Whoa. Who knew that I had no clue how to do an Ocean OWS. :)

Not me, else I would have been a little nervous (like I should have been). I was, pun intended, a fish out of water. I drank my body weight in salt water and never found a rhythum. Every time I tried to get into a rhythum, I would realize I had no idea where I was swimming and when I tried to settle into bi-lateral breathing (my fastest form), I would consume a little more salt water.

We were missing a middle buoy on the out swim. In the chop, I sighted a few times and couldn't see anything - including not being able to see a buoy. So I just would find swim caps and follow the direction of swim caps.

My favorite "oh no!" moment was when I tried to get into a routine of bi-lateral breathing, I swam for a few minutes and then stopped to sight. Upon looking up, holy sh-t!, everyone was swimming right at me. I had swum m-f-ing backwards against the course.

Anyway, my hours in the pool paid off. I was in total chaos, but I just focused on my swim. I would focus on my form, and that gave me something to think about and not "YOU'RE GOING TO DROWN!"

I found a new mantra and started repeating it to myself. I was "living life buoy to buoy." I kept telling myself that and all I was doing was swimming to the next buoy. Eventually, I ran out of yellow buoys, hit a red buoy and then a bunch of orange buoys.

I didn't check my watch. I didn't care about time. I just swam. I had originally hoped my swim time to be in the 40 minute range and was OVERJOYED to see myself exit the water at 40:35.

Time disparity from my official IM timing is that I hit my watch upon getting out of the water, but the T1 time didn't technically start until I hit the transition.

A little hectic for me. Was still reeling from swim. Found bike. Wasn't in any real hurry. Plus, we had to pack up our swim gear and put everything into a bag to be left. So you had to not only unpack your bike bag, dress and then re-pack your swim gear.

Overall, very happy with my transition.

First 20 miles were AWESOME. Flat with a kick-azz tailwind. I hit the 5 mile marker in 15:12 and almost fell off my bike. I was just under a 20 mph pace. I actually got up over that average pace at the 15 mile mark and hit 20 miles in 1:01.

Course went from flat to rollers. I confess, I've been training on some many hills that these rollers were actually a lot of fun. It was only after about 25 miles that I finally got into my small chain ring.

I had a lot of people fly by me, but I did pass some people. Then again, I was peddling hard and wanted to be around 3 hours, but I wasn't cranking in lactic threshold pain. I was (and kinda ashamed to admit this) was just out having a great time, enjoying the bike ride and enjoying myself.

I realized I could have put my head down and peddled as hard as possible, cutting off 5-10 minutes on my time. But I decided I would rather have a great memory of enjoying the event compared with some time. I was competing against the distance, not the clock.

The rollers did get hairy at times, with some real climbers. Got out of the seat on occasion.

The last 15 miles were really hairy. We were looping around city streets and fighting a lot of traffic. About mile 50, due to traffic, a fellow rider swerved to miss a car, swerved back and clipped a telephone pole - right in front of me. He went flying, I locked my brakes up and missed him and his bike by about 6 inches. By the time I stopped and unclipped, he was up, collecting his bike and saying he was alright.

And when I thought it was finally over, there was a final hidden climb to get to the transition, which about killed me. Thankfully I saw it at the last minute, dropped to the right gear and didn't keel over.

Couldn't have been happier with a bike time right around 3 hours.

I have no recollection of T2. Not being funny here. All I remember is that when I got off my bike, I couldn't find my number to hang my bike.

Next thing I realized, I was running down the hill from T2.

So this is where, literally, the rubber (soles) meet the road. It all comes down to the run.

I had 2 options. One - I could forego all reason and sanity and push myself beyond what I would consider safe and run for a 2 hour half mary. Option one would give me a total time under 6 hours.

Option two, I could walk / run and shoot for 11 minute miles, putting me under 6:30.

I decided on option two. I had decided before this race even started I wanted to have nothing but amazing memories. Also, I was pretty gassed from the last half of the bike portion. I walked the first portion of the run until after College Hill. My tummy was all messed up and I was definitely in need of some serious liquid action.

From there, I settled into a very comfortable walk/run campaign. I really had no rhyme or reason, just would run for a while and walk for a while. Eventually, I just ran downhills, walked uphills and alternated on flat sections.

I kept an eye on the watch and really kept to my pacing 11 minute miles on the first loop and getting closer to 12 minute miles on the second loop.

I knew I was going to finish under 6:30. That was perfectly acceptable to me. I also knew I was right around 2:30 for the half mary, again perfectly acceptable.

I raced the distance and won.

In a great moment, my wife, two sons and in-laws drove up to Providence to catch the end of the run portion. As I was rounding the final turn to make the last stretch to the finish, I caught all of them watching. Went over, hugged both boys, kissed the Mrs. and then finished strong.

Found gear. Ate a slice of pizza. Drank oodles of water.


Once in a lifetime event. And by that I mean, once in my life time doing a 70.3 or Ironman event.

I truly enjoyed it and I'm glad I did it. I conquered the distance.

But, I just have no desire to do another event of this length. The sacrifice to my family was worth it - this time. But the sacrifice for more training, to me, isn't worth it. I put in the time to train, I raced the distance, and in the end - I now know I'd rather do shorter races and spend more time with my family. But I had to race this distance to know this for myself.

Truly a day that will live with me forever.