10:21:57

10:21:57 in Ironman Arizona, after a long day of Hot and Windy weather. Honestly, I had a great day. My swim was solid in the 65 degree dirty water of Tempe Town Lake. I wore a sleevless wetsuit and fealt good. Not too cold, not too warm. It was a bumper car ride the entire 2.4 miles though. I really thought things would separate out a bit more, but I guess 2000 people in the water at the same time doesn't leave much room for space. Nothing too bad though. One heel kick to the left eye. But the goggle lens took most of the hit. I have a few more finger nail scratches on my wetsuit!

After the swim, the T1 tent was awesome! The volunteers are great at an ironman event, and I took a little more time to make sure I had it all together. After getting on the bike, I realized the wind that was supposed to go away, DIDN"T! There was some hang on moments, since I stayed with my decision to ride with a Zipp disc in the back and a Zipp 808 in the front. The three loop mostly out and back course started right into the headwind. And at times, I found myself going only 13mph. I thought, "this is going to be a suck day!" But at the turn around, I realized why others were smiling on their way back. The wind was helping to carry me back to transition at up to 35mph!! It was awesome, and it gave me motivation to keep grinding into the wind on the other two loops out.

I got to the run and fealt great. I had to force myself to slowdown, after I split the first 2 miles under a 7 minute pace. Through the first and a half of the 3 lap course, I fealt great. I, of course knew, that unknown territory was coming (my long run of only 13 miles, and persistant calf muscle cramps/pull). And at about 15-16miles, I hit a wall. No cramps, but just ran out of mojo. I found out that chicken broth, even warm chicken broth, on a 96 degree day, tastes great! I managed to go through many emotions during the next 10 miles.......walking, taking up a new sport, jumping off the bridge into the filthy water of the lake (would anyone notice?). But in the end, decided to stick with the forward motion and finished a slow overall marathon, 3:54, but a great overall day. The finish of Ironman, is enough to make any crazy thoughts go away and made me immediately start to wonder what I could have done (besides train longer and more!!!) that would have given me a sub 10 hour time and a slot to Hawaii (12th in my division, with only 9 going...).

It was a great experience