Loved, loved LOVED this swim! It was shortened due to strong winds and currents in the area so they changed it to a point to point swim going along with the currents. It was so fast! I swear it was like I was body surfing at some points. The water was so clear - at one point I saw a diver with a camera below me and all this time I was thinking the water was maybe 10 feet deep. The guy looked like a baby with dive gear on he was so tiny! It had to have been 40 feet. I didn't see hardly any fish, so that was disappointing. Other people did though, so maybe I was too close to the shore.

Don't know, I had a fabulous swim!

I don't remember much about this transition so it must have been non-eventful. We had a great spot in transition, very near to the pros.

Could be faster, but at 15+hours, 5 minutes isn't going to make much difference.

This would be a great course if they could cut down on the wind A TON. It was a painful ride and I was lucky to get 8-11 mph on the 13-mile stretch on the east side of the island. And we got to do that stretch 3 times! It was fabulous - NOT. I seriously did NOT want to go out for the 3rd loop.

Pick a race not near the ocean!

I remember throwing my bike at the volunteer and saying they could have it, and no I wasn't kidding.

Felt great for the first 6 miles or so, but the rain started around mile 2 and I knew I was in for trouble. I never would have dreamed I would have a 7-hour marathon! I felt blisters starting within the first three miles. By mile 12, I stopped at the first aid station of the night. When I pulled off my shoes, they were full of blood and all the skin off my heels was completely gone. They cleaned and wrapped them and I was off again. This lasted about a mile and I pulled the bandages off before they fell off. I stopped at another aid station around mile 16 and went through the drill again. These lasted about a mile as well. At this point, walking was all I could do. I stopped at special needs at about mile 21 and grabbed some dry socks before heading to the aid station for one last bandage job so I could hopefully hobble to the finish line. They were nearly insisting that I pull out of the race at that point because my feet were so bad. As I was getting wrapped up, Tim showed up and had his feet checked out as well. We decided to walk the rest of the way to the finish line together.

It was good to see so many friends along the way and we even got to walk with BT'er Stacie (Marathongirl11) for a bit!

I should have started out with socks. BIG MISTAKE. But, I honestly don't think it would have made much difference. We were running through ankle deep water for so much of the run and it was just absolutely POURING. At least we didn't get too hot lol

I'm super disappointed in my run time and overall race time, but the elements of the day just had other plans for me.

I came away with some nasty sores all over my feet and even went to the doctor to make sure they weren't infected (they weren't).

Hobbled over to the med tent near the finish line and got my feet wrapped AGAIN. Had some cup a noodle soup, got our shirts, medals, towel, pictures made. Hobbled over to the bike racks and got our bikes over to Tri-bike transport. Caught a cab back to the hotel.


Wind, torrential downpours.


There was a lot of disorganization to this race. Lots of people had no idea about the changed swim start until they showed up race day. Maybe they weren't as connected to email/facebook as we are. My husband's bike special needs bag was no where to be found. There was only one set of porta-pottys on the bike loop. The volunteers were screwing off on the bike and the run course. I saw them squirting each other with the water packs and not even noticing the runners going by. Not a lot of food options on the bike or run.

My Husband and I completely discounted this race because of the terrain. BIG MISTAKE. The wind and rain made up for the flat course. A woman in our hotel (who is a 30x Ironman including Kona), told us that this course today with these elements was harder than any other Ironman she's ever done. She dropped out on the run.

A very tough bike with the wind. The run would be super easy if there was no rain or 6" deep puddles to run through. The swim, again, was fabulous!

I guess it's just the luck of the draw what kind of weather you get on race day. My sub 14-hour planned time went out the window as soon as I got on the bike.