Butterflies, Already! WTF?

I hate to start my blog post the way I started my last one, but...

I know is has been forever!!

OK, Now that is out of the way.

AS I sit here typing this , I have this really crazy feeling of confidence and excitement.

For what you ask? Today is Sept 1st, meaning as soon as this month fades into the distance I will be 4 days away from heading back to Kona to get my pay backs from last time.

The strangest thing is that I started training for this years trip to the Big Dance without any pressure or really any illusion that I could go over and do anything special on Oct 8th. I mean come on, I can just go to Hawaii, have a very average day and still come out a winner. After my last appearance in 2009 (following my bike/car accident) and resulting in a surgery, 8 screws, a metal plate, and shit for training, I could go over, have fun, not push myself and still come out with a 1-2hr faster performance than the last time. That would be winning in most people's book.

A funny thing happened on my may to training for an average day Oct 8th!

I started getting extra motivated, starting getting (unofficially )some coaching advice, and I have found my sweet spot when it comes to suffering in the heat.

Yep, I am actually getting that feeling I have had right before the two best Ironman races that I have ever had (both Kona qualifiers). That feeling of peace and inner harmony. Sounds corny,but the best way for me to explain it!

Don't worry, we are still going to have a TON of fun, just this time I will have that feeling of total accomplishment! 37 days and a wake up call :))))

It's that time again!!

I know it has been for ever, and ever since I have blogged. Too be very honest 5 days after my last blog all of our lives where changed forever here in Arizona and all over the world! The day of Sally's death still seems to be beyond words. I just could not bring myself to blog about anything else because nothing else seemed as important as her death, and I felt like blogging about something else would be as if I had just went on with life like nothing even happened, like I had just swept in under the rug and ignored it. The other problem was that I just couldn't bring myself to talk about that day and that horrible feeling in a blog.
Today, I felt it was time. As I prepare for the week leading up to my next Ironman, Sal is so fresh in my mind. She was to be my training partner this summer, we where to spend endless miles biking and running together as we where preparing for Kona. We where to go there and suffer on the lava fields together, and she was about to snap some necks as she came from nowhere to set a new run course record, and make her name in the sport of triathlon.
Well, now I carry her memory, her strength, her passion with me. I will be channelling her as I go to that dark place when the real suffering starts. June 26th will be Sally's first full Ironman, as I race IMCDA with her. It will be a great day for us to get used to each other over a 9-10hr day, because when Oct8th gets here we need to be 100% on the same page as we SMASH the Lava fields and Alii drive together. This will just be a great first step towards that day.
I'm not making any predictions on time or finish place, but I have a feeling it will be a special day out there.
Check back to see how we do:))))

Talked in to another Crazy weekend race!!

Every since my wonderful wife did her first Ragnar relay a few years ago she has raved about how much fun she had, and has tried to talk me into putting together a team to do it with her. I have always been able to come up with an excuse to why I couldn't do it each year.

Well this year she asks again, but I don't have a good enough reason to get out of running almost 200 miles with a team of 6 runners over roughly 24-30 hours, in one van, with ZERO sleep or showers!

Next thing I know we are all packed up and on the road to Wickenburg, AZ

We arrive, as per usual about 2 hours early. We kinda hang out, kill time, hit the Port a Potty a few times, and next thing you know our first runner (Kris) is off and starting our LONG trip to Tempe.

Now I won't go into every little things that happened over the two days blow by blow.

The first four runners went off with out much fanfare, or issues, everyone was just clicking off the miles and looking fresh and fast. I being the 5th runner started my first leg just as the sun was setting, being the oldest I was given the longest leg of the weekend (17.7miles), The thing I have heard over and over about Ragnar is you try to pass as many other teams as possible (a.k.a. ROADKILL). So instead of focusing on the miles ahead of me, I focused on as much road kill as possible, counting each person I flew past with a smile and a "good job, keep it up", as the sun finally ducked down it was my first time experiencing the constant stream of blinking red lights on the road ahead, each one another potential Roadkill for me. I actually past 6 different people that I knew in that first leg, as I spotted the 1 mile to go sign I felt and heard another runner behind me, Oh no you don't. I will not be someone else's roadkill, so I buried the hammer and smashed the last mile to keep that young kid from catching me. (this became a bit of a theme). I hit my relay point, handed to wristband to Jenifer and was so excited that I had passed 38 runners in 17.7 miles, 2:04 and a split time of 6:59 per mile. I changed my clothes, and we headed off for the next relay zone.

Mostly we just went from relay zone to relay zone while each runner took their turns smashing their legs and legs. Now it started to get wayyyyyyy past my bedtime by the time my next leg came around. roughly 1.am., this was a much shorts and faster 8 mile leg, as I excited the relay zone a paused to fix my watch and water bottle and some young guy goes flying by me. What, I will not be passed, Of course I knew he wasn' t running the Ultra so I only had like 4 miles to track him down before he handed off to his next teammate, so even though I had another 4 miles after that point I was going hard to catch him, and just as we enter his relay zone I pass him, Yes, i knew I could do it. Hell at this point I might as well just keep hammering and get this over with, i roll into the relay zone to hand off to Jenifer with a total run segment time of 51:00, 6:42 per mile split. and another 27 roadkills. At this point things start to get blurry, we are all fighting lack of sleep fatigue.

The good news is that we all knew we just had to do one more leg and we where home free. I even managed 30 minutes of shut eye just before the sun came up. As Kris rolled in to the relay zone and ending his day, Mary started flying down 9 mile hill into Rio Verde and now we where back into my neck of the woods, no more surprises, I know the remaining miles very well. Up into Mcdowell Park, heading to Fountain Hills. When Rachel finishes her last leg and hands off to Brandon we all know he has some major sharp climbs ahead, and he eats them up and spits them out. Freaking stud, he hands off to me for my final leg, (thank godness), I decided from the get go that I will smash it will all I have, clickinfgoff 6:30 miles, and counting the roadkilll as I go, as i finally hit the 1 mile to go sign I see a red shirt up around the corner and decide that i will try to catch it before the hand off spot. I start picking it up, faster and faster, and faster until with 1/4 of a mile to go i catch and pass this young fast kid, instantly I feel him jump in behind me, and I push just a little harder, (in my mind I am thinking, i have ran over 33 miles, and not been passed once, no way i am letting this kid pass me back), we round the corner with about a tenth or so to go and I push it one more time, then he comes up next to me and passes me by about a step, I dig down one more time and say to myself NO WAY, get him! I push with all I have left and catch back up to him just as we enter the relay zone, and pass him by half a step before handing off to Jenifer for the last time. Shit!!! I AM SPENT!!! After I catch my breath I check my Gps, my last mile of the 33.2 miles comes out as a 5:40 split, bu far the fastest of the weekend, I have no idea where that came from, crazy actually, that is about what I have been doing my mile repeats on that track at.

From there it is off to the finish line in Tempe to wait for Jenifer, as she comes around the last corner we all meet her and run across the finish line as a team. Clock time 27:38:03. We are home!!! What a great group of people, some serious super start performances. From here it is food bed and 16 hours of sleep.

My first official Ultra Marathon

So last year I decided to run the Pemberton 50K trail race as a relay with my friend Kelsey. After we took first place and set a new course record my whistle was wet. I started thinking that I could do the entire thing myself, and even be somewhat competitive.



Fast forward one year:

I find myself toeing the line of shaving cream in the dirt, that marked the start and end point of the 2011 Pemberton 50k. To make this year a little more special the race would start at 5pm, meaning that everyone would run at least half of the race in the dark. This not a road race with street lights, this is out in the middle of nowhere in the desert on trails, in the dark!

I had planned in my mind to really train for this race and to shoot for a fast finish time, of course having never ran a Ultra or having never run a race on trails in the dark, I didn't really know what "fast" would mean. Unfortunately, I never really put in the kind of training I would have liked to be as competitive as I could have been, and went in to race day not having run farther than 18 miles in over two months, and I only did that once. Oh well, just give it what you can on that day. I know it will be a "PR" as long as I finish!

The race director yells go, and we do. I started off running with the top guys, these are the guys that run 100 mile races on REAL trails all over the world, and in the dark, so I thought just see what happens. Well mile 1 = 6:37, ok keep going and see what happens, mile 2 = 6:35, ok, are you stupid, this is more like my current marathon pace for a road race, back it off some.

So I let the top 3 or 4 guys go, to never see them again.

From here I decided to just run comfortable and try to go as far as possible before it gets dark.

Heading into the last 10K of the first 15.5 mile loop It is down hill all the way, I already started feeling my quads, and knew that it would be a painful recovery from this race, (little did I know how bad at this point), I came through the first loop pretty much unscathed, 1:52 minutes, just as I started loop number two It was time to click on my new head light Mary got me for Xmas. Instantly I noticed that my pace was dropping and not because I was tired (at least not yet), but because I could not see all of the little ups and downs quick enough. I also had not seen another runner for over 10 miles and just decided to do what i could and get myself to the finish line without breaking something, especially my clavicle again. I had one relay runner pass me 3 miles into the 2nd loop and that was it, no one else until the finish line. Where my beating the shit out of myself came was from throwing on the brakes every time I went down a sharp hill, so as too not fall, in addition to that I was also holding my neck in a weird position so my light would hit the ground and that caused a unbelievable pain in my traps for the 4 days following the race. Anyway, I finally made it back to the final 10k section, again straight down hill. My quads where SCREAMMING!!!!, but I thought to myself I can either lay down here and take a nap and wait for Mary to come by or I can just suck it up and get it over with even with the knowledge that my legs are in a world of hurt, and it is going to take a few days to recover from this. So I dug in and trashed myself all the way to the line. I ended up finishing 7th Overall, and 2nd in the masters division.
I guess not bad considering, but way slower than I thought I would be able to go. I ended with a finish time of 4:15, I was shooting for 3:59:59, but just didn't handle the night running well.
After finishing i climbed into the back of the Xtrerra and sleep for a few minutes and waited for my Mary too finish her first Ultra as well. She Freakin crushed it breaking the 5:30 mark and ending up 11th woman overall, finishing :01 second behind the great Pam Reed. Wow, what a great story to be able to tell. Finishing your first Ultra with Pam Reed. great job sweat heart, you ROCK!!
Ok, off to ice my legs and get ready for the next running extravaganza.

Ironaman Arizona: A day of suffering, french fries and a World record.

Ok, I wasn't the one to set the new Ironman World record. It was Chrissie Wellington. Every adjective has been used to describe her and her day. So I will just say it was very inspiring to every little girl, and big man alike out there wondering if they can do something.

Going into Ironman Arizona I felt very prepared physically and mentally, no real nerves, just ready to get at it. I decided back in October of 2009 (after having finished my first Kona race), (just after my bike/car accident) ,that my next year plan was to get stronger and faster and focus on Ironman Arizona 2010 to claim my next slot to Kona (2011). so as to go back to the Islands and feel like I actually was able to race the World Championships, as opposed to just finishing it.

That meant not racing as many races as I would normally like to, and to only complete Ironman Canada as a "B" race at best, so as to fully soak in the effort of the day as a deposit into my IMAZ fitness bank, and not have to take an extended taper and recovery before and after.

With the lead up to race day the weather forecast was not looking like it would be in my favor. I suffered all summer in 100-115 degrees and really had wished for a warmer race day so as to make the others I was competing with to hurt more than normal. So the race day forecast was for cool temps the entire day, rain, and lots of wind. Oh well, like I said before, I felt well prepared and knew I was willing to do whatever it would take to get that Kona slot. Unfortunately for me the conditions made it into a cycylist's race because of the ridiculous, unrelenting winds. More on that later.

The Swim: 1:05

This happened to be one of the least full contact IM swims that I have ever been a part of. I am not complaining! I didn't really notice the 60 degree water temps as feeling cold, and after about a ten minute treading of water the cannon sounded and we where off. As Paula Newby Fraser once told me, "don't let your brains fall out to the bottom of the lake" , In other words: use your brains and think about what you are doing, and need to be doing next. I found my rhythm and just went for it heading past the rural st. bridge and to the turn around buoy. Everything just as planned, but shortly after the turn I felt something wasn't just right, but kept working and spotting, but again noticed all of a sudden that a was going right for some reason? What the hell, I have swam this swim a 1000 times, and there is not a current in this lake. After trying to correct several more times it finally dawned on me that the chop had gotten much bigger than normal. I get it now, it is from the wind coming so strongly out of the south that it is blowing us right, or at least it is blowing me right. so I put my head down and just pushed for the last buoy and tried to not loose my day in the swim. I quickly exited the H20 with a swim time of 1:05. within 1 minute of what I had hoped for. I'll take it.

T1 6:00

I made a big mistake here, I over packed my T1 bag with crap because I wanted to be prepared for whatever the conditions threw at me. Well I had so much to choose from I couldn't decide. Finally I just said screw it and took off. This blunder cost me about 2 minutes that can be very valuable at the end of the day. I have missed qualifying by as little as :12 seconds.

The Bike: 5:22:00

So off onto the bike and my game plan was to hold as close to 22 mph as a could without blowing myself up into the 35-40 mph winds.

Patience was my theme for this leg of the race. It is impossible to convey the day out there on the bike if you where not there yourself, but when I spoke with Chrissie Wellington after the race she told me she felt like "she was standing still at points on the bike" The wind was out of the south, which meant that there was no real break from it the entire day. It was a cross wind for about 90 of the miles and a head wind for most of the remainder. I just stuck to my plan of patience until the last of three loops, and at this point just give it what I had for the last lap and get to the run. My nutrition was spot on as was my pacing, I actually rode my last loop stronger than my 2nd loop. Going into the day I had hoped to be right on 5:00, but I made a decision early on not to get bogged down by a number, and bike my ride, and not be upset with the windy conditions. I rode most of the race with one or both of the Folts brothers, who where also trying to save something for the run.

T2: 1:50

I was in and out as quick as possible. had to make up for T1!!!

The Run: 3:19.00

Ok let's face it! I am a runner, and always will be, but I have never been able to run anywhere near my potential for an Ironman marathon, mostly because of either pacing or nutrition issues.

I was determined to control both of the issues today, keep an even pace the entire 26.2, and not take in anything that I didn't absolutely need to eat or drink.

As I headed out onto the run I saw a good friend of mine (Marc Rubin), spectating and cheering me on, this was a huge lift right out of the blocks. You see Marc is a great guy and Kona Triathlete that has gone through some major knee surgeries and rehab issues for almost 30 weeks now, and hasn't ran a step in this time. It is killing him to not be racing, and I tried to channel his pain and energy and think about how much he has gone through and would be willing to go through if he could be out there with me.

So after a high five and a smile it was time to settle in and focus. The first loop was just about feeling good and staying on an even pace, (nothing faster than a 7:00 pace and nothing slower than 7:30) is what I keep telling myself. I found my wife, mother in law, and tons of super supportive friends at the best aid station on the course. PTC station at the marina. Thanks for the laughs Brian Kochert.(Damn Those shorts), Everyone at this aid station made me look forward to seeing them each of the three loops. Thanks Guys!! Even if I couldn't respond.

Anyway, back to the race. So I got through the first lap and headed out for number two, feeling still damn good and just flying by people. (The entire marathon I was actually passed by only 1 person). Running through one of my other favorite spots on the course was aid station #2 where once again I had lots of friends cheering me on and making sure I got everything I needed to be successful. Thanks to Shane and the crew. Now the second loop is always the hardest to stay focused and I fought extra hard to make sure I didn't drift from my "here and now". Back past the PTC aid station and through the transition area again, at this point I see Mary, Stella and several of my Triscottsdale friends cheering their asses off for me. Here I started to get a little emotional with myself, and had to actually yell out loud at myself to focus and get this thing done. Heading towards the 19 mile mark I had done a great job (for me), at managing my nutrition the best I have ever done. I had taken two hits off my 1st Endurance liquid Shot, drank water sparingly and took two Gas Ex's to keep the bloating under control. I could feel myself losing energy due to the lack of calories, so I decided to go for the Cola at 19 miles, just a little swig followed by water. Stomach not happy, but I needed the energy and got through it. Just keep pushing, every time I needed to pick up the pace I was able, it felt so good to actually be running still. Just get over the Curry St. hill one more time. Just as I was about to turn onto Curry st, I caught my foot on a crack in the curb and just about went down, now I realize that my legs are really getting tired, so for the first time all day (23 miles) I walked through the aid station so I could take in a full glass of Cola. The entire race and I only walked for 10 seconds, right here my good buddy Brandon jumps out of the bushes and tells me to get running, and I do. Thanks for the push Brandon, I needed it right there. I do what I will call run up Curry and then just start pumping the arms and working hard, back to the PTC aid station and my buddy Scoot Perrine tells me I am in eighth place, I am pretty sure that this would get me a slot to Kona if no one passes me. From here I totally hammer it with all I have left, no one is getting past me from here out, go with all you have and pass everyone you can, I am telling myself. At mile 25 I pass another great friend Julie Ann who is looking great and doing her first Ironman. I couldn't say anything at this point, but as I passed her she shouted out "I love you", she had been telling me for months how much she hated me for getting her inspired to do an Ironman, and now she was telling me she loved me! I knew it.

So, as I am running the last 1.2 miles I just keep looking for calfs and ages, I am so focused in leaving it all out there on the course and trying to bring anyone in my age group back if they are in front of me. As I made that last turn towards the finish line I could see one more guy ahead and just went for it, I couldn't tell his age, but wasn't taking any chances. About 25 yards from the line I realize he is a pro and just went ahead and passed him. On my right all I remember is seeing Mary and Stella just before hitting the line. From here I don't recall everything that happened because as usual I ended up in a wheel chair and totally in the hurt locker, big time!! From here Mary and good friend Maik took over and ushered me off the massage before the medics could take me to the Medic tent. About an hour later, I finally got my french fries that I look forward to after each Ironman finish.

Finish Time 9:55:00

I spent the hour after finishing mostly in the fetal position trying to keep warm. Once I thought I could actually walk again and was ready to make it back to the hotel I told Mary I wasn't leaving until I knew for sure that I had qualified for Hawaii. She disappeared for a few minutes and came back with the good news. We are heading back to Kona baby!!!

It is such a great feeling to know that all the suffering through 115 degree workouts day after day all summer long, and all the core workouts, and skipped cookies, and passed by beers, and early to bed, and early to rise days all paid off on the day I needed it to. What a huge relief, and utter happiness set in at that exact moment. Let's just say that each time I finish and Ironman, it changes me for the better.

In closing I really would like to thank everyone that makes it possible for me to chase my dreams. First and foremost

my unbelievable wife Mary, seriously without you there would be no Ironman in my life, you take care of me in only ways

that you and I will ever know. I love you!

Also thank you to each and every friend that encourages me each and every step of the process, and not just on race day. Thanks to my little girl Megan for telling me how much she loves me and thinks I am the best dad in the world everyday. Focus Cyclery for taking care of all my bike needs, RunAZ & Carlos Paradelo for allowing me the freedom to train, travel, and race. Surf Kat Massage for keeping my old muscles working, Triscottsdale for being a great sponsor and being so supportive out there. Phoenix Tri Club for really caring, you guys all rock, and I have made friendships that will last a life time. Julie Ann for training my ass and for help with the great cycle classes and core workouts you have provided to make me stronger this year.

Then there are the amazing performances from friends that inspire me and help drive me from day to day, Linsey, Samantha, Hillary& Maik, Michael & Amanda, Bree, BG, Sally, Bryan D, Marc R, & of course Chrissie. I channel each and everyone of you at different times while suffering. Mahalo!

It was a long day

awesome pic from Jeff Benintendi

Got that piece of paper.

2010 Ironman Canada race report

I'm going to skip straight to race morning:
Three alarms beeping at 3:50a.m.? Must be race morning.
Mary and I hop out of bed eager to get this thing on the road. I make my normal oatmeal and bagel breakfast, chase it with some h2o, and grab my morning clothes bag containing my swim gear and head out the door for transition.
Throw some water into my bottles on my bike, borrow a pump and top of my tires, and then head to Mary and her bike position. As we are starting to get colder we decide to dawn the wetsuits a bit earlier than normal so as to keep the heat in. We drop our bags in their spot and head off to the lake to get our positions and watch the pro field take off. The cannon blasts for the first time at 6:45am and the pros are off. We now have 15 minutes before our turn, and we are just excited to hear our cannon, and before you know it BOOM!!!

THE SWIM:
Just seconds before the cannon goes off I tell Mary to get in front of me, so that I could protect her for at least a few feet from getting pounded by some of the big guys at the front. My plan was to try to stay behind her as far as possible, well that last about 5 seconds and then I got REALLY rough. As Mary said we ended up being in a boxing match not a swim. It was probably the most beat up I have ever gotten in an Ironman start. After about 200 or so meters of this I decide to just go inside the buoys to try and find some open water, and this help some, when we hit the turn around boat/buoy, I was glad to be heading back towards land, but two things instantly hit me. One being some guys foot kicking me in the face and on my fixed collar bone, it really dazed me and my clavicle starting hurting instantly and I am thinking oh shit, I hope it didn't break again, but i have no choice but to keep going to shore. The second thing that hit me was a BONK, yep, I screwed up and didn't eat something 30 minutes to the swim start and I got that low sugar and energy feeling. Not good when you still have over 1800 meters of boxing/swimming left until you reach solid ground and food. I started wondering if this was going to be my worst swim ever, as nothing seemed to go as planned. When I finally reached the spot where I could stand I did, now normally I would keep swimming because it is faster to swim until your hand hits the bottom, but because i was bonking I was just happy to stand up and walk. As I looked at my watch it said 1:02;??, I was totally surprised, and once I exited the water and hit the timing mat it was 1:03:30. I will take that!! Not my fastest, not my slowest. on to T1 change tent. It was slower than normal because my bike was in the farthest back corner that your could be from the bike exit, and i had to pee, and figured I might as well go before getting on the bike for 112 miles.

THE BIKE:
Ok, finally off on the bike. Mary and I had a race plan, and I was going to stick to it. Basically go out one gear easier than I thought I could handle the first 40K until we hit the first of the big climbs (Richter Pass), and my plan worked to a tee, I spun up to the top, never standing up even once and just using patience, it was going to be a long day, and we still had the biggest climb over 100K away still. I bombed the descents, I was going to fast to actually look, but my bike computer said that at some point during the day I hit 76 mph!!! That could be wrong, because I was just pushing so hard with my head almost completely buried out of the wind i never really looked at my speed. The middle part off the bike was mostly rolling hills into a steady head wind.
Finally at mile 76 I was approaching the biggest climb of the day and ready to pull out the big guns and hammer it and everyone on it, and so it went. Just as I started the climb the skies opened up, the rain and hail started and the temps dropped big time. At this point though I am climbing and working hard as I am dropping people left and right. God this feels great, just a few more miles of climbing and then I get a nearly 40K descent straight into town and T2. I do a little calculation as I approach the crest of the mountain and I am clearly on pace to go about 5:15-5:19 on the bike and I am feeling very confident. so here we go baby, the best part of the entire race course straight down a mountain at the end of the bike leg. As I start descending all of a sudden i can not keep my bike on the road, I figure it is because I am going so fast and into a wind that I would just sit up a minute and get under control. Then I try again, and almost go over the edge of the road out of control, Now It dawns on me that I am shivering uncontrollably and I am not able to keep the bike on the road no matter what I did. No it is getting really scary, I sit up and hold onto my brake levers as hard as I can, but that still only slowed me to 16mph with wet carbon brake pads and I still could not stop shaking. I have several guys come by me and tell me I should pull over and warm up, but i know that this will not help, how will I warm up out here in the rain? It will just make this last longer. One super nice guy actually stops and rides next to me trying to talk me down. He tells me I look really bad and should consider stopping, he even volunteers to stay with me all the way back to town, but I told him to just go, I didn't want to screw up his day. It wasn't his fault that I lost 10lbs gearing up for this race and didn't have enough body fat to keep me from freezing! At this point I am in the worst place I have ever been in an Ironman, I have never been so close to DNF ever. It took all my will and inner voices to get me down that mountain. When I came into T2 finally after 16mph down hill for over an hour, I was shivering so bad that the medic staff grab me and tried to take me to their little tent, i had to fight with them to not make me go in there. They walked me to the change tent and I could not use my hands to change my gear, so they had to do it for me. They tell me it will take at least 25 minutes for them to warm me up seeing that I am hypothermic. I look at them and say no way, I am gone, and off I went doing something like running.

THE RUN:
So the medic runs through T2 with me saying I should come to his tent, but I keep running and out onto the road I go. Right away I realize two things, A-I can't feel my feet, B-My back is extremely tight. Both= not good! I have no sense of my pace at all, but figured just keep running and you will warm up at a minimum. We do the little mile out and back and before I know it I am on main st. and passed mile 2, and just focusing on getting this thing done. I realize at this point that me finish won't be the time that I had hoped for, but this was a training race anyway for IMAZ, so get some training in! I would say the first 6-7 miles went by pretty fast and I actually found myself running through the field, I had to make myself stay in control and have patience, just run the pace you trained for (7:30's). As I clicked off the mile for the first half of the marathon I was consistently hitting 7-7:25 pace, hell accidentally threw in a couple sub 7 miles. All was going as well as possible until about mile 14 when I started to bonk, I said to myself instantly OH SHIT! I forgot to eat. Damn it! See what happened was I was to cold to take in nutrition on the last hour+ of the bike, and because I was shivering so bad I actually used a lot of energy and calories up, then once I got off the bike I was so cold I couldn't even think about anything but getting warmed up. So when I hit mile 14 it had been about 3hrs since I last took in calories, and I should be taking them in every hour. So in my haste to fix this I started taking in gels, cola, soup, oranges, whatever they had. Well that was the end. Now by mile 16 my stomach stopped absorbing anything and I became bloated and nausea set it along with the stomach cramps. I started the run/walk think for the next several miles thinking that maybe my gut would clear and I would feel good again. Nope, not working at all. Finally I made it to mile 22 and though to myself: "ok, four stupid miles, you can do this", just about that time the cramps and bloating stepped up their games and it go even worse then before. Mile 22-23 was a 17minute mile. Ouch!!!! Between sitting, laying, bending over, walking, and even a couple feet of running, some how I made it to the 23mile marker. On a side note, the funniest thing happened along this mile, at one point and old lady sitting in a lawn chair yells over to me "would you like some company?, I will walk with you as far as you need me to". I of course said no, but thank you! so freakin awesome!!
Anyway, I hit that 23 mile marker and made a promise to myself that NO matter what I was running this bitch to the finish line. I had to talk myself through each and every step of that last 3.2 miles, but I got it done, and no walking. I was very much done when I hit the finish line as my finish line photo shows. i then spent the next hour laying on the ground wrapped in Mylar blankets trying to warm up and feel better. Thank you sooooooo much to Erika and Chris Mcclurg for taking such good care of me!!!

FINISH TIME: 10:44:37

The take away from this day was that I felt physically very strong! I am feeling very confident that IMAZ is going to be a successful day. I already have some promises of bikini clad hotties on the run course to keep me motivated!!!!

The hay is in the barn.

Well just finished up my last ride/run brick on my steed. It has now been sent off to Tribike Transport for its trip across the border to Canada EH!
We are at T-Minus 12 days til Ironman Canada, and feeling super fit. Can't wait for Mary and I to once again embark on the Ironman journey.
Ironman has become so much more in our lives then just a race. It has become almost "who we are", and I am good with that. We/I could be so many other things (not as positive).
Not only has IM made me a better person in so many ways, but It will always hold a very special place in our lives. We are coming up on our 1yr anniversary of Mary asking me to marry her at Ironman Wisconsin's finish line. (Sept 13th).
On our ride this morning I was commenting on how much has changed in one year. Last year at this time I could not swim/bike or run, I was not married, and I was so happy just to be able to race Kona & Clearwater. This year I have already turned down my Clearwater slot, and will also do the same for Kona (probably), if I earn one in Canada. The only way we will end up in Kona on Oct 9th 2010 is if Mary gets her slot in 12days. It will be somewhat sad this year to be watching Kona online and wishing I was there. It is so different now that I have been there. I now know I belong there, everyone that is anyone in Ironman will be there, but we won't. URGH!!!!
I am using this feeling as a fire in my belly to make sure that I get my slot for 2011. I will be back on the Big Island racing and not just surviving. Until then, we will add to the size of our engines and learn a little more about ourselves and this crazy ride called Ironman !!!