One of the most noticeable things about the water was the clarity. It was soo clear. The clear water made keeping track of Joann pretty easy. It also made seeing the sea life easier. We saw some rather large pink jellies in the shape of bonnets. And as we got further out towards the turn buouys where the water was deeper, you could see thousands of them down below. The were creating small electical pulses which made it look like a christmas light display. And I did eventually swim into some of them and got mildly stung. Mostly just a tinling/light burning sensation. They hit me everywhere though, face neck, hands and feet. Didn't really hurt, just knew you got stung. As we turned the first buoy and headed east, sighting became very difficult. The wave were about 3-5 feet and we were swimming directly into the sun. After turninig the second buoy and heading to shore we were passed by the pro's. They were flying. Exiting the water, I waited for Joann to catch up, then proceded through the turn around and back into the water. The second lap was much easier to keep track of her as there were not nearly as many people swimming around us. Heading back into shore, I swam ahead so I could get the waterproof camera out and start taking picture of Joann exiting the swim. We had a projected goal time of 1:45, we finished 2:30 behind the goal.

The chainging tent had plenty of chairs to choose from. Came out changing tent and went to bike then waited for Joann exit and get ready
Goal of 0:15, we gained back 1:30 of the 2:30 we lost, now we were only 1:00 behind our project pace to get us to the finish line in under 17:00.

Heading out on the bike, the wind was rather strong. The Aid Stations were about 10 miles apart. The volunteers were great. They did an excellent job of handing off water bottles. I never missed one, but I did take Joann's bottle at one spot. She quickly chastized me for that. :D About every twenty miles are so, we would see a family stopping to cheer for someone around us. All the ladies were wearing witch hats, so I yelled to them as we passed "Trick or Treat." For the first 4 hours or so we battled strong headwinds. When the wind turned towards a tailwind we started moving pretty good. I was doing 23ish and would look back to see that I was not loosing Joann. I think it was the fastest she ever pushed her bike for so long. Finally turning the corner on Front Beach Road felt soo good, we made it through our toughest segment of the day with about than 20 minutes cut off our projected time goal of 8:00. This helped alot as we could start the run off with an easy pace then pick it up when needed.

Nutrition – We used one scoop per hour of Perpetuem, with Endurolytes. I took in 3-4 servings per hour of Endurolytes. I supplemented this with 1-2 servings per hour of Hammer Gel. For an appx. average hourly caloric intake of 230.ride.

One minor mechanical problem - The chain came off the front chain rings when I shifted down to the small ring. Other than that mechanically, we were very fortunate to not have any other problems.

Goal of 0:15. We beat that and gained another 8 minute buffer for the run.

Starting out on the run I was feeling good. We were in the mix with all the people finishing and those making the half way turn around. On the run, we saw lots of people cheering and giving us encouragement, it makes all the difference in the world.. On the bike I tore my race number that had my first name, so I switch out to the last name race number for the run. People were just looking and my last name, then looking at Joann’s bib which had her first name, and they would call out “Go Joann” and you too guy with long name. After about a half hour into the run it got dark, so we turned on our lights which mounted to the hat. We got more comments and complements about those lights than I could count. We had a few people yell out “Go Coalminers”. Once it got dark, you definitely needed some type of lighting. Running through the neighborhoods and the park were the darkest because of the lack of street lights. However, the race officials did set up portable spot lights in different locations. These helped out some. Aid stations were well stocked and supported. Even though the race was almost over, the volunteers were all high spirited and had everything we could of asked from them.

Nutrition – We started off with HEED, but after one hour into the run, our stomachs were not liking it too much. So I switched to plain water for about an hour and half. I then started taking in some Fig Newton’s, then supplemented with Soda and chicken broth. And let me just say, chicken broth never tasted so good as it does at mile 134.

Race volunteers gave us support to walk after finishing. We really didn't need it because we had decided to walk the last mile since we knew we were going to finish. We take our picture in front of the Finishers Wallpaper. We heard the crowd cheer Frank Farrar to the finish line of the first race he completed this year within the alloted time. We also turned to see the offical finishers clock click to 17:00, and what a nice feeling that was.



This was the most enjoyable thing or event I have ever done. To share the day along side my wife as we completed our journey to be Ironmen was just incredible. From when I entered the race, I knew that my finishing time would be something I would eventually forget. But to experience the day with her would be something I would never forget and would give us a lifetime of memories not many other people could experience.

For race photos go to my album HERE.