My hotel, the Hyatt, was about a 15 minute walk to transition so it had me double guessing myself if I had picked the correct hotel or not. The Gault house was much closer. Once you got to transition you had to walk at least another mile to the swim start, but by the time I got there I swear I walked an extra mile to get to the back of the line. I expected it to be long, but not this long! This race should be switched from 140.6 to about 143.00! I thought there might be Jimmy Buffett concert tickets for sale or something. I am not exaggerating when I talk about how long the line was. I finally reached the end around 6:30am (So much for my plan to be there at 5:45.) When I finally got in line it was like a Buffett concert. Every one was running to the bushes to use the bathroom and there were people passed out on the sidewalk. People had been there since 5am and they were napping before race time. I chose not to use the bushes because The race director said you could be DQ'd the night before if you chose to do this so I opted out. I was highly tempted to though because I had started with lots of early morning hydration to prep me for the 90 degree day. At 6:50 you could hear the cannon go off and chills ran through my spine. The pros were in the water swimming up stream. I heard a voice say "Get ready to start moving, the line moves fast." That voice was right! People started walking fast. It was like we were headed to Margaritaville full speed ahead! Walking down the sidewalk you could start to see the swimmers and I was getting very nervous about the swim. Swimming is my weakest link in triathlon. I seem to panic quite a bit. Most of the races I do involve a wet suit, but not this one (for those of you that don't know the wet suits are buoyant and seem to help quite a few with the swim by making it easier to push ahead.) The water temp was a nice comfy 82. I had a TYR Torque swimskin over my tri kit to avoid any drag. Like I said, I can use all the help I can get when I start swimming. You ever see a cat swimming in a pool??? Ya that's me! As the line kept moving I knew I couldn't wait to jump in because I had to pee bad! The line moved very fast and before you know it I put my goggles on my face and jumped in; so did the guy that was previously next to me. He just happened to jump on top of me, that's all! I tried getting out of the way as quick as possible and it was very choppy water. I tried to stay relaxed and was trying to pee. Apparetnly I wasn't that relaxed because I couldn't pee. I kept trying to, but I was having no such luck. Next thing you know a big guy kicks me right in the eye. It hurt a tad, but where he kicked me he actually kicked my goggle and it sucked onto my eye even more. My breathing wasn't really panicky, but I wasn't relaxed. I flipped onto my back for a moment and I didn't feel like I was going anywhere. The current and choppy waters made it difficult. I finally flipped over and peed. I was starting to get over the anxiety and make my way ahead. My breathing got better and I passed the buoy at 900 meters about 4and a half minutes slower than my normal swim time. I was furious and trying to fight it, but it was tough. I wanted to be out of the water at 1:20, but realized it wasn't going to happen. Finally the turn around came and we started to swim down stream. The people started to thin out and I was feeling more powerful. I was focusing on my form and fighting. The only thing I kept saying in was my head was " I can't wait to get the heck out of here," over and over again. As I got towards the finish I looked at my garmin and noted that I had made up significant time. I was crushing it so I swam harder. Finally I was a the end and grabbed the volunteer's arm to help me out and up the steps. Worst part over! I got out of the water just over 1:16, which was better than my goal time!

For the transition it was sorta confusing. You run up a slight incline, grab your bags and run into the tent. I was running into the men's tent, until they said something. I quickly changed and got loathed up with sun screen. I headed out of transition a little slower than what I expected, but I was okay with that.

wore my Desoto 400 miler. last year I wore the tri shorts. I prefer the 400

I had a sore throat immedialty after I got out of the water and the entire rest of the race. I was also blowing snot rockets everywhere. The day before I felt icky. Wandering if this was from the swim or a tad bit of a flu bug. Not sure.As soon as I got on the bike I was passing a lot of people! It was pretty scary because there was a lot of people to pass and traffic was open on the other side of the road. First thing I did when I got on the bike was start drinking. I took down 2 bottle of water and half a bottle of Gu roctane in the first hour. I def stayed up on my hydration as I peed 6 times on the bike :)The first 10 miles are flat and then you hit some rollers. At about mile 20 you start to do a decent size climb and wouldn't ya know it my chain pops off! I heard lots of people freaking out because they almost hit me. I put the chain on as quick as I could and then I had to realize I had to start pedaling on a hill, but it turned out to be okay. The course was really, really clustered and I didn't feel comfortable. People were getting off their bikes at the aid stations and not dismounting where they should be. I had to be really slow and cautious, especially after I saw the guy being hauled off in a stretcher. I heard the emergency crew tell the guy he broke his collar bone. Later there was a girl swerving over next to me trying to put her bottle behind her seat and another biker coming towards me. I started yelling "on your left!" frantically! She got an attitude and I just shook my head and took off bombing down the hill! The rest of the course was great! I really enjoyed it. It was mostly rollers as everyone else says. There was only really one short, steep hill right after a turn that I almost bit it on because I had to stand up in the big ring. I was afraid to drop to the small ring and lose my chain again so I muscled right up it ( just the opposite of what you want to do in Ironman). For those of you that don't know, the entire bike course is suppose to be at a nice, easy pace so you have enough left to run 26.2 miles. Half way through the course I finally noticed the bikers were starting to thin out, but then some little grey Camry got in front of me and was so slow. I couldn't pass it either to be safe. It seemed to be in front of me for eternity and it finally turned off. Another car did that again, but only for a few minutes. The next interesting thing I saw was a guy on the other side of the road (yes the opposite lane I was in). He was not on the other side of the white lane. He was in the middle of the lane with his bike flipped upside down changing his tire. HELLO!!! I had to ask someone if they just saw what I did and the other rider couldn't believe it either! We just kept moving. There were some headwinds that started coming at us with about 20 miles left and the last 10 miles was really flat. I swear the last 6 miles seemed like an enternity! I was going over things in my head. All of my nutrition was gone. I took in one half of bagel with peanut butter, 4 honey stingers, 2 bonk breakers, 2 gels and a nutra grain bar. I also went through 2 bottles of perform and 2 bottles of Gu roctane drink. I took a water from every single aid station as well. Just before you pull in the dismount area there is about 2-3 curb you need to hop over. I pulled a wheelie and heard KLUNK! My eyes got really big and I looked down to make sure my Zipp was okay. My tire started to go flat and I was trying to get off, but they motioned me to keep moving. I only rode a few feet more and got off the bike. I walked it in and handed it off to the volunteer.

nothing! People talked about how hard the course was. I thought it was fairly easy

I quickly got my running bag and a volunteer was helping me. I decided to drop trau and switch to my Nike compression shorts. I love those things. I kept dumping water all over me and the volunteers (oops) and ran out of the tent and slathered up on the sunscreen again. It tasted horrible! ;) I knew I had to use the restroom so I went into the porta john and it seemed like an eternity. After that I jogged out of transition and made it out up the incline. Boom I was here for the run!

the porta john took a lot of time

I started to run up the incline conservative and could feel the heat. I was excited to be on the streets. My lower back was a tad tight and I told myself to only walk the aid stations. I was doing pretty good for about a hour and my knee started to bother me. I thought I better walk for a bit at mall walker pace and felt okay. I was able to start shuffling my feet again, but every time I wanted to run at a faster pace my knee said no! I wanted to cry out of anger. This could not be happening! I was already frustrated because it was so hot and tired. I didn't need this aggrevation, but I knew it might happen so I kept pushing! I did what I could do. Finally I realized my goal time was not going to happen. I didn't want to end up with a serious injury so I went to plan B and that was to finish. At times I had to stop and stretch my quads when I got the pain and then it would seem okay. I felt like I could kick down some quick miles, but every time I tried my knee told me it wasn't going to happen. The rest is history. I just kept moving and saw a lot of other people that were in far worse shape then me. There was a guy on all fours that a medic was trying to help, but he said he was okay! lol. There was another guy curled up in a ball on the side of the street and the ambulance was watching him. These guys weren't going home with out a fight and neither was I! I took in perform, coke, cookies, grapes, bannanas and pretzels on the run. That was enough. I also had some salt stick that I was using as well. At mile 20 I started to get some rib cramps, but I could push through them. The last mile all I wanted to do was run, but by now my knee told me it was definelty not going to happen. I was able to walk quickly to the half way point and all of a sudden I was crying because it hurt so bad. I have no idea what was going on, but I'm walking down the finisher chute and it was almost like I was on the red carpet. People were taking photos, screaming at me, fist pumping at me , high fiving me, and cheering for me to finish! It was the loudest, craziest, best finish line I have ever crossed. I walked across that line thankful for finishing! I had overcome so much this year. My training was almost flawless. I had done several races and exceled at them this year. It's unfortunate that I had a little mishap with the knee a few weeks ago, but that's Ironman. You never know what is going to happen!I was just happy to finish!

ate pizza and iced knee


knee in the run