I took an aggressive spot at the front of the start group on shore and then headed up the beach a bit (opposite the direction of the swim) to stay out of “traffic”. This was a longer route, but it paid off as I had almost no contact with other swimmers and it set me up to the left of the main pack. Being a right side breather, I could see the main field and did not need to take very many sighting breaths. The swim was aided by the tide coming in, so it saved me about 15 minutes (best guess).

nothing

Went smooth, no issues

went out a bit fast,but felt good. Little uneasy being on the highway with cars passing at 80mph. head wind in the return leg was a bit challenging, but overall a great ride.

I stopped at to porta-johns. this was a bit of a waste of time, should have just used the trees...

could only go as fast as the person in front of you as you ran around the convention center... overall went fine - someone had sun screen and offered it up - this was great, as I did not have any and the sun was bright.

nothing

The battery in my Garmin had died at the end of the bike leg, so I had to pace myself based on feel. Water stops were well stocked with gel, heed, water, pretzels, chicken broth, coke, electrolyte tabs and bananas. I stuck with heed and water for the first loop and then moved on to chicken broth and coke. I walked through each water stop and the length of my walks increased as the race went on. Around mile 16 I asked one of the runners for the time and I was shocked when I realized that I was on pace to break 12-hours! My goal had been to break 13 hours and I pushed to keep running without stopping except at the aid stations. Soon, I was counting down the miles and making the final turn to the finishing shoot. The sun had just set and I finished pumping my fists and yelling with the crowed, crossing the line at 11:28:59! This was so far beyond my expectations – I was just amazed.

I took advantage of the free message and had a few slices of pizza and headed back to our hotel that was overlooking the finish area.


Great race, super support and voulenteers that were really into the race - supporting all of the athleates and providing some great motivation. For my first ironman the race could not have gone any better!