this was a beautiful swim..i really enjoyed it...i take the time during the swim to do all of my last minute stuff in my head on what is going to happen and execution for the rest of the day...

nothing

transition was fair...pretty straight forward

be a little faster..

well....before the race my plan was to be conservative and save more for the run than i did at Lonestar....i rode the course the week before so i knew that beginning had some climbs and this would be the part with the most hills...took a while for HR to settle but after making the left after the toll road and the course began to flatten for a while i setlled in and HR came on down and then the ride really began...i felt really good and my pace was surprisingly faster than i had convservitavely planned but at that point in the race i figured its the last race of the year so just stick with the nutrition plan and just go with everything else...this course was comparable to Iron Star...what i did differently on this one was hammer the downhills and use that momentum to finish the uphill instead of coasting the downhills like i did at Iron Star...that was my first HIM so i was ultra conservative on that ride...i was really happy with the outcome of this ride....

Things i got to see on the course:

--about mile 2 i saw an impatient rider strike a cone..it laid them completely out and slung 'em 90 degrees right into the ditch...
--at the right 90 degree turn about 40 miles in after the big downhill..saw a rider not slow down quite enough and ended up going into the ditch but they were able to salvage it and come out ok....

Nutrition on the bike:

40oz of Cytomax
30oz of Water
2 GU's
1 Stinger Wafer
1/2 bottle of EFS (2.5 oz)

not hit the lap button on my 310 while up out of the saddle climbing a hill and sending it to T2 :0

..oh well it didnt change anything on the ride...

overall it was a great ride

T2 was great...saw my cheering squad..Mom,Jennifer,Shanna,Cason,and Hunter...it was my sister and my nephew's first race to see so it was really good to see them there....got a lil' emotional while putting my shoes on because i was very happy to see my sister and my nephews there..after putting my shoes and hat on ran over and said hello and got some high 5's from the boyz...made my day to have them all there!

nothing really

This was my best HIM run so far..

i came off the bike feeling very good..i usually do because i am always itching to get off the bike and start running....my plan was to start off at 10:00's and get my HR in check and under control but i started to bump up the pace in the beginning and settled into about a 8:45 pace and it felt really good and i felt like i had it wired....at the aid stations i would grab 1 gatorade and 1 water and drink them in that order...2 sponges and 1 cup of ice....to keep cool i would sponge my head and my arms and the back of my neck and squeeze 1 sponge in my crotch (this is a great way to cool the core the quickest) and then i would use the cup of ice to put down my top and if there was any left i would put in my shorts....about every 3 miles i would grab an orange quarter and get the juice out of it...my past 2 HIM's i walked the aid stations..but i decided not to this time because i felt good and really didnt want to slow down..

..i tried not to think about it too much but i knew if i held on i would go sub 2hrs...everytime i rounded the finishing area i would have to hold back my emotions because i knew i was that much closer to the finish and was possibly going to have a great run time...the first 2 loops i felt great and by the 3rd one i felt the energy slowly starting to go down but i didnt let it slow me down...i didnt want to be ignorant and blow it so i was doing the math in my head and i knew all i had to to do were 10:00's or below to finish under 2hrs....after making the right turn after the third loop to go into the finish i really started to take it all in because i knew i had sub 2hrs wrapped up....it seemed like forever to make the turn to get into the arena but as soon as i got inside and felt the a/c i knew it was over and it felt great!

Had to stop and Pee once and had to re-tie my shoes twice.....

Run Nutrition:

80 oz Gatorade
80 oz Water
5 oz Cola
4 Orange Quarters
4 oz EFS


i had to pee while i was on the bike but i held it because i knew there were cans on the run course..i should have looked to see if there was one close to T2 before i crossed the timing mat that way my run split wouldnt have been effected....learn to tie my shoes better :)..the K Swiss shoes that i run in, the K Ruzz have ribbed shoelaces, i have never had a problem with them before but the darn things came untied twice and i even double tie the bow...?? not sure why it happened but oh well...bending over to tie shoes than far into the race is just asking for a hamstring to cramp but i was lucky..i guess everything was going my way :)

hung out with my crew, strecthed and waited for gaven to cross the finish... grabbed a bite to eat about 45 min after finishing


i must have grabbed the wrong race pack because my bib said Jason and not Michael Raelert.....


My Grandmother (Maw Maw) is going thru Chemo right now and is doing great. For this race i wrote Maw Maw on my cycling shoes....i wanted to be able to look down at my feet if at any part during the bike ride i thought i was hurting or it was getting tough and i would think about her and how tough she is and how nothing during the race could be as tough as what she is having to put her body thru right now...