The new swim start was great. I had contact, but it was very limited. I had one lady pull my goggles off twice on accident, but really that was the only contact worth mentioning. At the turns there was the standard crowd of people and contact was there, but not any more than any 70.3 I've done.
The first lap I just stayed to the right and stayed out of the crowd. I felt really relaxed and just tried to stretch my stroke out and glide. I can say this is the first time I've swam in an event and didn't have any anxiety during the whole swim. At the end of the first lap I came out of the water and looked at my watch which said 39 minutes. I was right on pace for my goal pace. I slapped some hands of volunteers and said thanks to them and jumped in for lap 2.
Lap 2 was the same. Just tried to swim long. I'm only in my 4th year of swimming so for you good swimmers this must be second nature. For me it is not. I felt really good. I did notice how clear lake CDA is. You can see bottom for a long time. I also noticed for some strange reason when we got out to the turn arounds there were roller waves. Maybe 1 or 2 feet. No peak to them just rollers. I think it was from the wave runners helping people. I'm not sure. On the way to the finish I noticed quite a few people were having some serious navigation issues. Seemed everyone wanted to go to the right and all they needed to do was swim straight to the finish. No biggie I just swam around them. I swam like a good little triathlete does till my hads touched the bottom. Then I jumped up. Ran out and got my wetsuit stripped.

Nothing. I was right on pace and felt great. I don't know that I'll ever be a good swimmer, but I'll take mediocre even if I'm not sure how to spell it.

Wow! What a chaotic mess in the changing tent. I guess when you are in the back of the pack this is what I should expect. I didn't need to change clothes. Just get my arm covers on, helmet on, wetsuit packed up, bike shoes on, apply chamois cream, and grab my nutrition. I guess that takes about 9 minutes give or take a few seconds. All I can say is if they have any pictures of me leaving T1 that is not spunk on the front of my shorts. That is chamois cream I swear! I don't know how to prevent that from happening, but it always does when I have wet shorts. It looks comical and I've caught hell for it more than a few times from my friends. I kept whipping it away, but it kept coming out like I was some kind of dispensor, just not in the ideal location. It ended about 2 miles into the bike ride. Well that is when I gave up worrying about it.

Speed up a little bit, but this is my first Ironman so I wasn't sure how any of this would go.

So I ate the first 1/2 sandwich on the way out of T1. While I was busy whiping cream out of my crotch and pushing a bike to the mount line. I told myself to really pace this bike course. It is a hilly bugger and us Michigan folks don't have 2 mile up hills down where I'm from. My plan for the bike course was to drink a lot and pee alot. I really didn't want to blow up on the bike and not run the marathon. Forst lap I did good. I ate both halfs of my sandwich, had 4 shot blocks, and 8 PB crackers. I really wanted salty stuff on the bike since I knew sweet stuff all day would be a disaster for me.
Special needs came around mile 66 or so. I ate a handful of pringles and loaded another sandwich into my pockets. I also loaded more PB crackers and a nother string of blocks.
I was also carrying my own nuun tablets to put in my speed fill when I filled it up. My plan was going good till the second lap on Mica grade. That hill is long and the whole way out to the fire station felt like it was up hill. I was getting tired so I polished off my last 1/2 a sandwich and had a PB pretzel MOJO bar. That hit the spot. On the way back into town I was feeling good again. I stopped at the last aid station and got more water and peed. I could have maybe made it in without the stop, but I didn't want to risk it. I was there to finish not go fast this time.
My overall nutrition on the bike was great. My other plan of coasting to rest my legs on all descents that exceeded 20 MPH also worked great. I suck at pacing, but this bike I did great.

Nothing. I stopped at 3 aid stations to pee and that was a good indicator of my hydration.

I know I took my time in this one. I sat out on the lawn and slowly got my mind ready for the marathon. I knew I wasn't fast and I didn't care. I was having a great day and a great time. The bike course was stellar and I knew the run was even more scenic. I threw everything in the gear bag handed it to a volunteer, got lathered up with sunscreen, stole a glass of water and headed out on the run.

Nothing

Well I had planned 9:30 or 10/miles, but you can see that didn't happen. I started out and the first mile was 9:35. I knew that wouldn't last so I slowed down to 10:30. I walked each and every aid station. I had a great run going on the first lap. I felt good and said a ton of thank yous to volunteers and spectators who cheered for us. There were some great parties going on and I remember at least 2 people with PA systems which cracked me up. I made it too special needs and felt pretty good. 13 miles done. What I didn't realize was from special needs to the next aid station took forever. I'm not sure how long it was, but I needed an aid station to happen before it. By mile 15 I was walking. Man I was pissed. I kept telling myself what a douche bag you are. Loser! Then this guy from the university of Iowa came up on me and said "I'm glad you slowed down." I knew we had been going back and forth on the bike and on the first lap of the run. Now we became running buddies. He would say hey let's run to that sign. We would start running and I would say screw that sign let's go to the next aid station. Thank God for that guy he saved my race. I think his name was Charles. Around mile 23 he decided he was going to walk more. I told him if I walked much more I was done. I decided I would run it in and just walk the aid stations. Around mile 24 I hit a huge street party. With all these drunk people. The girls were in Bikini tops and shorts and the guys were all yelling. The girls had a sign that said "We are not wearing any panties." I laughed and unzipped my tri top. I showed them my man boobs and they all laughed and cheered. That gave me a lift to get to the finish. I ran the rest of the way in and skipped the last aid station. I passed mopre than a few people walking.

Plan my water uintake better. I planned to run about a 4:30 marathon and that bonk in the middle killed it. But then again I've never ran a marathon so I didn't know any better.

Lay in the medical tent with my feet up. Flyboy checked on me and I enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. I even had a volunteer come by with a foam roller and roll out my legs. I know I told him thank you a thousand times. The line for the message was huge, but here I was getting rolled out without waiting.


Knowledge and experience.


What can I say? CDA is amazing. I could not have picked a better place to do my first Ironman. I don't know what I can do for a second one.
The volunteers were awsome, the scenery is insane, and the overall vibe from the city is nothing short of wonderful. If I could move out west this would be a great place to live.
To all my fellow BTr's especially the local ones. Thanks. Man I loved this race and meeting everyone. I wanted a great experience and this was one I will never forget.
My race:
My goal was to learn and do it under 15 hours. I finished in 13:50 and I know there are a ton of minutes to get maybe even an hour or more. I plan on doing another one. I just have to wait till the wife approves it and the check book can recover. Thanks everyone who reads this. If you are on the bubble about this race don't be it is spectacular. Sorry for any spelling or grammer issues.