The swim was excellent. The water was calm. I figured that I didn’t want to get caught behind a thousand people so I worked my way up and started in the front group. I had pretty much open water until the first turn. That’s when I finally started swimming over people. I didn’t think it was much rougher than Eagleman though… the swim wasn’t nearly as bad as I expected. Although, I did have trouble with my wetsuit cutting into my neck. Toward the end of the first loop a fight broke out. Someone stopped in the water turned around and yelled, “what the hell do you think you’re doing?” which was countered with “I’ll kick your ass!”. I kept swimming. Stupid people. Finished the first loop feeling good and went out for the second loop. No problems on the second loop either (other than the aforementioned wetsuit problem). I was aiming for 1:05 - 1:10 and I finished in 1:04.
My bike went fairly well. No real problems. I just had a new bike computer put on my bike so I just tried to average 18-19 mph. I had my fair share of food along the way and pretty much just enjoyed the sites. Every so often a nice paceline would go by… I’d shake my head… and, keep going. I was aiming for 6:00 and I finished the bike in 6:05. I was very happy with that.
The run confused me. I started feeling pretty good. My plan was to walk the aid stations and run in between. This worked great until the 14th mile. From 14-21 I died. I didn’t feel bad - I just felt like I couldn’t go any faster. I ended up talking to some guy from Nashville (this was his 2nd IM) and an oldtimer from Canada trying to win his age group. Both great people from what I could tell. Around mile 21 I started feeling much better - I definitely got a second wind. My last 5.2 miles was easily the fastest of the whole marathon. I was aiming for 4 hours and finished in 4:46. Those middle couple miles took their toll on my time.
Overall, I went 12:07:29 and had an incredible time. I was very happy with my finishing time. I bought a lot of IM stuff, saw Wendy Ingraham (sp?) and Ken Glah. Had Michellie Jones and Joe Bonness pass me during the first loop of the run (which I thought was pretty cool). Pretty much took in the atmosphere.
The next day I went out and got a tattoo that I had been planning to get for months. So, I’m pretty pumped. I’m going to try and post the pictures (or link to them) in this thread - bare with me - I haven’t posted pics/links here before.
Bottom line was I had a blast and can’t wait to do another. I feel fine. No problems. Went out for an 8 mile run today and felt great. Thank you everyone that helped me get here. I appreciate all the advice you gave. Hopefully, I can help you all out someday. Thanks again. (enjoy the pics)
