Woke at 3:30 and ate two bagels and had most of a bottle of Infinit. Went back to bed until about 5:00 and then headed down to the race course. Walked through transition to drop off my special needs bags, put bottles on my bike and make one last equipment check before walking down to the swim start.

I met up with Kenny and Jackie, fellow Team In Training alumni, right before the race started and we all went in the water together. After learning that our old coach was working the swim start, I had a good feeling this was going to be a truly epic day. We exchanged pre-race jitters, said a prayer and then began the 2.4 mile start of our journey.It was a long swim and the first time I had done the entire distance. Normally Ironman events start with all 2000 athletes treading water, anxiously waiting for the sound of a cannon. At that point the ‘washing machine’ starts up and the first 15 minutes becomes a frenzy of elbows and kicks to the head. Unique to Ironman Louisville only, the time trial start (one athlete at a time) significantly thinned the pack out from the start and made it easy to navigate around other swimmers.

I kept an easy consistent effort and focused more on a good breathing and sighting rhythm to conserve energy for the day ahead. I made it to the turnaround and headed back with the current expecting to pick up the pace a little bit. I stayed as close to the buoys as I could, but thought I was lost a few times because so many people were swimming way off course out in the middle of the river. About halfway through I started to get really hungry which surprised me a bit, but in hindsight didn’t feel that it impacted me over the course of the day. I continued my cruise until about two buoys to go and I could see transition, the crowds, and could hear the announcers and the music playing. I then started to wake up my legs; I even threw some backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke in there so I could say Ive done a 3800 meter IM!

Coming out of the water was like being born. The lights, the noise, people grabbing at you, yelling your name … it was really disorienting. I took a few slow steps onto solid ground, checked the time clock and broke into a trot towards T1. I saw my mom and dad who were working the changing tents, grabbed my bags and ran through my to do list for the transition to the bike. It was really helpful to have everything printed out in the specific order that I wanted to use each item. My dad was helping me and I had him read me the list, everything checked out OK, gave my momma a kiss and headed to pick up my bike.

The bike segment exceeded my expectations by almost 45 minutes. Renting Zipp 808 race wheels and getting lots of practice on the course played a large part of that. The other part was purely luck that my knee felt great and my saddle didnt hurt which normally cause me to stop a few times on long rides. I kept the cadence extra high, around 95 – 100 rpms and tried my best to let anyone who wanted to pass me go by. There were a few times where I got into a little bit of a game with people, but overall I did pretty good with convincing myself to slow down and ride my own race. Starting within the first 1/3 of the field and having a good swim time allowed me to have an open road ahead of me. The first lap through Lagrange was fairly wide open. Very little bike, or vehicular traffic allowed me to take things nice and easy.

The second lap was not as much fun. It started to heat up, the rest of the field was just now making their way into Lagrange and the roads got very congested. It was passable, but instead of just 1 or 2 wide in the road, we had 3 or 4 wide, plus cars which were trying to get through. At one point, some guys pulling a boat ended up stuck on the course trying to get out of everyones way, but they got swallowed up by impatient cyclists (me included) who sped around passing on both sides. Other than a few minor occasions, the traffic control was very good for a race of this size spread out over such a large area. I kept right on top (and maybe a little ahead) of my nutrition. I packed enough fluids for 6 hours, was drinking my 1 hour bottles in 45 minutes so I did get concerned I would run out before the end of the bike segment. I was getting a little hungry early on picked up some PowerBars to help. Once I finished a bottle of Infinit, I would pickup either water or Gatorade to ensure I was getting enough fluids as the heat really started to intensify in the 4th and 5th hour of the ride. I would take Endurolytes (salt tabs) every time I just took water by itself to ensure my sodium was staying at a high level. This part of the race was by far the most fun and I started to think … whats the big deal about Ironman anyways!

As I got back to downtown Louisville, I was on pace for another speedy transition from bike to run. I dumped everything out of my run gear bag, got my myself all done up and ready to head out and then I decided to check my list to make sure I had everything. It was only then that I noticed I hadnt touched the Body Glide. Running my first marathon without any extra protection on my feet was going to be an absolute disaster, so I had to take my shoes and socks back off, apply the Body Glide to my feet and then head back out. That certainly added to my slow transition time. That and going blind for a few moments from the sun screen people who blasted me in the eyes.

The sufferfest truly began on the run. I knew it would as the rest of the day had just gone too well. It was hot, my pace for the first half mile was waaay to fast and I had to really restrain myself to slow down. I started climbing the bridge, hit the aid station at mile one and decided to play it safe and take my first bathroom break of the day. Did the best I could with the light available in the Port-O-Let to see how well hydrated I was (aka look at the color of your pee, lighter the better) … turns out I was falling behind, so I opted for water or Gatorade at every stop no matter what. I carried 2x 2 hour bottles of Infinit with me and 15 salt tabs as my primary source of nutrition but with the heat, and the onset of dehydration I knew I was going to be taking a little bit of everything from the aid stations.

The first of the 13.1 mile laps was hard primarily because of the lack of shade. Getting my stomach to calm down was a bit of an issue as well. I started feeling a little sloshy in my attempt to catch up on fluids so I had to switch to only water every other stop. Then I started into a rotation of Infinit and water, Gatorade and water, water and salt tabs. This seemed to be providing me the right amount of fluids and calories. I kept cool with ice sponges, ice cubes down the front of the jersey and ice water over the head. This made for some squishy shoes!At the end of the first lap I was feeling OK. Stopped by special needs to pick up two more bottles of Infinit but ignored the dry socks, V8 and granola bars … none of that sounded appealing at the time. Heading for lap two you come right up to the finish chute and then bust a right turn at the last moment followed by an audible ‘awwwww’ from the crowd as you go.

We got a little break from the direct sun for the second lap, but it was every bit as hot. The walk breaks started to get longer and longer as the day ran on. My brother found me at a few points on the course to give me some encouragement along the way. This was a big help, somehow I always seemed to be running when he found me … didnt catch me during any of those walk breaks! I started to get a bit delirious at times, getting a bit confused and irritated at the volunteers shoving everything in your face as you passed through the aid stations. I realized about mile 15 this was my ‘come to Jesus moment’ that I had heard about. I knew my body was starting to revolt and my mind would have to carry me in the rest of the way. I moved to two Gatorades at each stop to make sure I was getting hydrated. My mood immediately improved by the next mile. A few bathroom breaks would confirm a dip in my hydration coinciding with my mood swing. As mile 16 clicked by, this was the first time I realized that I was going to become an Ironman. I started to pick the pace up a little bit attempting to finish really strong and was quickly greeted with 2 miles of reminders that I still had 10 miles left to go.

The ice bath, nutrition, hydration rotation continued as I willed my way through the next few miles. As I made the turn for home with 6 miles left I realized that I was going to smash my goal time even though the walk breaks were getting increasingly longer. As I approached the last time check with about 1.8 miles to go I realized the quicker I got to the finish, the quicker I could stop all this nonsense so I decided now was the time to drop the hammer. I dropped the pace from the 10:15 / mile Ironman shuffle to a 8:30 / mile drive for home. I was just as surprised by everyone around me the amount of energy I was able to muster up for this last stretch. The crowd was taken back when they learned I was on my second lap blazing a trail to the finish and they started to really get behind me. As I ran faster, they cheered louder and louder so I ran faster and faster! This continued until I could see the final two turns toward the finish. I left everything I could out on the course and soaked up every ounce of this journey. The finish chute was like walking up to the Pearly Gates, and by that point in the race I couldnt have told you the difference. Thousands of screaming fans pouring their energy in, begging you to cross that finish line. The icing on the cake was my mom and dad were finish liner catchers which made crossing into Ironman glory that much more special.