2011 Ironman Lake Placid

This story takes place in a pretty unique place. In this place, it is normal to walk down the street in the middle of the day wearing spandex shorts, compressions socks pulled up to your knees, and a visor. It’s the type of place that is bustling at 5 AM and a ghost town at 8:30 PM. A place where the tattoo location of choice is the calf instead of the bicep and the 135 pound dude rules the roost. That’s right, a little place call Lake Placid during ironman week.

My Sunday July 24^th, 2011 started with a 4 AM alarm clock. Breakfast was a bagel with peanut butter, 3 bananas, some salt pills, and a little H20. At 5 AM we headed down to the transition area for body marking, special needs bag drop off, and last minute bike and gear checks. I had been surprisingly calm, cool and collected in the days leading up to the race, but nerves were really starting to set in. Go time was fast approaching. I was really doing this.

With 77 degree water temperatures, the swim was wetsuit optional - meaning anyone that was going for an age group podium or a Kona world championship slot could not wear a wetsuit, but everyone else had the option. I wore my wetsuit along with about 2K of the 2500+ starters knowing that I had no shot at Kona or an AG podium. I lined up about 30 meters in from the buoys and about 6 spots from the front of the pack. As we got closer to the start, a little claustrophobia started to set in. We were treading water, but there were so many people in a close proximity that you would kick each other. This was going to be fun.

The cannon shot off and we were off. Within seconds the water went from peaceful to utter chaos. The initial few minutes were extremely crowded and there was a lot of unavoidable contact. After a few minutes things settled down and I got a decent rhythm. I was trying to swim straight, but it seemed like people were constantly forcing me to veer to the left or right. I’m sure my inability to swim in a straight line was most of the problem. About halfway through the first out section, I made my way over to the buoys which have a visible line under the water. This would ensure that I stayed perfectly on course, but it also meant I would have to deal with more traffic and contact. It turned out to be a good move although there was a good bit of contact throughout much of the swim. One guy kicked me in the head and I’m pretty sure it was intentional. Another guy kicked me right in the goggle jamming it into my eye, but I’m pretty sure that one was an accident. I got a little frustrated with one guy that kept swimming into me and whacking me in the head and side with his left hand. Whack… whack… whack…. Whack…. OKAY BUDDY, ADJUST YOUR STROKE, I’M OBVIOUSLY HERE… whack, whack, whack… WHAT THE…. Whack… after way too many whack’s I shoved him over. He got the drift for a couple minutes then we started the whole process again. Oh well. That’s what you get with a mass swim of 2500+ in a small lake. At 1:05:24 (279^th overall), I emerged from the water with 2.4 miles of swimming under my belt. Warm up completed, time to do some work…

T1 was pretty uneventful. Visited the wetsuit strippers that peeled me like a banana and ran the quarter mile or so to the transition area. Grabbed my bag and headed over to the changing tent. A volunteer helped me grab all of my equipment, and I was off. As I was running out of the transition area with my bike, I kept hearing people yell “hey your chain is off”. I remember feeling bad for the athlete who’s chain was off. Then I realized they were yelling at me. What? A few seconds later I got the chain back on and we were in business. T1 was 6:34 (454^th overall).

I knew it was really important to not go out too fast on the bike, but I did anyway. I was out towards the front of the race, so I didn’t have to deal with much traffic or passing. I took it easy on the big decent – only hitting 44 MPH, which by the way was more than fast enough for me, but hammered a bit on the initial climbs and flats. At one point I was swallowed up by a draft pack, which was a little annoying in a non-draft race. I did the right thing and dropped back from the peloton and rode out of the draft zone. After a couple miles, the group slowed down. I made my way through the pack, probably took 2 miles to get through the 3-4 wide pack, but I got through and pushed it a bit to get out front of the group. Huge crowds were lining both sides of the street as I climbed the last hill – papa bear. It felt like I was cresting a climb in the tour.  I finished the first loop in 2:45 – way too fast and I knew it. On the 2^nd loop I slowed down quite a bit – a bit intentionally, but mostly due to fatigue. Around 85 miles into the bike I was passed by Sean Snow, and that confirmed that I was really in trouble. I had no business being in front of him. I still had 27 miles of climbing and a marathon to run. I really slowed it down on the rest of the bike, but it was too late. Around mile 105, my legs started to cramp up. I used up the rest of my salt hoping to combat the cramps. Finished the bike in 5:54:11 (485^th overall) – so my 2^nd loop was about 24 minutes slower than the 1^st.

I was a bit of a mess in Transition two. My legs were cramping. As I would reach to put my shoes on, I would cramp up and needed to hop around until it went away. The volunteer that helped me was amazing. It takes a special person to volunteer for that job. I was a sweaty mess and he helped me to put my shoes on, get my gear, and he even put sunscreen on my shoulders. Thanks bud. I emerged from T2 in 4:56 (856^th overall).

The crowds were great as I made my way out to the run course. I was cramping like crazy, but kept running due to the crowds. Before I hit the first mile mark the crowds faded a bit and I started to walk. That was pretty much it. I knew that once I started walking, my day was done. I walked a lot over the course of the 26.2 miles and for a few different reasons. For the most part, I think it was mental more than physical. From a physical standpoint I went through periods of cramping that would go away a few minutes after taking more salt pills, I was over heating – my run watch didn’t record the temperature but my bike computer had it at 89 degrees towards the end of the bike leg, my stomach was hurting from 9 hours of only consuming liquid calories and gels. The funny thing about all the walking I did during the marathon was that I was fine with it. I was going to be an ironman and I was soaking up the experience. I had no problem with all of the people that passed me. There were periods where I would get into a pretty good groove of running to each aid station,  and I was running at a pretty decent clip. I would walk about 2 minutes at each aid station before going again. I saw Sara and Finn along with a bunch of other friends during a few sections of the run and it was awesome to hear their cheers. The crowds were amazing especially as I made my way towards the finish line. As I made my way down Mirror Lake Drive I started to high 5 all of the fans along the barriers. I continued the high 5’s all the way around the Olympic skating ring. Did I mention that the crowds were amazing. I’m not sure why, but I went into the “airplane” as I made my way to the finish line. Final run time was 4:38:21 (1021^st overall ;().

Finished the race in 11:49:25. 623^rd overall place, 553^rd male, and 90^th in in the M30-34 age group.

The whole experience was amazing from start to finish. It wouldn’t have happened without amazing support from Sara and Finn along with the support of friends and family that cheered me on both onsite and from afar.

I can’t wait to do it again!

It was a long drive to Lake Placid, but at least Finn got to sit up front on the Ferry  ride.

Jason and Derek before the race. Jason had an amazing race and Derek got back on his bike and finished after a crash!

Finn cheering on the athletes!

Finn rocking the visor!

Bike all set to go thanks to Derek's wrenching skills and  Paul for loaning the wheels.

My buddy doing what he does

Following the strict LP dress code prior to the race and hanging with Esme - "what doing?"

Here I am heading to T1 after the swim

Heading out on the 2nd loop of the bike

A shot of the bikers leaving town

Having a tough marathon, but still smiling

High 5's as I'm heading around the Olympic oval on my way to the finish line

After the race with my bud

Cool shirt Finn!

Thanks for cheering me on all day and staying up late!

Sara had an awesome shirt made too! The back said "My husband goes the distance - 140.6"

Champagne toast on Monday with Sara, Jason, and Halen

Finn and I sporting our cool new shirts.

future ironman?

Here's a video that Sara took at the finish

Here's a link to my bike data:

Here's a link to my run data:

2010 BayState Marathon Race Report

To be honest, I didn’t think it was in the cards this year. The marathon training plan I used last year was 16 weeks and totaled 562 miles over that period. It included an 18, 2  20’s, and a 22 mile run. With the BayState marathon being only 5 weeks after the Pumkinman half-ironman race, I just couldn’t get near that volume. I logged 1 18 and 1 20 mile run, with only a total of 350 miles in the 16 weeks prior to the race. A crazy work travel schedule and busy times at home with Finn meant that the weeks leading up to the race didn’t include the sleep and healthy eating habits that everyone should shoot for – never mind someone getting ready to try to qualify for the Boston marathon with a sub 3:10:59 effort.

That being said, I knew I was physically capable of qualifying, I would just need to endure more pain that I was used to. I did my best to beat it into my head - if I could suffer it would happen.

Race morning was pretty stress free. The 8:00 start meant a 5 AM wakeup (sleeping in compared to most of the tri’s I do and most flights I wake up to catch) for some coffee and carbs. Finn was rooting for me, so he was nice enough to go right back to sleep after his 1 AM midnight snack and diaper change. At 6, I was picked up by Tim and Paul. One more quick stop to pickup Will and we made our way to beautiful Lowell, MA. There wasn’t a lot of time to think about this race. We battled traffic to get a parking spot and the next thing we knew it was 10 minutes from the start.

Paul and I lined up towards the front, maybe 5 or 6 rows back. One of the cooler things I’ve experienced in a race happened about 30 seconds from the start. They tried to play the National Anthem, but announced that due to technical difficulties they couldn’t play it. All of a sudden the entire group of runners and spectators starting singing it. Made me proud to be an American and to be surrounded by such great people.

Below are my splits from the race. We started out a bit fast but settled in after a few miles, ticking off 7’s fairly comfortably. Paul and I basically pulled a pack of 15 or so runners for the first 13 miles. At first I didn’t realize we had a pack with us, but it was funny to hear spectators cheering for the pack.  The half marathon mark was about 5 or 6 minutes faster than I’ve ever run a standalone half marathon. After 13, we made a conscience effort to slow down a bit and try to run 7:15’s. Fatigue set in around 17-18, but I kept telling myself that this was nothing but a mental game at that point.

At mile 23, I really started to hurt badly. I knew I had time in the bank so I decided to try to run a couple 7:30’s and pick it back up for the last mile. I’ve run enough races to know that when you slow down that late in the race, there is no picking it back up. My last mile was a 7:52 but I knew all I had to do was cross the finish line and I was there. The funny thing about that “slow” 7:52 is that it was fast than my average pace last year…

I came across the line in 3:08:56 – 2 minutes under the qualifying time. Average pace was 7:13 per mile and I finished in 160^th place out of 1564 finishers. My time was over a 20 minute PR from a year ago.

I’ve already signed up for the Boston Marathon – April 18^th, 2011. I’m psyched for my first (better not be my last)  Boston. With Ironman Lake Placid being the focus for next year, I won’t “race” Boston. I’m going to view it as a long training day. I’ll run with a camera, enjoy the experience, take in the crowds.

Split	Time
1	0:06:57
2	0:06:53
3	0:07:04
4	0:07:06
5	0:06:58
6	0:07:06
7	0:07:01
8	0:06:59
9	0:07:01
10	0:06:59
11	0:06:58
12	0:06:58
13	0:07:02
14	0:07:11
15	0:07:12
16	0:07:14
17	0:07:11
18	0:07:12
19	0:07:19
20	0:07:10
21	0:07:13
22	0:07:11
23	0:07:17
24	0:07:32
25	0:07:36
26	0:07:52
27	0:02:32
Total:	3:08:58

Here's a link to my Garmin file on the race: 2010 BayState Marathon

2010 Pumpkinman Half Ironman

Some of the major races that I've done require spending a bunch of time hanging around the venue the day before - because of time consuming packet pick-up, mandatory bike drop off, or because it is a destination race (race-cation as I like to describe them to Sara). Typically the day before is pretty wild because of the energy of being surrounded by more healthy / fit people than you can imagine - the type of people who's veins in their calves have their own veins.... Pumpkinman was a major race for me (and 500 of my closest friends on that day) because it has all of the energy and excitement of the big race without the time consuming hassle on the day prior.

On Saturday the day before the race, seeing that I didn't have to commit a whole day to packet pickup and bike drop off, I was able to spend the day with Sara and Finn. I started out the morning with a 45 minute ride and 15 minute run. I felt a bit frisky out there - went hard for the first 5 miles of the ride and had to make myself chill out on the last 10. My run ended up being a 2 miler at 7:30 pace - a little faster than I intended, but it just felt right. After my tune-up workout, we decided to spend our Saturday apple picking. It turns out that Apple Crest Farms in Hampton Falls, NH had a festival going on. Seeing that we were at a farm, you would think I would still be surrounded by healthy people and getting that pre-race energy - you know being around a bunch of people that eat fruit and vegetables.... Completely the opposite. There were so many unhealthy people there it was amazing. Everyone was walking around eating ice-cream and donuts and almost no one chomping on an apple. Wake up America..... In full disclosure the apple pie and ice-cream was awesome, but I was racing 70.3 miles the next day and we did bring home a boat load of apples….

I always say that the night’s sleep before the race doesn't mean a thing. It is the night before that matters. I think Finn may have heard me say this out loud. He actually passed out around 8 PM, but Sara and I decided to watch a movie instead of hitting the hay early. Well, we checked him at 10:15 right before were going to go to sleep and he was in serious need of a changing. I'm talking a two person tag team wipes up the back type of changing. Just when we get him all cleaned up, he is laying there naked and his fire hose goes off. He got me, Sara, and his own hair. There was no more debating, he needed a full on bath. By the time we got to bed it was 11 and I had 5 hours of sleep coming to me at best. Those 5 hours included lots of tossing / turning, and not much sleeping. Oh well, 4 AM came and it was time to get up and go to work.

Breakfast was a little coffee, bagel with PB and cream cheese, fiber one pop tart, and 2 bananas. I arrived at transition pretty early and had plenty of time to get racked up and chat with some of my friends that were racing.

6:45 pre-race instructional meeting was followed a moment of silence for Sept. 11th and the national anthem. Elite's went off at 7:00 and men 39 and under went off at 7:01. The swim start was on the beach and at the start signal we ran into the water and were off. There was a lot of contact in the first few minutes. At one point I went to breathe on my right side and someone's hand ended up in my mouth. After a few minutes things settled in and I found some clear water. At one point there was a guy on my left that kept swimming into me even though there was plenty of water for him to swim next to me. After 7 strokes of getting wacked by this guy, I finally gave him a shove - enough buddy. After that, the rest of the swim was incident free. I exited the water in 30:45 – 1:27 minutes per 100 yards.

T1 included a run up the GIANT hill to the transition area. 2 minutes and 38 seconds later I was on my bike.

The bike course was enjoyable. I pushed fairly hard from the get go. At the 26 mile mark, I was on pace to go under 2:30. The wind picked up on the second half and I’m sure I fatigued a bit. I passed a few folks and a few folks passed me. I was surprised when a few elites passed me on the bike, I must have out swam them. Finished the bike in 2:34:54 – 21.7 MPH.

T2 was uneventful. Saw my buddy Jeremy Fletcher who was telling me that I had a sub 5 wrapped up, just need to settle into the run. 1 minute 8 seconds later, my visor was on and I was heading out for the half mary.

As I started the run I saw Paul Cavanaugh pull into transition. I knew that fast dude would soon be reeling me in, but I figured I’d make him earn it. Surprisingly, I settled right in for the run. I was out towards the front of the race, so it was pretty lonely out there for the first few miles. Eventually I saw some of the elites including the race leader making their way back. Around mile 6, I was caught by a guy in my age group that told me his hamstrings were cramping. I had some extra salt pills that I gave him and I think he eventually passed me. There were three turnarounds in the run, so you got to see lots of runners going by in the opposite direction. I saw a bunch of friends out there – Jason, Derek, Matthew, Peter to name a few – as well as some friends cheering. Of course at every turn around I could see Paul getting closer and closer to me – I felt like Chris Lieto waiting for the eventual pass by Crowie in Kona. After 11 miles, I was caught. Paul ran with me for about a mile or so, but he had more reserves and I told him not to slow down for me. There is a painful hill right at the end, but the sounds of the finish line helped me to power through it. As I came around towards the finisher shoot I saw Jeremy and Jeff Donatello. They said something about how I was smashing my 5 hour goal and I responded with something that included an F-bomb – I’m sorry to the parents and kids that were cheering and overheard that. When I crossed the line, I had absolutely nothing left in the tank. Run time was 1:40:08 – 7:38 minutes per mile. This was only 2 minutes and 40 seconds slower than my current standalone half marathon.

Nutrition:

• 1 Hammer Gel before the swim, 3 on the bike and 1 on the run
• 2 Salt Stick tables at the start of the bike, 1 hour, 2 hour, and middle of the run
• 500 Calories of liquid nutrition on the bike (drank about 3/4's of it) - 3 scoops of carbo pro and 1 scoop of Hammer HED

Final Results:

• 4:49:35
• 44th overall out of 349 finisher – (42nd if you exclude the two relay teams that beat me)
• 7th out of 25 in my age group
• PR’s all around for the half distance.

Sara and Finn weren’t able to make it to the race, so that was a bummer. I told them all of the gory details of the race when I got home and a cheeseburger never tasted as good as it did that evening….

Finn hanging at the apple picking festival

My girlfriend all dressed up the night before the race

Transition before the race

My little spot in transition... All setup and ready to rock.

A view of the pond from the top of the hill. That hill is steeper than it looks

Reward from a hard effort... A juicy all natural burger...

And desert to boot.... Grilled peaches and vanilla ice-cream.

2010 Timberman 70.3 Race Report

Back in January when I signed up for the Timberman 70.3 race, I set a goal of finishing 5 hours. This was a bit of a stretch goal seeing that the only half ironman race that I completed was in 5 hours 40 minutes on an easier coarse in Rhode Island last year. I mapped out a plan to break 5 hours that included a 30 minute swim split (1:25 per 100 yards), 2:40 bike split (21 MPH), a 1:43 run (7:50 minute miles), 5 minutes for T1/T2 and a couple minutes of fluff. These splits didn't seem unattainable with the proper work, but they were definitely not a slam dunk.


As typical for a triathlete balancing life, work, job, etc, I wasn't able to put in all of the training that I had hoped for leading up to the race, but I definitely did some hard work. My focus was on the bike and swim seemed to get pushed to the back of the priority line - the return on bike work can be huge when compared to gaining a couple minutes based on 10's of hours of following the black line in the pool. According to my training log, I’ve spent 51% of my time in this year on the bike (2145 miles), 34% on the run (554 miles), and 15% on the swim (87K meters).

Finn was born three weeks before the race and it has been a whirlwind. I was able to get some of my training in, but the broken/shortened sleep definitely took a toll. The workouts I got in felt pretty sluggish. Rather than peaking, I felt my fitness slowly fade away as race day approached. I reset my expectations and decided that I would be happy with a finish in the 5:15-5:20 range. Results aside, I was really looking forward to enjoying a great event with friends. 

With Timberman being a fairly local big race, I knew about a dozen folks racing including the Lopez brothers - Mike and Val - that made their way of from Texas to race. Also the local triathlon club that I'm a member of would have a tent setup - creating a gathering spot for everyone's friends and family.

The week leading up to the race was pretty hectic, I was traveling on business and didn't get home until late Thursday evening. Friday's activities included getting ready for our Texas guests, making an airport run to pick the crew up, picking up my bike that was built up (finally) from the shop, and attempting to get dialed in on a new bike two days before an A race. As typical I ran into a few snags with the bike, but we got it to a race-able state.

Saturday was a long day of heading up to the site for check-in and bike drop off. Before racking our bikes, we went out for a 30 minutes tune-up ride. The Lopez brothers got to experience what I meant when I said the race course was right next to a ski mountain - a little different from the flat roads of Dallas. We also jumped into the lake for a quick swim before heading back to the seacoast for some carbo loading.

Race morning wake up was set for 3:30. Finn had other plans and I was up at 2:30 for a changing and rock back to sleep session. In full disclosure, I was offered a hall pass from this activity but the reality was I knew Sara had a longer day in store for her than I did. The logistics and fueling requirements of taking Finn to watch us race requires a report in itself. The changing / rocking session went a little over my goal time and when I laid back down at 3:20 I wasn't sure what the point was. 10 minutes later it was go time. A little coffee, breakfast, last minute gear checks, and we were on our way.

Arriving at transition for a large scale triathlon is one of the coolest experiences. It's 5:00 AM, still dark out but slowly getting light, athletes are bustling around, music is cranking, volunteers are body marking race numbers and ages, etc. There were 2800 signed up to race, including some of top pro's in the sport. I setup my transition area, talked with my neighbors in transition, and pretty much hung out waiting to be ushered over to the swim start.

My swim wave (M30-34) was 17 out of 18, so I had a bit of time to hang out before it was time to go. The weather was perfect, maybe 70 degrees. The water was clear and comfortable. We did a quick warm-up and watched as each wave was sent off in 5 minute intervals. The excitement was definitely in the air and I felt pretty comfortable - not really nervous. As my wave was on deck, I watched this guy in a speedo warm-up - I think he was the only person not swimming in a wetsuit in my wave. The speedo guy was swinging his arms around like Michael Phelps and he looked to be double jointed based on his flexibility. I heard him tell another guy that he was hoping to break 28 minutes - impressive for a non-wetsuit 1.2 mile open water swim.

As we got into the water for our 5 minute countdown, I lined up in the 2nd row back and a bit on the outside. I thought I might be a bit far forward, but would rather have a couple guys swim over me than get stuck in a traffic jam trying to swim over a bunch of bodies. We were off. I mimicked the earlier wave starts with a few dolphin dives in the shallow water before settling into a rhythm. Surprisingly, I didn't have anyone trying to swim over me and I didn't really hit any congestion. Being on the outside really helped me to find clear water. The first 3rd of the swim was pretty uneventful. The water was pretty smooth and I settled into a good rhythm. I tried to keep my effort at a minimum level - maybe 5/10. After the first 3rd or so, we started to hit a bit of traffic from the slower swimmers in the earlier waves. The turns at the buoy's were pretty uneventful as well. I continued to stay a bit outside - not 100% on purpose, I definitely did a bit of drifting and zig-zagging that added to the swim distance. As we were making our way towards the home stretch, I noticed the speedo guy was right next to me. Either I was having a great swim or he was having a terrible one. It was the latter - I exited the water just under 35 minutes. This was pretty much exactly where I should have been based on the effort level and the amount of time I put in at the pool leading up to the race. Swim time: 34:46 - 58/223 in my age group and 463 overall.

T1 was fine. I made my way over to the wetsuit strippers, they were mostly kids volunteering. I ran past 3 kids and went right over to the biggest adult I saw. I laid down and he pealed me like a banana. I actually got up and started running without taking my wetsuit, but he threw a nice pass which I caught like I was going for the end zone. Dumped my goggles / wetsuit, threw on my helmet / race belt / sunglasses, and I was off. T1 time: 1:49

The bike started with a nice mount; I got my feet into my shoes and was up to speed as we approached the first turn and started the climb out of the race site. I didn't feel too great during the first 3-5 miles, but I tried to stay patient knowing I would settle in. The first 10 or so miles of the ride is mostly climbing. I tried not to kill myself early, but I didn't want to start out too slow either. As I crested the large climb - Marsh Hill there was a lady dressed as a devil cheering folks on - I knew it was time to get into gear. I kept a good tempo for miles 10-35 and it started to rain as I was about halfway through the bike leg. As I was making my up the long false flats of miles 35-40, I really started to feel the fatigue in my legs. From a cardiovascular standpoint, I felt good. From a muscular endurance point of view, my legs were entering a world of hurt. The climb up the backside of Marsh hill wasn't as bad as I remembered from my reconnaissance ride, but I rode the breaks down the descent due to the wet roads. I was pretty happy to hear the crowds as I made my way back to the transition area and it was time to get off of the bike. Bike time: 2:38:57 (21.1 MPH) - 49/223 in my age group and 354 overall.

T2 was quick and uneventful. Dismount, run over to my bike rack, helmet off, visor on, go time! T2: 2:05.

As I made my way out of transition, I can't begin to describe the excitement at the start of the run course. The run out chute is lined with cheering spectators, including my crew at the Seacoast Tiptide tent. As I made my way by, I saw the crew, Sara, and Finn. I pulled over, gave Sara a sweaty kiss, and made my way out for the run with a smile on my face. As I pulled away from the screaming crowds, the pain began to set in. Those first two miles were some of the toughest two miles that I've run. My stomach was in rough shape; maybe from the nutrition I took in on the bike - 3 Hammer Gel's, 1 bottle Hammer HED, 1 bottle HED and Carbo-Pro, 4 salt stick pills. I was running right around 8 minute miles - I knew it was a little slower than my goal, but during those first two miles I thought I was destined for a long slog of walking and jogging. After the first two miles, I settled in but I didn't feel comfortable enough to pick up the pace. It was a two loop course and the energy going back around the transition area and through the gauntlet of cheering spectators pumped me up. I went into a bad place on miles 8-10, but after that I knew I could battle through another 5K. I was tracking my time and knew I wasn't going to beat 5 hours, but was pretty pumped to know I wasn't far from striking distance. The last mile felt great as I picked it up quite a bit. Crossing the finish line and hearing your name across the speakers is a great feeling after such a long hard effort. Run time: 1:46:35 (8:06 minute miles) – 76/223 and 477 overall.

When I crossed the line I was given my finisher medal by Chrissie Wellington. How cool is it that the top female pro triathlete in the world (3 time world champion that only a select group of male pro triathletes can beat) hung around after her win and gave out medals to all of the age groupers?

Final time: 5:04:35 – over a 35 minute PR at this distance
56/223 in the M30-34 age group
344 overall

I wound up finishing 5 minutes slower than the goal I set at the beginning of the year, but it is tough to be disappointed with that finish. It definitely beat the expectations that I had going into the race. Overall an amazing event and I’m really grateful to have been able to spend it with great friends and family. Congrats to all of my friends that finished including a couple PR’s and first time finishers.

Next event is the Pumpkinman Half Ironman on September 12th. Does anyone smell a sub 5 hour finish?

The Lopez brothers - Mike and Val - get their bikes built up after the flight in

They say you should get a good night's sleep two nights before the race. Finn and I took that advice - on Julie and Jordy's couch during "outdoor movie night"

Monty and Val sandwiched between the bikes on the way to check-in

Hanging at the race expo.

Race morning. Transition is buslting

The sun is starting to rise and excitement is in the air

My transition setup. I only had 10 miles on my QR CD0.1 at that point. Check out me aero-bar horizontal water bottle holder.

The lake was glass for the start

Monty, Charlie, and Wendy handing at the Seacoast Riptide tent. This was the "gauntlet" we ran through.

My biggest fans - Sara and Finn

Heading by the riptide tent on my way out for lap 2

The Texas crew enjoying lunch in Portsmouth the day after the race

Having a recovery beverage with Finn