I was banking on a good swim although this was the part that was freaking me out the most. I had a goal of 52-55 minutes and lately I had been feeling like absolute shit in the water and I knew that no matter what the rest of the day would bring, if I had a less that acceptable swim in my eyes, I would be disappointed.

I seeded myself all the way up front. At first there was no one in front of me but as we waded there positions were jockeyed and I found myself maybe in the second "person row." I had also drifted closer to the big HSBC buoy, which was OK with me because I would be able to see the rest of the buoys better without my glasses. BOOM! Cannon goes off. I only had to take about 4 or 5 Tarzan strokes until I was able to break up front and had clear water in front of me. The rest of the swim was smooth sailing. I was pretty even with one guy to my left and since I an a left-side breather I sighted off of him for a good while keeping a good pace, not slowing up just to stay on course. I picked my head up and looked for buoys and the bridge and I could see a small group ahead of my, but not by much. I took a few breaths to the right and there was no one to my right at all, but I felt like I drifted a little to the right. I had been keeping a good line and didn't want to stray. The turn around came up quickly and going around a little group of 3 guys caught me but only one decided to pass. A few times I could feel someone hit my feet so I thought they were drafting off me but I didn't bother to look behind, that became a little mantra for the day, "Don't look behind." The guy who passed me dropped me pretty good but I could still see him, then all of a sudden I caught him and dropped him before coming back under the bridges. Came around the buoys and straight into the stairs

Not a whole lot. 31st overall, 4th in age group, 12th of all age-groupers.

I had a little trouble grabbig the zipper line to get the top off, but the awesome volunteers helped me. I got the to off, got on my ass and they ripped the suit off me and I continued to run into transition and grab my bag. As I ran I felt like I could puke, but that was just my body getting used to being upright again. Thank God I put a little hand towel in my T1 bag to clean my feet off because they got dirty and grassy running into the tent. One a little run a few days before my shoes were rubbing against my achillies and they were bleeding bad, but it wasn't anything major. I bought some Blisto-Ban at the expo and had them to put on in T1 and also in my pockets for the rest of the day. Putting those things on with we hands and feet is a pain and they didn't stick, but I hever even felt my shoes rubbing on the bike. The volunteers were really awesome and I was able to get out of T1 faster than I thought. My bike was handed to me and it was time to go....

Not a whole lot again. Hopefully next time I won't have to fumble with bandages, but oh well.

Heading out I felt pretty damn good. I followed Val's instructions and kept it in the small ring and a high cadence for the first hour. My cadence meter had broken a while ago and I had cut it off from my Cateye Astrale 8 so I was going on feel. I was averaging about 19-20 and that was fine. I started to get passed and every time I did I noticed they were in the big ring. However, I was riding MY race, not theirs and I knew that if I tried to stay with them it could spell disaster later and today, that would end up being inevitable. It took about 20 minutes to get my HR down and I finally got relaxed. I started my nutrition plan 15 minutes into the ride with water from my aerodrink every 15 and Infinit for the bottle in my bottle cage every 30 minutes. At no point did I have an empty aerodrink as I was coming up on aid stations pretty quickly the whole day. I needed to start drinking more often and I did so. I knew I was hydrated when I had to pee. Coming back into town on Rio Solado after the first loop I stood up on the pedals and let it flow. It ran down my right leg. I was hoping that this would be the only time I would really have to slow down, boy was I wrong. After the first turn around up the Beeline I threw it in gear and started to chug it back home, the wind wasn't all that bad and I was able to stay between 19, 20 - 23. Coming into town was great and the crowd was huge and I also heard Chippy and JeepFleeb yell out for me. Making my way to the second loop I started to lay the hammer down as I knew I was getting a little tail wind and with hardly any effort I stayed comfortable at 23, 24, 25 mph and I thought to myslef, "Oh boy, this might turn out to be a really good ride!" Then it happened. After the turn around the wind hit like a freight train straight in my face. All of a sudden it was a struggle to get to 17 mph. I stopped at special needs to pick up my second bottle of Infinit and headed out. I didn't take my third tube from the bag which would later scare the shit out of me. At about mile 67 something didn't feel right with my bike. I thought maybe for some reason my rear wheel was rubbing and when I looked down I saw I had a flat. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" I pulled over and changed it. There was a little thorn sticking in my tire and although I was running SpinSkins, the thorn managed to hit a little higher and punctured the tube. From then on it was a pray fest for no more flats. I still had another tube, I just didn't want to have to go through it again. In all changing the flat may have cost me anywhere between 5-10 minutes, I'm not really sure. At this point the wind and the flat pretty much killed any sort of time goals and the decision was made that finishing was the only important thing now. I really, really had to pee again but there was no way I was going to stand up in those headwinds so I held it and waited until I was on the outbound part of the third loop. This was a good idea. Standing up and peeing with that tailwind I was still going about 19, but when I was done I felt like I was getting tired and had a little trouble keeping the speed up even with the tailwind. Coming back in on the third loop was the same story. Everyone was struggling. The conditions also made things a little nervewracking as well in terms of a penalty. It was so hard to go anywhere that little groups would form. I tried to believe that this was unintentional, but I also wanted no part of it even if it meant making things harder for myself. A couple times I had to stay to the outside left and would hammer as hard as I could to pass these groups and not get called for anything. I would finally pass them but maybe a minute later they would come and swallow me again. I did my absolute best to stay out of the draft zone. There was a wreck right next to me that took out at least two people and I missed running over some guys head by about two inches. Luckily I stayed upright but was scared shitless. I had shifted down into the small ring but it was still a struggle. I finally finished the bike and was thankful to be off it.

Well, I don't think there is much I could do differently. Of course I wold like to NOT flat, but that is uncontrollable. Same thing with the wind. I had trained in the wind in South Jersey and even though that was tough and extra miserable because of how cold it was, I would have been hard-pressed to find any where with wind conditions like today's. Later on I heard they were reported to be sustained at about 20mph and gusting 30-40ish. I only rate this "below average" because I know I am capable of going faster, but it just wasn't in the cards today.

Again, the volunteers were great. I got my shoes, hat and everything else on. Earlier I had debated on if I should take my regular glasses with me and it turned out to be a good idea.

Not much again.

Well, I don't know if I ever hit the "wall," although the significant drop in pace for each lap would suggest that, but I will say that I was pretty damn fried from the get-go because of the bike. The back of my left knee and my hamstring felt a little tight and the rubbing of my shoes against my achillies was bothering me. I stopped to put a larger Blisto-Ban on my left as that was the one that was bothering me the most and later I tried putting on on my right, but that one rubbed off. It didn't reallly bother me all that much, but I could feel it. As the run went on I wasn't able to take in any solid foods and was relying on Gatorade and water early on, then water became unappetizing. I took in one banana and tried to eat a cookie twice but cold only manage half of it. The rest of the run I survived on Gatorade, Coke and chicken broth. I walked each aid station and tried my hardest not to walk anywhere else. There were a few little inclines that on a normal training run would kind of suck, but were in no way that much of a challenge, but today they were like mountains. I walked the inclines and at a couple places I needed to walk, but I tried to eliminate that as much as possible, even if it meant doing the "Ironman Shuffle." I tried to force myself to run the entire third loop but at times it was just impossible, but whenever I walked I made sure it wasn't any longer that just a couple minutes. As the run went on my knee/hamstring got worse but somehow it didn't bother me too much while "running." I caught up with Tom (Madcow) on my second loop and we walked through and aid station together and talked about how things were going. I wanted to get this overwith soon so I started back up again and continued with the run/aid station walk. On one incline I said to this one guy, "Who said there aren't any mountains in Arizona." And he agreed. We walked together for a little and he couldn't decide if he should puke or not and I told hi that if he could hold it until he got to an aid station that maybe he shoulf let it rip there, then he could refuel right away. I began to run again. I cam to special needs and this was nice as it was staffed but a Arizona State University sorority. Man, if only we had a sorority like that where I went to school. I got my bag and took out a new pair of socks. The heel of my right sock that I was wearing was soaked in blood. The new socks felt good. I had thrown out the gel flask I had with me as I could begin to think about taking in any of it, it was so unappealing. I had to pee three times and kept cool with sponges over the head and once I put some ice in my hat. The guy who couldn't decide if he should puke or not caught up with me and we ran together. I asked if he puked and he said no, that after talking with me and then some chicken soup he felt better. It felt good knowing that I was able to help someone get to the finish even though he still had a ways to go (I was on my final loop and he on his second). At one point I had to pee SO bad. I stopped at an aid station to use the port-a-potty but whoever was in there was taking loooooong. I figured there was good reason but was also gettin impatient because I had to go so bad. I finally said F0it and continued running to the next station. I remembered one training run when I was about to explode and if anything could make me run faster it was having to pee. I FINALLY got to the next station and I couldn't hold it anymore so I waited and a potty finally opened up. I felt better and at this point I was 2 miles from the finish. Finishing in daylight wasn't going to happen as the sun was going down and now I was glad I had my regular glasses. My sunglasses are prescription, but it was beginning to get dark. It sucks being on your first loop and seeing signs that say MILE 25, but now I WAS at mile 25 I had a hard time thinking whether this last 1.2 mile was going to be the most joyous or most painful. Well it turned out that to mile was painful and the two-tenths was pain free. I couldn't believe I was actually stayig to the left to come down the finish chute. The crowd was awesome. Every time I passed my parents I saw and heard them and the last time I passed them my dad yelled "T-bone and a Guinness!!" Yesterday that sounded like a really good idea, but right now I couldn't handle food at all. As I came down the chute I threw my arms up in victory and pumped my fists and heard the crowd roar even louder. The finisher in front of me crossed the line with his kids and I had thought I gave him enough room, but as I crossed the line the photographer yelled, "GO BACK!" because he didn't get my finish line shot. I went back and tried to mimic what I had done just as I crossed and the photographer said that he got it. A volunteer grabbed me abd asked about 20 times if I was OK and wouldn't let me go until she was totally convinced.

This is a hard one. My running isn't all that bad and 13:00 minute miles don't really show what I can actually run. I was just cooked from the beginning of the run to the end. I didn't feel as though I had anything left. If I had pushed harder on the run things could have turned out to be way worse. It's a below average run but more importantly a learning experience.

I hobbled around looking for my parents but I couldn't find them. I found Chippy and she was kind enough to rub out my left leg and she described it as "frozen raw hamburger." I could hardly bend it. Jeff (Q) and a couple other showed and then Jess (Tri Take Me Away) finished and we all hung for a few miutes. I finally found my parents, limping over to them, I couldn't bend my leg. My mom made me to to medical, but all I did was walk through, I didn't stop to see anyone, I just wanted to get out of there and some dry clothes on.


The wind and a flat.


Well, it's done. I achieved 3 of the numerous goals I had set. 1) I finished. 2) Under 13 hours. 3) 52-55 minute swim. I know one day I will really start to analyze my race and some things will get to me, but while it's still fresh in my head I have to say that I don't think I have anything to be disappointed in. Yes, I wold have liked to have been faster on the bike. But with a flat and those winds, a sub-6 is acceptable to me. My run was a good 1:30 off of what I wanted, but earlier conditions dictated what was to come. I had to play with the cards that were dealt and I feel like I did a decent job. Besides, now I have something to work on getting faster at. For now I think I will stick to a couple HIM's but I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll be at Lake Placid in '08

There were many things that were amazing about this. My parents and home support crew: AMAZING. Tempe, AZ: AMAZING. The Volunteers: AMAZING. And of course, all the BTers: SUPER AMAZING.