Here's a note to remember, put sunscreen on the day before, especially if you have to be there for a while. Neck was pink. Yep, not a good start!
Swim start at 7:20
- Salt water is two things: buoyant and NOT tasty
- Around the 5th buoy start getting a rubbing feeling on my shoulders. That turned out to rub the entire way. Rubbed the skin off. That still hurts.
T1: Volunteers rip my wetsuit off. That was awesome.
Bike start: Hop on and get going
Mile 0.7: Had to get off the bike to fix my gel flash holder. That cost me about 1:30 of time. Oops!
Mile 1.6: Turn right onto the seawall. Vroom vroom not so much with the wind a straight headwind at 10-15.
Miles 2-10: Cyclist named Galvez and I yo-yo back and forth. Over and over and over.
Mile 11: A woman is holding a sign saying "Lance just passed!" Yeah...right. Lance passed a long time ago!
Mile 16.6: In the whispering words of Dr. Evil in the movie Goldmember "LANCE!" Lance Armstrong flying back on the bike! Finished averaging 27.8 mph!!!!!! He finished 7th.
Mile 20: Start eating the first of the FRS chews. I. Love. Pomegranate. DELICIOUS!
Mile 23.5: Start going up the San Luis Pass. The bridge is long and it is going to be awesome to fly back!!!
Mile 27.5: See my buddy Brent Vest heading the other way. Dangit! We have a thing going. He beat me the first triathlon. I beat him the second. This is the rubber match. I will see him on the run!
Mile 28: Turnaround time!!! Averaged 17.7 mph on the way into the wind. Time to fly!
Miles 28-32: Flying at 23-25 thinking, "ok, this is fun. Let's keep on going!"
Mile 33: Bye bye wind. What the heck? Still going at 20-21.
Miles 34-50: Coming back on the seawall. Keep on averaging 20 mph.
Miles 51-54.4: There are a lot of nice bikes passing me. They are THOUSANDS of dollars nicer. That and the guys and gals riding them look like they are professionals. They're not, they are just really awesome age groupers!
Mile 56: The bike "is done man!"
T2: Ok! Time to run. Plenty of bikes are already in transition. Plenty of bikes are not.
Mile 1: 7:54 pace and rocking it! This...will not last.
Mile 1.75: Catch up to my buddy Brent. He is having a bit of trouble. Give encouragement and then take off.
Mile 2: Pace is now at 8:11
Mile 2.5: Give high fives to two small children. They are very happy to be watching other people run. Kind of funny.
Miles 3-4.3: First lap is done! Now only two more to go.
Mile 5: Start getting a pain in my right abdominal. I keep telling myself, this couldn't be appendicitis, I eat plenty of bacon. As a matter of fact, I had bacon on a sandwich the day before. AND IT WAS DELICIOUS!
Miles 6-8: THE WALL! This is the time that my run pace has slowed to 10:45. Start walking through aid stations and then running in between.
Mile 8.2: Time to start the second loop through the airport runway. Very hot. Very windy. I continue to think, "Remember this is a good idea. The is a good idea. Why did I choose the sport of triathlon? Because this is a good idea!"
Mile 8.8: THIRD LOOP. If I stop running, how will I get home?
Mile 9.5: Read a sign "There's beer at the finish line!" This doesn't make me run faster or slower. It does for some reason make me very happy. I have no clue why.
Mile 10: Only a 5K left! Start calculating how fast I need to pace to make sure that I finish in under 5:45.
Mile 11: The pace has started to kick up a notch. Hamstrings are starting to hurt more. Feet are ok.
Mile 12: So close. So close. And here comes the runway. Start looking at my watch and calculating again.
Mile 13: I can hear the finish line. Can't see it, but here comes the kick!
Finish line: DUNZO!!! TIRED!!! Off to the medical tent!
Medical tent: I spend a good 15 minutes lounging with ice packs on my neck and my stomach.
Swim - 36:35
Bike - 2:56:33
Run - 2:03:56
Overall - 5:42:45
Average heart rate: 171
Max heart rate: 193
Calories burned: 6170
The 5:45:00 mark has been eclipsed.
Six weeks until Ironman Texas!!!