That's good to hear since you are bigger than me and had no problems up to 10K. I guess I could always switch shoes at the turnaround. :), My wife will be there so I could throw them to her after I get my cushiony shoes out of my special needs bag. I wonder if that might work as a backup plan....

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Good points. I'll test them on the treadmill. If they pass that test then I'll take them out into the Venusian Florida summer environment and do an 18-20 miler in them. One thing I do know is that one's feet are very tender after 112 miles of biking, so a lot may depend on how hot it is in Florida's sphincter muscle on the day of the race. :), (I can't imagine living in that place. Even the Gulf isn't very nice there.)

Thanks for the help guys. Sheezh, this is such a phenomenal resource....

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

Robert:

Not sure if you are serious - but be very careful with that plan. That would be seen as outside assistance and under USAT rules either DQ you or hit you with a time penalty.

Alan

...come to think about it, the turn-around at IMF is the starting line and also the special needs area. So, if you wanted to switch shoes 1/2 way through a run (not something I would consider, but you should try it in a few long distance practice runs first if you are seriously thinking about this) you could always put pair #2 in the special needs bag and change at the special needs station (putting pair #1 in the bag). Just make sure you will be able to retrieve the s.n. bags after the race.

Good luck and have fun.

Alan

You hit the problem. I believe IM Florida is one of those races that throw out the special needs bags. I'll double check that. But, if my wife is right there and I throw her a pair of shoes you think some ref will think that's outside assistance? Sheezh.... Well, I've got fish to fry before I get to that point anyway. I may not even like them....

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

I believe that when I did IMF, unlike other IMNA events, they did dump special needs bags...at least the bike ones, can't recall about the run ones. I certainly wouldn't risk a pair of shoes until I found out for sure (its probably in the triathlete handbook).

Can a ref cite/dq you? Sure - its definitely within their role and within the roles. Technically, the tossing of your shoes at your wife "may" violate the rule prohibiting triathletes from disposing of anything during the race except at specified areas (generally aid stations)...but if she is at special needs where you are allowed to leave stuff anyway - that may be OK (I can't give you a definite yes or no). But its the taking of the second pair of shoes from your wife that would be seen as the outside assistance. The only aid of any kind must come from official race support - not family or friends. I know that it may seem relatively minor...but if those new shoes saved your feet enough to let you grab that last Kona spot....that triathlete who did the whole race without getting fresh shoes and missed that same spot by a minute might be upset. Triathlon is intended to be an individual event - thus the 'no outside assistance" rule.

At the pre-race meetings, I'd check with Charlie Crawford (head official). He's really good with answering one-on-one questions after the general rules presentation. - or you may even be able to e-mail him directly now and get a response. I believe that his e-mail is: crawfcj@gte.net.

Good luck.

Alan