Well it lived up to it's name as the washing machine. Last year when I did this race I stayed behind because of my injury. Not this year...jumped right in!

Self seeded at the 1:01-1:10 mark and wanted to be around 1:05-1:08 so I was very close to my time goal.

I was able to get right on the rope in the water and stay on that but I payed the price for it. I had my goggles knocked off twice and ended up with a fat bottom lip!

First loop was fairly rough with all the positioning going on and the lifeguards trying to keep everyone to the left of the buoys.

Second loop was just annoying. I had caught up to the slower swimmers and that just killed my time having to constantly go around people or just find them bobbing in the water looking around.

Loop 1: 33:22
Loop 2: 36:25

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350191033

Wetsuit stripper had an issue with my right heel and getting the suit off.

I had swapped which bag was on top so mine stood out from the rest. Bike on the bottom and run on the top. Grabbed the bag from the bottom and off I went into the tent.

Was pretty happy with this transition but I think looking back I should have sat down in the tent, I just stayed standing up and bent over to get socks and shoes on.

Had to get my own bike as the volunteers were busy.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350191037

Sit rather than stand to do everything.

Not really the way I wanted my strongest leg of a tri to go.

By 35 minutes in I had lost all of my liquid nutrition. I reached for my downtube bottle and because it was raining I flat out dropped it and it exploded all over the road nearly taking me down with it. Was able to recover and continue.

Got to the bottom of the Keene decent and reached back for my other bottles and they were gone as well. ARGH! I'm now down 2.5hrs of nutrition...not good.

I had the GU chomps for hours 2 and 4 but that's all I had and I needed to use all of them to get to special needs where I could get the rest of my nutrition for loop 2.

Really couldn't hammer the downhills with all the rain and water on the road. Was tough to see what you were going to ride through/over.

Was able to see Andy Potts on the 12 mile out and back so I was feeling pretty good that I was only 12 miles down from the leader at this point. Man can he peddle..... Saw Derek and John on my way back on the 12 miles and they looked comfortable.

About mile 52 I had a rear flat that I had to change which is where Derek caught up to me while I was changing that. First loop just wasn't going well. Got to special needs where Allie had my bag. Grabbed my nutrition and extra tube and co2.

Loop 2 started off great, felt great, had stopped raining.
Started to not feel too hot though because of nutrition problems so I started taking it a little bit easier on the downhills letting my weight carry me and conserve some calories. I tried to make up some of the calorie debt but it wasn't going well. UCAN wasn't sitting well with all the GU chomps I had eaten.

Realizing that my 10-10:30 was out the window with my nutrition issues and having to pee I decided to get off and use a porta potty. On the 12 mile out and back there was a guy that was out of co2 so I stopped and gave him a cartridge. I wasn't looking to just finish, I wanted to have a great finishing time but also knew that if I was in that situation I'd want someone to help me.

I kept hitting the buttons on my Garmin so the bike got broken up into 3 sections.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350191043
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350191339
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350199122

Volunteer grabbed my bike right away, perfect!

Had a volunteer in the tent that was extremely helpful and putting all my stuff back into the bag.

Grabbed my hand held bottle with Napalm and topped it off with water on the way out and ready to go.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350199128

Blech.

Started off at a decent pace 8:20 and that's where I wanted to be but my stomach was having digestion issues and I wasn't getting nutrition in my system anymore. At the aid stations I tried perform, water, and coke but it was just sloshing around.

Mile 3 I was reduced to the Galloway and try to just keep moving but it was a struggle. My legs were tired but it was more my gut that was having the issue than anything else.

By mile 12 I was reduced to a complete walk and wasn't feeling good AT ALL, I was light headed, nauseous, and tingly as the dehydration was setting in from my stomach not being able to process anything. Saw Dave and Pat near the STC tent and I handed my bottle off to them since I hadn't touched it since about mile 2. As I was leaning over one of them caught me from going down.

Continued to walk/run the short out and back along mirror lake drive until on the way back I didn't think I could move anymore. Stopped in the middle of the road and Brian came over to see if I needed anything. Another volunteer joined in and they said I should lay down and get my feet up so my stomach would start to digest what was in it.

Over the course of the hour that I lied there they brought a gator over to take me back to the oval. 2 medical volunteers showed up to assess the situation. Kristin, Ray, Matt, and Brian all were there....it was like a party!

I made sure to tell the med personnel that I wasn't quitting and the only way I was done is if she was going to pull me. She stated every time I said those words that she wasn't pulling me. I had 7 hours left to do the last 14 miles.

A lot of chicken broth, coke, water, oranges, chips, and pretzels later I was back at it. Got up and walked a couple hundred yards with Brian to get my bearings and see how the legs felt. Started running soon after that and ran most of the last 14 miles. I'd walk a minute out of every mile just to try and keep the legs somewhat fresh. Ray had filled my bottle with chicken broth so I always had some with me. I kept nursing that the last 12 miles just to keep fluid in me. Every aid station I was drinking water and coke as well. A rolling buffet!!

Had caught up to Dan and he was struggling a bit so I walked with him for a little while as he said he just couldn't run anymore. I was able to convince him to run most of the last 4 miles with me...was awesome to see him push his body to the limits.

I was definitely hurting coming back into town though and happy I was able to do this event for the second year in a row. Got to see all my friends and family on the oval and I absolutely loved it.


http://connect.garmin.com/activity/350199132

MED TENT!!!! 3 bags of IV later....


Nutrition problems on the bike