The water was almost 69 degrees and felt cold when I first jumped in off the dock but once I got a short swim in before the gun to get some sort of a warmup it actually felt very good.

I took an inside route on the inside of all the buoys except for the turn buoys and had pretty clean water until we ran into the group in front of us just 300M into the swim. It was pretty much swim through and around people from that point on. It got really congested after the last turn back into shore.

As I got out of the water both my hamstrings were extremely tight. I have had an ongoing issue with leg cramps starting in my hamstrings and I was extremely mad as I figured if I was already fighting the feeling of leg cramps it was going to be a VERY long day.

I am very disappointed with this swim as I expected to come in at least 31:00 since my swim workouts have been really good the last month and I swam 32:00 last year.

Well this was an eventful transition. I usually stuff some GU's and my Salt Sticks in my tri shirt but decided to bite the bullet with a Bento Box so I had all my GU's and Salt Sticks in my box so when I put on my helmet and sunglasses I kept thinking I was missing something when I was not.

As I ran towards bike exit an official told me I couldn't go that way. I started yelling asking why I couldn't go that way when the bike out is RIGHT THERE. "No, you have to go all the way around" she said. I said, the exit is RIGHT THERE! Needless to say I lost the argument and had to run ALL the way around transition to the bike exit. This probably added 1:00 to my T1 as I also now had to work my way around everyone running with their bike shoes on.

Learn to argue better. :)

After feeling extremely frustrated and thinking my day was shot coming out of the water because of the slow swim and cramping feeling I got on the bike only to feel like crap. My legs were tight and I just couldn't get comfortable on the bike as I'm just not used to a flat bike course. I stood a few times just trying to stretch my legs to see if I could get going. Finally after the first 20 miles I felt comfortable and my legs seemed to come to me.

The wind was not as forecasted and it was more of a crosswind than a head wind out and tailwind in. To fight my cramps we really wanted to focus on fluid and sodium intake. I was guzzling water and sucking down Salt Sticks like they were going out of style. I had 1.5 bottles of water per hour and took in at least 1,200MG sodium per hour but haven't done the final math as the sodium may be even higher than that. I'm really not sure how much of the water I absorbed as I peed right after the turnaround at mile 29, then at mile 42, and again at mile 52. My nutrition was right on as I took my entire mix bottle and 2 Gu's for a total of 1,040 calories.

With 15 miles to go I dialed the bike down a little to save my legs for the run. The last few miles in are bumpy on that road and because our wave was off late I got stuck behind a lot of people.

All in all I was happy with this ride and was just hoping I had enough fluids, paced properly on the bike, and that I wouldn't have cramping issues on the run. I could have definitely ridden faster but that would have jeapordized my run.

Not near as eventful as T1. Took a quick second to stretch my hamstrings to see if it would help alleviate some tightness.

I sarted running at an easy pace just to see how my hammy's would do. They were tight and I had to go easy to make sure nothing locked up. I'd shorten my stride and increase turnover every so often just to change it up. I also tried to extend my legs and stretch my hammy's as I was running. As I got through the first lap I was still feeling great and picked up the pace since there were no signs of cramping. I took in water at aid stations and popped Salt Sticks every few miles. I had 3 Gu's; mile 4, 7, and at mile 10 where I could feel energy draining when I knew I needed to push it. Again, everything was good on the nutrition/hydration side so when I got to the last lap I knew I had a shot at sub 4:40.

I once again decided to pick up the effort and knew it would be close with about 2 miles to go so I really turned it up. I figured if I cramped I could still take time to stretch it out and still PR. I was really working hard and was determined to get there. I haven't pushed this hard mentally in an awful long time and all I could think of was my IMCDA goal. I HAD to be able to mentally and physically push the last few miles no matter how much it hurt to hit 4:39 and to prove to myself I still had the fight in me.

When I crossed the line at 4:39:30 I knew I was on my way to my IMCDA goal. More importantly, I now know I can dig deep mentally and push it even when it really hurts.

Really happy with this run, and I have to look, but I believe it was a negative split.

I still need to get my hamstring tightness/cramping issues resolved. Much better this race and I've got massages planned every week or every other week to try and loosen everything up.

One never knows what the end result of a race will be. This race shows me that you just never know until it's over. I thought I was in for a long, slow day after coming out of the water in 33:00 with tight hamstrings but it eventually came to me. Sometimes HIM and IM racing is just all about hanging in there long enough.