This was my first swim in this wetsuit, and I really liked it except for the front wedgie. I pulled the suit up a bit too high. My swim was all about taking it slow and easy. Wanted to be done in just under 40 minutes. The time listed for the swim included exiting the water, doffing my suit, putting on shoes and socks, then running 1/4 mile to T1. I think I may have been swimming wide on this course. The buoys were very far apart and sighting was quite difficult. All in all though, I was satisfied. As I was getting out of the water, Andy was directly behind me and yelled at me for kicking him in the face. We got out of the water together, kissed under the inflatable arch, then went our separate ways.

Nothing

I almost ran out of T1 wearing my running shoes (from the swim). Had to re-rack the bike and switch into biking shoes. Again, I was taking it easy and just wanted to pace myself.

Nothing

I made sure I was taking it easy by frequently checking my HR (kept it in the 150s) My goal was to stay at 18 mph and finish in 3 hours. I may have been slightly faster were it not for that dumb bridge, but all in all, I rocked! Exactly where I wanted to be, didn't get tempted to push it faster. Now, this was my longest ride to date, so by about 40 miles, I was starting to feel it. My hinie was getting tired and I was out of the aero position alot. I kept well hydrated and was excited to get off the bike.

Bring a salty snack. I would have killed for saltines or pretzels. I never train with them, but on this ride I was craving salt. If I had another GU or something sweet I may have been sick. Anything salty, other than my sweat, would have been great.

I ran into T2 and yelled "SUNBLOCK!!!" I'm so fair-skinned that the bike nearly fried me. A nice woman came over to me, sprayed me down, and Zinc-Oxided my face. Bad part was that she wanted to talk, I wanted to get going. I really appreciated the help so I stood there for what seemed like an eternity listening to her give me instructions on not getting sunblock on my forehead or near my eyes. Oh well, It kept me going and she was very helpful. I applied more body glide under my arms since I suddenly realized I was quite chaffed. Grabbed my cold fuel belt (stored in a mini cooler with ice blocks- awesome idea Andy) and off I went.

Bring my own sunblock next time.

Jeeez, what a hard run! When I first started, the chaffing was really bothering me so I was running frantically asking for vaseline, baby powder, diaper cream- Anything. Nothing. I guess I must have gotten sweaty very quickly, because by mile 1.5 I had forgotten about it. My goal was a 3 hour run, trying to go aid station to aid station. that was before I saw the canal. It was hot, dry, dusty, hot, rocky, hot, rocky, and dusty. It was a dirt path with rocks embedded in it. There were 2 worn tire marks in the middle where most of the rocks had been kicked away. Most, if not everyone, ran in the 2 tire paths to avoid turning an ankle on the rocks. It turned into a death march after a while. Another complaint was that the aid stops only had water, gatorade, and Gu. Not that of a deal, but by the time I was hitting the aid stops, the drinks were pretty warm. I hooked up with 2 girls on the run and we did alot of walking, talking, then occasionally running. At least I knew I was hydrated, because I actually peed in a porta potty at mile 3.5 (hot porta potty, eeeewww!) I scammed a Power Bar off a volunteer at one point and ate half of it. That was nice. After the turn around, I left the girls and did more running than walking, but man, it was a long, hot, dusty run. I was approaching the end and I heard the announcer giving out the awards- how depressing. Oh, and along the road leading to the end were lots of people leaving with their bikes in tow- also depressing. So I came through to the end of the run and surprisingly enough, I started to tear up as I came through the chute. I almost cried because I was just so happy and proud. Andy missed me finishing but we met up shortly thereafter. All in all, I was right where I wanted to be. I was hoping for a 3 hour run and was off by 7 minutes...

More running, less walking

I laid on the grass in the shade, had a few mouthfulls of Gatorade and Coke. I approached the anouncer and asked what the winning Athena times were, and he said "there were no Athena finishers". I followed with, "I'm an athena", which was followed by "well, then I guess you came in first". He told me to get something to eat, sit and relax, and the awards would go out soon. Shortly thereafter, I got my first place open athena award, YAY!!! Of course, there were only 3 of us, and 1 was a DNF. SHHHH!


The extra 30 pounds I carry around.


The food was not the best, cut up hoagies and bags of chips. That's it. No massages, but lots of people being tended to by paramedics. Lots of people collapsed, I heard, and I saw 2 people getting IV drips when I came in. I actually expected more from Piranha Sports but hey, I got a finishers medal and trophy so I'm done complaining. It was a long day, but man, it was so worth it. I did a Half-Ironman!!!