The swim was awful for me. I had problems finding the buoys (really only 4 total), which kept drifting around. On the last turn around I was swimming towards a buoy that seemed way out of place and by the time I got there a girl on a kayak pulled it about 25 yards or further in, so I knew I was swimming further than expected.

Usually I'm a much better swimmer. Not sure what I would do differenly, probably just try to relax. I could never get into a groove. I'd only been swimming once per week for the last 2 months. Between the family, work, and class I knew I needed to cut back on one and it was the swim. Oh well.

This included the run/walk/crawl up the steps to T1. My legs were pretty tight by the time I got there so I took my sweet time. Very disoriented from my slow swim.

Pick up the pace.

The bike is usually my strong suit, but I was really hurting today. We started out with a tailwind which was deceiving. Once we made the first turn there was a good crosswind, then a turn into the wind, which just kicked my ass. I had done all of my long rides at 4.30 in the morning where the wind was non-existant. I just don't think my legs were prepared for the wind. The hills felt fine and had no problems with that. The bike got real lonely at the end as there wasn't anyone within a mile in front or behind me, so I was alone with my thoughts, which started to become negative. About this time the rain started to mist a bit harder and I was praying it wouldn't pour because my shoes were uncovered in transition. When I finally got to T2 I was soooo happy, but confused. My wife and kids weren't there and I was hoping for a little support. More on that later.

Not much, more time on the bike in training, but nothing this day.

I actually had my shoes on pretty quickly, but I went to the bathroom. No one was in line, but it was "occupied" for 3 of the 4 minutes in T2.

Just go to the bathroom on the course.

Felt pretty good the first 7 miles, under 11 min miles. Although it was a little disheartening to see virtually everyone running the other direction. I only passed 2 people, and that was solely because they were walking. After mile 7 my quads started to cramp up a bit... so I walked the aid stations and chugged some water. Also popped in a few endurolytes. The rain became pretty steady around mile 9 so the last 4 were pretty cold and wet. For the last 3 I couldnt see anyone in front or behind me which was weird. If it wasn't for the aid stations it wouldn't have felt like a race. At mile 12 I got rejuvenated and ran the last mile around 8 minutes. I couldn't stop smiling. My wife and daughter were standing waiting for me about 200 yards from the finish, I gave them a kiss and sprinted to the finish.

Nothing, in fact I ran the pace and time that I had hoped for. I'm not a great long distance runner and had never run further than 11 miles before so I was very happy.

Just walked back to my wife and daughter.


Probably a little more time on the back, and definitely more time in the pool.


I mentioned earlier that my family wasn't there in T2 when I got off the bike. After the race I looked in my car at my sleeping son only to find a giant 1 1/2 inch gash in his head. During the bike they had gone to a park to pass the time and he tripped and hit his head on a bench splitting his head wide open. Luckily we had friends with us, so my wife had help, but blood was pouring out of his little head and they rushed him to the emergency room. Finishing the race seemed like such a small task now. My wife had now spent the last 2 days in the emergency room with our frightened little kids. The last couple of days following the race I have been kicking myself for dragging the family to all of these races for my own selfishness. In fact I thought of hanging them up. But I have the greatest wife who said that she supports my racing and would never want me to quit something I love and wouldn't want to put up with me being a crab ass :). In fact despite my soreness (ankles and feet are still sore today), I plan on another 1/2 next year to better my time and erase some of the memories from last weekend.