Newbie from Washington State

Hello! I am totally new to triathlons but a good friend of mine talked me into joining him for an Iron Man triathlon in October 2017. Positive points are that I have got 14 months to get ready and I also have a pretty solid background in running having complete a number of full marathons and a few longer trail races. When it comes to swimming and cycling my qualifications include being able to swim from one side of a pool to the other without drowning and I have in my life gone cycling with my elementary age children with a bike I got from Target way back in the day. Let's just say I have no where to go but up in those areas. Looking forward to doing a lot of learning (just learned last week there was a difference between a road bike and a tri-bike - who knew) and hope to engage with some vastly more exterience triathletes on how to finish this thing in one piece...