I was in the 5th wave. When it was time to go, we all went out to the dock and looked down at the water. You could see the current! A strong gust of wind blew and I commented to everyone, "Put up your sails, boys, this is going to be a fast swim."

The horn went off and I jumped in. I started to swim and it felt easy. I kept my head down and just concentrated on good form and breathing. I could not believe how easy this swim felt!

I am not a fast swimmer, so I was trying to push it a little towards the second half. I thought to myself, "Slow it down, Ron, slow it down." At this point, I felt a small cramp in my left hamstring. I attributed it to the cool water. It went away after a few seconds, but it was in the back of my mind the whole time. Every report I ever read always foreshadows later (serious) cramping with "that small cramp at the start"...I should have listened.

Wetsuit strippers were AWESOME! I ran out, passed a bunch of ppl (even a group of 3 guys that were running side by side by side). When I got to the strippers, I jumped on my back and they pulled it off quick! Thanks! Got my suit and ran on.

At the swim exit

Not much. This was as good a swim as I could have had, me thinks. The current, wind, and wetsuit were a triple combo! :)

I took my time. HR felt a little high and I wanted to make sure I had everything.

Speed it up just a little more. I could have taken off another 30-45 seconds easily.

The start of the bike was great. I was really haulin' ass for the first 17 miles. I was passing alot of cyclists, and not many were passing me back. I felt FANTASTIC!

At this point, as embarrassed as I am to admit it, I got emotional. I started blubbering to myself, thinking how awesome it was to be out here doing this. I felt a great sense of pride at having the chance to be doing a Half Ironman, knowing what it took to get here.

Once that passed, I started to think about the race more...I kept looking at my HR and noticed it was too high. I needed my HR to be in the mid to high 140 range. I was pushing 160s! I knew that if my HR didn't come down a bit, I'd have trouble digesting anything going down my pie-hole.

A little after the first big hill (mile 17) I felt another small cramp, but just pushed through it. I drank an extra sip of PERPETUEM and then took a gel. I also took an extra large sip of Gatorade.

I started to tire after that, but it's b/c I felt like I wasn't getting the nutrition I needed. I started making myself slowdown more and more. My HR actually started to come down. I stopped spinning on the downhills. Lower, but not enough. On the uphills, I started to go down to low, low gears. Still too high!

At mile 32, DISASTER. My left hamstring cramped up hard. I could not believe how bad that hurt! I kept going, but grabbed my hamstring with my hand and squeezed it as hard as I could. I took another gel right away, took another big sip of PERPETUEM, and then a big sip of gatorade. It took a good 2 miles or so for it stop cramping.

At this point, a cyclist passed me and got my mind off my condition for just a few minutes. He had something black on the back of his leg and I thought, "Damn, this d00d is hardcore! He fell off the bike and cut up his leg pretty bad and he's still going!" Then I looked closer and I noticed a bulge in the back of his shorts and a stream of black fluid going down his leg! OMG, he had crapped his pants and was just going! Talk about hardcore! Cyclists would just come up behind him, then move out of the way! Damn, that was the funniest thing I saw all day!

After that, I started to try and make up lost time. I was back at it. I felt good again!

Mile 38...right hamstring cramped up...HARD. I grabbed hold of it like I did with my left earlier, and did the same thing. Took another gel, some more Perpetuem, and some gatorade. This time it took me a lot longer to recover.

I knew I was in trouble, but if I could just finish strong and get to the run, I'd still have a decent shot at a decent time.

Start out slower and not drop a KEY nutrition bottle in the 13th mile.

As I approached the dismount line, I decided to try dismounting while still going. I have never practiced it before, but it felt like the right thing to do.

As I got close, I noticed that everyone else was stopping and unclipping. I didn't bother taking off my shoes. I just inclipped, then right before the line swung my leg over and started running.

The announcer was like, "well folks, that's how you do it, but leave the shoes off next time!" haha.

I ran over and racked my bike, took off helmet and shoes, then put on newton's. I then ran out and set my garmin.

I didn't go as fast as I should have, but it was fast enough.

At the start of the run, I thought I was golden. That changed quickly.

I started off at an 8 min/mile pace, just to get the legs under control. They seemed fine. My plan was to start chipping away at my current pace by about 5-10 seconds per mile. HA! By the start of mile two, I was looking for a place to throw up. A few times, I almost just chucked in the road, but I surprising kept it down.

The rest of the race was me just hanging on.

I got a lift from seeing my family at mile 4.5 (or so), then Coldfire a little after, but I felt dreadful. I was walking alot, and anytime I stopped, I would have the worst cramps I have ever experienced.

At every station I started slamming Gatorade and water to try to get them to stop, but it was a losing effort.

I limped in the rest of the way and was very glad when I finally crossed the finish line. The run is my best event and I was very disappointed in how it went.

Eh, so much.

Found my family, then went and got fruit and pizza. The kids were hungry, so we didnt' stick around long.


Going out to hard on the bike. I also never kept my HR in check.


Very well organized race and one that I'll participate in on an annual basis.