The water was great. I could see people around me under the water so sighting was pretty easy.

I got caught up in the moment and realized that I was swimming faster than I should. I tried to slow myself down but didn't have any success with that. I was swimming right along with Kendall intially.

I got to the first corner and got tangled up with the masses a little bit. Shortly after the turn my body told me what my brain had been trying to tell me earlier: "YOU ARE GOING TO FAST". It told me that by sending my heart rate through the roof and making swimming difficult due to the huge amounts of air that it required.

At this point I was forced to breast stroke. I moved out of the main lane to avoid kicking other swimmers and started an internal dialog with my brain and body to see if I could get them to work together again.

It took about half way through this leg of the triangle to get it together enought to freestyle again. A couple minutes later there was another revolt.

This time it was my calves. They seemed to think that they should cramp up. And I mean CRAMP! No pool edge to hang onto to work this out so I tried a couple different techniques to get un cramped. (swimming limp legged, pointing my toes different ways, etc.) The cramps passed and I was able to continue my crawl toward the second corner.

I got around this bouy ok. As luck would have it this leg was right into the sun so course correction sightings had the effect of blinding me. I was settled back into my freestyle when I got bumped into. For some reason this caused the cramps to come right back. I was able to work through this episode faster and managed to keep on trucking.

The water was so clear that I could read the markings on peoples legs as they were swimming past me. I saw one legs that said 71 on it. This provided me with some motivation too keep on going so that this old dude wouldn't beat me out of the water. There was no doubt he would have a better swim time though because I am pretty sure he started a wave or two behind me.

Out of the water finally and up the hill!

Swim my own pace.

There were a couple hundred yards to run on the asphault after getting out of the water to T1. This pretty much sucked due to the roughness of the pavement. I was so happy to be out of the water that I told my feet to quit complaining or else.

I put my helmet on first thing, then my number belt, then I put on my socks and shoes.

This all went pretty well and I ran out of transition and did a rolling mount as soon as I was past the line.

I don't know if the transistion time included the run from the water or not.

Not much. I mentally practiced (visualize) my T1 before the race and that really helps me.

My plan for this race was to survive the swim, ride hard, and use whats left for the run.

I pretty much stayed with that plan. I tried to stay in aero position as much as possible but there were a couple turns where it was prudent to have my hands on the brakes.

I tried to keep my cadence high and spinning smooth. I passed plenty of people and a few passed me.

I managed to eat a Gu or two and I ate part of a Clif bar. I drank as much of my gatorade that I could and took a water on lap two. I refilled my aero drink with that and dumped the rest on my head. I stashed the empty bottle in my race belt and then handed it off the some volunteers at the runners mile 1 water stop.

I really enjoyed the bike portion. I rode hard but I didn't really max out so much that I wouldn't be able to run.

nuttin honey (except maybe ride faster)

T2 went well. I took the time to put my HRM on. It conficts with my cycle-computer so I didn't have it on during the ride. I chose not to run with my fanny pack water bottle.

I put a couple GUs in my short pockets, grabbed my bandana, put on my hat and shoes and I was gone.

I felt pretty good coming off the bike so I was hoping to continue that...

I was looking at my HRM and trying to balance keeping a decent pace with keeping my HR in check. I was never able to make my HR go down from the 160 something I started with.

I took water at the first stop which was fairly soon after transition. Shortly after that I was talking to one of the other runners. He said he was doing fine but had forgot to grab his gel at transition. I had two so I gave him one. He was grateful and I felt good about helping him out.

There was a portapotty at mile one so I took advantage of that to take a leak.

Most of the water stops had ice cold sponges as well as water and gatorade. That really helped cool me down.

About two miles into the run my gastrointestinal tract started to complain. It became very apparent that I was going to need the service of another porta-potty soon or uggliness was going to happen. I eyed the woods along the course a couple times. I had my bandana so I had everything I needed if I had to go that route. Luckily there was a porta-potty in sight about 1/4 mile past the mile 3 water station.

I focused on the little blue building and told my bowels to hang on, I would get them there as soon as possible.

I beat a couple volunteers to the door (thankfully it was vacant) and slithered out of my sweat drenched tri suit as fast as I could. I was kind of hoping that this respite would give my HR a chance to back down but I guess the 200 degree oasis I was in didn't allow that.

Once the paperwork was completed I did my best to get back into my tri-suit and get out of there quickly. I didn't have the heart to look the volunteers (teen age girls) in the eyes as I left.

I felt much better now and get back to running (?). I saw Kendall again as I rounded the corner of the course that was to take me up the next hill. He made a comment about how much the hills sucked. I looked ahead and could see why.

I went up the hill thinking that at least I get to go back down when I am done. There was a water stop at the top that you got to hit twice due to the turn around a little ways up.

It was when I turned around and looked down the hill that I realized that I had been going down hill prior to going up hill and that was going to be another up hill going back. Now I knew what Kendall's comment was all about. UGH!!

The rest of the run (?) my body didn't complain too much. I kept trying to keep my HR under my 100% zone but I sure couldn't get it to drop much.

At one point I had looked at my watch and realized that I should be able to get in under 3 hours. That thought perked me up a bit. I kept on pladding along. 5 miles done, 6 miles done, OH Yea! I can see spectators ahead.

I heard them yelling at someone: "Your almost there. Kick It!" I heard my brain tell my ears that if they heard them yelling that at me that the correct response was "I thought I was kicking it!"

Thankfully I didn't have to respond to that. I saw the finish line ahead and tried to look like I was having fun. They called my name as I finished, that was cool. Somebody asked if they could take off my chip for me. I just nodded my head. I couldn't have stopped her if I tried anyway so go for it.

Somebody else handed me a cool looking running hat with the HOT logo with flames on it.

There was a table with water available at the finish. This was the only water that I had been offered all day long that wasn't ice cold. I am not sure if that was by design or what.

Not far from the finish line I saw Kendall laying under a tree and Renee sitting on a cooler. We exchanged greatings. Renee offered me a drink. I declined at that time as I saw the sprinkler tent right behind them and I was determined to stand in that for a bit.



Run faster. Not spend 2-3 minutes in the porta-potties.

Walked over towards the water exit to pick up my sandles. Got that neat "world is spinning" sensation when I stood up after bending over. Stood in the sprinklers for what seemed like an hour. Finally took Renee up on her offer of a beer. Oh man that tasted good! Thanks Renee!!

I hung out with the gang until the awards cerimony was over. It was a good time.


cooking myself in the first part of the swim didn't help. It took a while to recover from that. (Exploding bowels in the run didn't help either)


Something I left off of the Swim start. The national anthem was sung by the whole crowd led by one of the military competetors. This was awesome and really made me feel good.

Something they do at this race is to have a silent wave start first in the swim in honor of the military serving to keep us safe and free. The crowd had been pretty noisey and raucus prior to this. When the race director made the anouncement to start the silent wave,

The whole crowd went completely silent!

Not a peep, nothing. Complete and udder silence for a good two minutes. That really moved me!