This was my first rolling start. I figured I would place myself right where I thought I would be and I did finish where I thought I would be. Though I think I would have seeded myself faster or even slower. It was tough swimming next to everybody when they all swam the same speed. It would have been easier for me to maneuver if people were swimming at different speeds.

Just place myself maybe a little faster.

not sure how to score this because they modified everybody's time because of the thunder and lightening. So they only counted one loop of the swim and they cut out T1. I know what my times were based on the timing company so I put in the whole times since I was able to complete everything without getting pulled

go faster. I didn't think I stayed in there for 9 minutes but I'll have to work on that

There was this monsoon on the first lap so I went really easy on it. I thought I picked up the pace on the second loop to make up the difference but I barely went faster. I was just trying to make sure I went easy so that I wouldn't blow up on the run. I think I went too easy. I could have went harder but just dialed it back.

I would have pushed it harder. Since it seems like I'm destined to walk a bunch of the marathons that I do when I do an Ironman I might as well go hard on the bike

I was just thinking keep moving don't stop. I was able to get things off and on with no problems.

Go faster, since it's free speed. I think maybe I would change my socks since I was biking in downpour for most of it. I was able to take 2 minutes off from last time so I'm not complaining

Knowing that I went slower on the bike this time around, I had thoughts already in my head that there was no way I could beat my time. It's funny when I think about it now, but I laugh at how hard it is to do math while doing a race. I thought I was computing some complex stuff but I was only trying to subtract two digit numbers. not really knowing how I did in transition times I felt like even if I did the pace I calculated it would be close. The run started out pretty good I was at a good pace and I had my garmin set up so I could see the virtual pacer so I knew how much time I was making on my pace. Things were going well till about mile 5 where I started to have GI issues. Once again I have managed to run across something that I have never had in training. Looking back on it I think that it was the 2 bananas that I ate at the 2nd and 3 aid stations. I'll have to remember to stick to my nutrition plan no matter how I feel. After the GI issue the next 2 miles was all walk. I started to take in just coke at every aid station and that seemed to give me what I need to be able to keep running. I ended up doing a run/walk for the rest of the course. I could see that the lead I made on my virtual pacer was gone at around the 14 mile mark. I still didn't know if that was my hard number or not. So I just keep trying to catch up to the virtual pacer and not leave too much of a gap. It started out that I was 1 minute behind then it was 2, it slowly kept creeping up, but I was able to run more often then not towards the end still relying only coke.

I'm not sure what I would do differently. Like a lot of people I ended up with some kind of complications on the run. I think I really just need to do some more longer distance running in the off season. I have still yet to try a stand alone marathon. Maybe I'll focus on that. Or maybe I'll go the other way since I know I'm going to have some kind of issue on the run, I'll just go harder on the bike knowing I'm going to run into some kind of problem on the marathon. I was still happy over all with the run because I was able to shave 10 minutes off from 2012.

I was able to enjoy the finish more this time even though Mike Rielly didn't call out my name because he must have taken a break and the other guy filled in for him. I went to get my shirt and hat along with get my picture taken. Saw the wife and picked up my gear and headed home.


go faster on the bike without causing any problems for the run