This was an okay swim course. I was not to happy about how the buoys where set up. Two red buoys before the first turn, two between the first and second turn, and one between the second and beach turn around. I seemed to have a lot of trouble sighting due to the distance between the buoys and no smaller marker buoys in between. Of course the goggles I was using never fogged over in the pool, in my lake swims, or in the other races I used the in. But today they where completely fogged over before I even got half way to the first buoy. This made sighing a total nightmare. I tried to sight off of the guy who was slightly ahead of me but I guess he was having the same problems because soon we where both of course. Finally made it back to the beach, ran round the two guard stations and hit the water again for the second round. I checked my stopwatch that I had going and noticed that I still had plenty of time. So I slowed down, let the guy in front go off on his own then went. Except every time my goggles got to foggy to see I stopped, took them off, got them washed out and back in place. While this took me a bit loner it made sighting a little easier. But like I said without those smaller marker buoys between the large red ones it was difficult to get a good clear sight line. Stopped twice to hang onto one of the support craft to catch my breath before going on again. Finally made it back to the beach and was so happy to finally be out of the water. That was my longest non stop swim and I was happy to have it done with.

Not to sure. This is my first full distance so I felt like I was learning as I was going. But I was happy with my overall pace as I'm not a fast or a strong swimmer.

We had a long treck up the beach and into the "changing tent" which was actually the onsite bathrooms of the park we where at. Got my wetsuit off and my biking gear on. I tried to get the sand off my feet the best I could. There was not small pools of water there so I did the best I could with what I had. Took a few moments to get a gel and water on board before I headed out.

Wish I had a small bucket of water to get all the sand off my feet. This came back to haunt me later in the race.

This course was a lot tougher than I had thought it would be. It was four loops of a 28 mile course that was all rolling hills of either medium or large hills. No areas of long flat sections to rest and spin. My legs where in motion the entire way. There was one aid station at the 12.5 mile mark that was stocked with water and HEED. First lap went by quickly, learned that there was an about 4 mile section right after the aid station that was a terrible road to be on. Potholes, cracks in the pavement, poorly repaired damage from the winters. Over the four miles I was sure my teeth where going to be jarred out of my skull or that my gears would be jarred off my bike. Second lap went by quickly as well, still holding on to about one and a half hour per 28 mile lap. Not bad considering the hills we had to climb. By lap three I was getting tired, tired of always having my legs move, tired of sitting on the bike, tired of being jarred by that nasty section of road, tired or seeing the same landscape, tired of climbing up hill. My time slowed down but I still kept on pedaling, kept pushing forward. By lap four my mind and body where numb. My feet hurt, I had bad hot spots on the bottoms of both feet, I was quickly loosing interest in looking at the same route and seeing the same landscape. Fourth time on that same section of worthless road I lost one of my favorite water bottles but was to tired and fed up to stop and get it. Towards the end of the bad part my bike finally had it too Hit a crack hard and heard a sound of metal moving and quickly found that I lost the last three gears on my bike. The rear derailleur simply would not move any more, it got jarred out of place. Got jarred out of my aero position more times than I want to think about. Tried riding upright and got jarred out of that position too.

With only 15 miles to go I decided to push as much as I could with my remaining gears.. No matter what gear I was in I could hear the strain on my bike of the beating it took. All I could do is pray that it held together for the remaining miles.

Besides the stretcher of POS road the rest of the road conditions ranged from good to excellent. Some stretchers where freshly blacktopped and it was like riding on smooth glass. Even the hills didn't seem so bad.

The aid station, while not heavily stocked, was staffed by friendly and helpful volunteers. We got as much fluids as we could possibly want and good luck wishes till we where out of earshot.

Drank a two bottles per lap, one of HEED and one of my Hammer Fizz along with two gels and on laps 2 and four I ate a square of Fig Newton. My belly took as much as I dared give it without risking a full revolt. Sometimes my sensitive gut gets on my nerves.

By the time I got off the bike I was a mental and near physical wreck. I was near tears for my bike, everything hurt, and I was NOT looking forward to going the marathon.

I really don't know on this part. I trained on mostly hills, and biking the hills was really not bad. Maybe next time get in more longer rides of more hills and less of a variety of flat and hill.

My T2 time did not start till I was actually in the transition area. I walked my bike up a long gravel pathway to the transition area while telling my mom about my biking woes and the gears. Got my biked racked and headed out of T2 and into the bathrooms to change again. After all, if I was going to be miserable as least I was going to be in comfortable running cloths.

While getting changed I foolishly did not pay attention to the condition of my feet even after feeling the hot spots on them. I just put on my shoes and socks and headed out of the door.

The whole time I was changing I could hear my seven year old son banging on the door says "Mommy hurry up! Your suppose to be racing!!!!" LOL, kids.....

Again wish I had thought to bring some water to wash off my feet. Also wish I had thought to take a look at my feet and make what adjustments I could.

By the time I started the run portion I was miserable. I tried to run right away but my legs and feet just would not have it. Walked the first mile and tried to run again. And again it was a no go. Stopped at the aid station for some cold sponges, fluids and a few bites of an orange. For the first six miles I kept up a steady pace walking and giving myself a pep talk to run again at the six mile mark.

At the six mile aid station I chatting with the volunteers and attempted another run segment, again it was a no go. Try as I might to get my body in gear and get to running my body came back with one word: NO.

Decided to walk four more miles, again same thing. By now I sunk into an even deeper emotional and physical dark state. I was being passed by everyone and I still was not even at the half way mark. I then decided that if I could maintain a 16 min walking mile I could finish in under 17 hours so that is what I set out to do.

I quickly learned that walking seemed even harder on the mind than running was on the body. Hit the 13 mile turn around point and special needs station and just about had a melt down. The sun was going down and seeing the finish line was almost to much for me to handle. The amazing volunteers kept encouraging me that I had a little over four hours to clear the last 13 miles. Did my best to pull it together then struck back out.

It seemed to crush me to see all the people heading into the finish line. My feet hurt so bad but I was to afraid to take off my shoes and socks. I was afraid that my feet would swell so badly that I would not get my shoes back on. So I kept pushing on.

Mile after mile slowly passed under my tired and bruised body. At mile 16 I was given a headlamp with more encouragement. So I kept pushing on the best I could. Got to mile 20 and I just about had all I could take. My feet hurt worse then they ever did, my mind was numb and I kept on telling myself not to mentally or physically check out.

I had my own 16 oz water bottle with me, I filled up at each aid station of half ice water half flat Coke so I always had sugar and also took a cup of HEED and a piece of fruit. Again my sensitive gut refused to let me eat or drink any more than that no matter how badly I needed the calories.

Two more hours to travel a six miles. Kept on pushing, kept on doing my best to keep my mind busy when all I could see on the dark trails was what my headlamp lit up. Kept on counting my steps, kept on singing to myself, kept on reminding myself that the end of my journey was getting closer with each step.

Finally at mile 22 my legs and mind came together in what seemed like one last death push. I was able to jog in 30 second intervals with a 30 second walk break. Then I picked it up to 45 second jogs, then 60 second jogs.

Several times during the jog sections my legs gave out from under me. One time I hit the ground. But by now I was feeling the time pressure and I simply refused to give up this close. So I picked myself up and kept on going. Stopped at the remaining three aid stations for hot broth and more encouragement. Kept on pushing, kept on counting, kept on moving. Saw mile 24, then 25, say the lights of the finish line, tried to pick it up again. Mile 26 came into site as I caught sight of the clock, I was going to make it!

I asked my tired body for one last push, one last burst of energy for the last .2 of the run. I crossed the finish line to the cheers of the race director, my family, and others who've I've meet over the past two days.

A few feet after I crossed my body had given all it had to give. I collapsed on the ground trying to get my timing chip off. I was picked up by the medics and my shoes and socks removed. I have four blisters, one which was HUGE. My ankle where swollen and my legs where locking up on me. But I made it, I became an IRONMAN at 11:46 at night!!!!!!!

I think that if I had taken care of my feet on the bike and the start of the run I would not have been the terrible shape I was in. Most of the my problems came from the near depilating pain in my feet with each step. I also think that stopping at the aid station to wash off my feet would have been helpful.

Had to be lifted out of my chair and my mom was allowed into the transition area to help collect my stuff. My walk back to the car was more like a hobble with me leaning on my now disabled bike. All I wanted was a shower, clean cloths, and a warm soft bed.


Once again I think that if I had taken the time to take care of my feet when I first got out of the water I would have had a better race.


This was my first full distance triathlon, as such I had had no idea what to expect. In the end I'm happy I went with the HITS series, I was one of 48 that raced the full and I had no chance of getting lost in the crowd. I will do another Ironman in a few years, but for now I'm going to focus on halves and Olympics.