I really have no idea what happened here. I am by no means a fast swimmer but this time blows my mind. To show you just how bad it was, my wife, Rowena actually called my hotel to make sure I didn't sleep in when I wasn't out of the water. I have no no no no no idea what happened. I stayed off to the right of the scrum and thought I stayed there, apparently I did not. On another note, the tight necklace burned both sides of my neck. I've never had wetsuit burn and knew I wouldn't get it today since I wasn't wearing a suit. Instead I got a wicked rope burn. Sweet.

Not suck!

I was in such a fog from the 1:3X swim time that I don't remember the transition much except that it was crazy crowded and stunk. Geez dudes, shower on race day, there is no reason to smell like ass an hour+ into the race.

By far the best part of the day for me. In training I rode all of my long rides around 175 watts and felt very comfortable on and after all of those rides. My goal today was to stay under 175. With the heat and the crap swim I decided to go lower than my 175 to ensure I would finally have a solid IM run. Once out there I found that the mid 150's range put me at a decent pace for the race so I stuck there and waited to see how that would work out.

Felt great the whole time, not one cramp, zero tightness, stayed aero, and passed hundreds and hundreds of people. Kept waiting for the wind but even when I hit it the wind wasn't that bad.

Around the 2 hour mark I realized that I hadn't peed yet. I pee a ton on the bike and for me going 2 hours without told me that I needed more fluid. Here was the most important mistake of the day. I forced myself to drink too much water in the last 2 hours of the bike and came off bloated. I had a fantastic bike, never pushed it once, nailed my nutrition, and junked it up by drinking too much damn water. Thought I was being smart but I out smarted myself.

People talked about how bad the roads were but I found them to be exceptional.

Take it easy on the water Camel Boy.

Thought I was quicker than 6 minutes. It does take a bit more time with the injinji toe socks but 6 minutes is too long.

Got off the bike and felt fine. Ran out of transition and felt fine. Decent pace, tried to keep it slow and easy. Reached down for my infinit and took a swig....uh oh. I was full and I there was no way anymore liquid was going in. Big time trouble, big time. I slowed way down and tried to wait out the bloat knowing that by time I was good to go it would be too late and that I needed to go into manage mode. Like, what kind of time can I manage to pull off since my goal time was not going to make an appearance today.

Just ran, tried to get some water in but no dice. The burn on my neck from the necklace hurt like a mutha. I just kept running but knew that without nutrition and water the cramps would come. As they began to come I started to walk/run, then walk walk/run, then walk walk walk/run. It sucked but I had no choice.

Finally unbloated towards the end of lap 2 but it was way too late. I tucked in and tried to enjoy myself. Talked a bunch, ran as much as I could, and walked and walked. Doing the math over and over in my head I knew I could make it before 13 hours but it sure was dissappointing knowing how ready I was for this race. I thought about IMOZ and the fact that 7 months before I ruptured my achilles and still finished in under 12 on a tougher course. Here I was healthy and coming in over 12. Oh well.

Got closer to the end and felt those emotions come up like they do everytime. What a great moment in the race: when you know you're going to finish. Good stuff. Rounded the corners and headed towards the finish line. Heard Mike call out my name and crossed the line. My catcher then tells me a secret and sure enough, there is Chrissie Wellington with her big Chrissie smile putting my medal around my neck and giving me a hug. Sweet.


Not suck

No time to warm-down. Walk the mile back to transition, grab the bike, walk the mile back to the garage to get my bike ready for tribike transport. Baby wipe shower in the garage, walk the bike to the pickup point, grab a burrito, get back in the garage and drive away. Only 4-ish hours to Dallas.

Make it to Dallas just after 1am, aiport doesn't open till 4, can't sleep, awesome. Catch my planes, my brother picks me up, hit a quick shower at my parent's summer home, and make it to the church with 20 minutes to spare. Worth every painful minute when Madeline sees me and gives me that big toothless smile.


Too much water on the bike, weren't you reading?


Never really felt hot out there and the humidity in Houston is a joke compared to what I am use to. I thought the course was fantastic. I liked this race and area so much that I wouldn't mind coming back here next year, and the year after, and the year after....