitting in one position, in the same gear for long periods of time so I stood up for a minute each hour to stretch out. Started to cramp towards the end so doubled up on the salt tabs. Spent the lat 12 miles cussing at myself for even thinking about doing an IM. This was brought on by a headwind that beat me up pretty good.

Stay on the salt tabs, other than that, my bike was right on target.

Same as T1, the volunteers did everything...racked bike, fetched T2 bag. I went into the tent, changed into running shorts and decided to run in my bike jersey. Lathered vaseline under arms, that were chapped from the swim, put on shoes and hat and headed out. Opted against sunscreen because I saw people that looked like the volunteers put the whole bottle on them without rubbing it in.

wear tri shorts on the run instead of changing into running shorts.

I found out real quick, this is why they call it an Ironman. After feeling fresh for the 1st 20 feet, I realized this run was to be respected. My calves were still contemplating cramping, I got that under control by the turnaround by eating salt tabs like Pez. I walked one minute through each aid station on the 1st loop, this changed to 2 on the 2nd loop and finally 3 for the last 2 miles.

The turnaround was tough, it was getting dark, others were finishing (you could hear the announcer at the finish line). It got so dark, I couldn't see the edge of the road or people running towards me. Eventually they handed out glowsticks and you could see a parade of green circled bobbing up and down for miles. I got emotional several times on the run thinking about all the hours of training I had put in. I teared up a bit at the turnaround be cause I knew at that point I was going to actually finish an Ironman, even if I walked the entire second loop. Even though it was getting dark, I kept my sunglasses on because I didn't want anyone see me tearing up.

With 6 miles to go, I was at 10:45 at in my delerium thought I could run it in 45 minutes and finish in 11:30. I picked up the pace for about 2 miles and realized that wasn't gonna happen. Settled back into my saunter and counted down the mile to the finish line. The last mile is line with people yelling and screaming and by then my emotions were already spent and I was exhausted. I headed toward the line and heard from the announcer, "Curtis Leoni, Highlands Ranch, Colorado...You are an Ironman!

I felt both great satisfaction and relief.

Take on some Cola on the last loop. I was so concentrated on salt that I didn't get any sugar. After the race, I was nauseas but after a large coke and candy bar, I felt much better.

No warm down. Tried not to pass out in a beach chair.


Age and natural ability.


I have much more respect for the distance then I did before the race. That run is no joke. Suffering a little letdown because as of right now, I have no future triathlon plans.

Sorry if the report is all over the board, I still haven't completely collected my thoughts.