Gun went off and swiftly made it out to first red turn bouy. I felt awesome. Stroke and breath were in sync and felt if I kept this pace up I would go around 1:05-1:10ish. When I turned I felt some wave chop and spray in the water. Made it to next bouy and could not get my stroke and breath in sync due to wave chop. Sighting was shot. I however, made sure I had all markers/buoys on my left as instructed. Had to do a tad of breast stroke to get my breathing in order once I swallowed water. Goggles were getting shifted constantly due to wave strikes and quite frankly they were killing me. About halfway through swim my gut had enough of the water and now I had the urge to empty them. Well I forged through trying to time the waves with my stroke with little success. Hit the shore and looked at the clock and it said 1:29'ish. I thought well there goes any chance of a great time. But hey, I made it through and how bad can the rest of the day be after that. Hit the porta potty to empty the guts.

I said I swam this "good" just because I have never been through anything like this.

Obviously the porta potty slowed things down, but didn't have a choice. And quite frankly, didn't care.

After previewing the course earlier in the week I figured anything near 6hrs would be acceptable for me. So out of T1 I go and holy wicked winds. It was gridlock to HWY 9 (?) and a race official was eyeing everyone. I made it a point not to draft or fall back after being overtaken even early. I sipped a little drink just to clear out my mouth of lake water. Was feeling okay, but knew my race wasn't going to be what I felt I was capable of due to high (dangerous) winds. I was running HED Jet 60's and was getting blown side to side. Made it to Gunlock, legs were ok, but obviously my pace was off due to winds. At the fork into Gunlock I seen a porta potty and at that point I decided if I needed to use the restroom I would dismount and take the extra time to do so, instead of peeing on myself. Again, this was my first IM and my time wasn't going to be stellar, based on swim. Gunlock sucked as the winds were punishing. I was in and out of aero. When the hills came, I spinned up them without spiking my HR or damaging the legs. I decided I wanted to have a pleasant enough run and not suffer too much. After the wall into Veyo I grabbed my special needs bottle (GU Roctane-calories). I had a bottle jump out of my rear cage before that. Again porta potty and empty bottle into profile aeor bottle. Went down the hills into town and hit 48mph at one point. The legs felt pretty good, but the gut was still mushy. Second loop done, pretty much the same. Two more stops at porta pottys to pee. This was a good thing as I wasn't dehydrated. All aid stations, I took water or Perform and some nutrition. I had gels on the bike along with a Pay Day Bar. This was by far a bad bike split, but given all the stops, etc. it was okay.

This was a bad bike split, but if I felt I was in for a great time (11:30- sub 12)I would have pushed a bit more, stayed in aero more and definitely not got off the bike 6 times to pee. But this was my first IM and didn't want to crawl the run. Besides, I usually learn by doing something once and then tweaking, etc.

Again, hit the porta potty to pee, which just added to the time. But it was a decision I made early to not be discusting due to time/goal expectations totally out of whack.

Legs felt okay out of the shoot. I was a tad warm. Hit the first aid station. My stomach was okay, but had some "stitches" in it near the ribs. So I drank to make sure it wasn't due to dehydration. I walked every aid station I hit (skipped 3 the entire race and ran past them). I hit the porta potty twice to pee. I seen gf on first loop and knew she wasn't having her best day. Ate some oranges, sipped some chix broth ate a few gels, drank some perform and water and iced and sponged religiously as I am a heavy sweater. AFter the second loop I said to myself and the gf as she went by that I was going to be doing a run/walk combo as my stomach stitches were really bothering me. So off to the third loop and I felt I was just going to keep a steady pace and not run/walk, just trot/walk through the aid stations as I had done the previous two loops. The last mile to go is when I started to do alot of reflecting on the training, racing, my kids, etc. and what I was about to accomplish. Time expectation was not up to snuff, but given my inexperience and the conditions I was jacked with happiness.

Again, down time to peeing in the porta potty, but what the heck.

massage, ate a few slices of pizza.


The conditions were a factor as was inexperience. As was all the stops at the porta potty. But again, it was my first and if I raced it again with the same conditions and what I know now, things might be different.


This was a great IM venue. I know it is changing to a half, but this city was awesome.