I am a slow swimmer, so I was definitley happy with the results. I started in the back of the back to stay out of the way. This tactic did not seem to work, and I will probably try to start closer to the front next time. I thought my sighting would be bad, but there was some swimmers out there completely lost. I actually got T-boned just before we passed the half start. I did push harder than I wanted because I wanted out of the water.

Start closer to the front.

Temporarily forgetting this was a race and partially because of being excited about the swim time I ran over to say hi to some friends and tried to find my wife and son.

Not forget it's a race.

The rain and the wind was incredible for the first 70 miles. I had to tell myself I was not the only one suffering. I was nervous about the nutrition because it was cold enough that I couldn't get the Hammer gel flask to flow and I was having a hard time squeezing it because like a fool I left my gloves in T1 thinking it was warm after the swim. However, I did bring several Honey Stinger Waffles, so I ate those, and stopped at the SN station to get several more I had placed in the bag. I kept drinking water with NUUN as I did while training in the summer which led to having to stop 4 times to pee. The last 30 miles or so were AWESOME. I did not push the bike do to the unkown on the run. Next time I will push harder.



Wear more clothes and push harder on the bike. I was so nervous about ruining the run that I conserved too much on the bike.

Transition went smooth. Legs felt surprisingly good.

Nothing.

I really liked the run course. The toughest part was the headwind going over the first bridge. I stayed at a pretty even pace throughout not really pushing too hard and not having to walk at all. I was definitely pleased with that and my pace was comfortable enough that I carrried a bottle of water with me and filled it about every third aid station while eating or taking salt at every aid station. The aid station workers were so nice that I would drop the bottle off just before the turnaround and it would be full on the return. My "hats off" to all the volunteers they did a tremendous job.

Possibly push a little harder. However, if I would have pushed harder earlier, I might not have been able to sustain.

Hugged all the family and friends and then headed for the warming tent.


It being my first full I stayed on the conservative side all day. Now that I have that coveted finish I will try to push harder on the bike and run and see what that brings. I will also try to increase my bike mileage over the course of the next year.


The race was great and so were the volunteers.