I won’t be writing about my trip tonight. I learned this morning while driving that my best friend Chris passed away last night from injuries he’d suffered in a cycling accident last weekend. Chris was a tremendous husband and father to Stephanie, Katie and Lizzie and a great friend to so many people. He was a coach, a teacher and a mentor to me but most importantly he was a remarkable friend. We will all miss him incredibly. Rest in peace my good friend.

Day 2: Davison Michigan – Alta Vista Iowa Today was going to be the longest drive of the trip because there is basically nothing to see or stop for driving from Michigan to Iowa except farmland to I just wanted to lay down lots of miles. See what I did there? Miles. Not kilometres. Welcome to 'Merica. Up at 5:30 to be on the road by 6:00. One challenge though. The light in the tiny restroom (see what I did there? Getting acclimated to the language) in the RV wouldn't turn on. Now most people would call the renter and have the problem resolved. However, there are certain factors that prevented me from doing that. 1) I'm male. 2) I'm an RF engineer and believe I can solve any problem. 3) I'm male. So rather than have an elderly lady come and show me how to turn on a light I showered and shaved in the dark. First stop was the gas station to fill up. Benefit #1 of being in Merica ...... the tank was near empty and I'm used to putting in about $75 worth. Today's cost ..... $38.50. Yay! Drawback #1 of being in 'Merica ...... there's $36.50 I can put towards health care. Today was a lot of driving and rain and fog and rain and driving with not much interesting scenery but something I did notice, many dead deer. But not a single Deer Crossing sign. Stupid deer. There's no sign. Only cross at the signs. About 3 hours into the drive I saw that I didn't have any cell coverage. A half hour, hour, 2 hours later and still no coverage. I'd gotten this prepaid SIM specifically because when I checked the coverage map they showed that at a minimum they had call coverage if not data for most of my route. Not. I was still in a relatively civilized part of the country and had no coverage. I can't imagine that travelling through South Dakota, Wyoming or Montana would magically produce a signal. So I began looking for a Best Buy to get a replacement. My GPS directed me to a mall with one, I parked and of course the store was at the complete opposite end of the mall. First thing I had to do before starting the trek was hit the restroom. Now most guys are familiar with and follow the restroom urinal protocol. For you women that aren't .... let me explain. When selecting a urinal a guy should, if at all possible, leave at least a single urinal spacing between themselves and anyone else. I went into the restroom, there were 3 urinals and all 3 were vacant. Protocol dictates that I select #1 or #3 because if I selected #2 and someone came in then the single urinal spacing regulation would be violated. So I went to #1. A few seconds later someone came in and contrary to the protocol selected #2. Well that pissed me off. But what really concerned me was that he kept looking over at me every couple of seconds. Violating the protocol is one thing. Getting friendly initiates the stop and go response. Whether you're done or not you stop and go. Apparently people in Iowa are rather friendly. I ran to Best Buy. So I got a replacement SIM and got on the road again. I got to tonight's accommodation and as I mentioned earlier, there's nothing but farmland in Iowa so ...... I'd booked a ranch style farmhouse to stay at.

I went inside and it was like stepping into the 60's. It was awesome. Wood panelling, 60's furniture, tiffany lamps AND a 20” RCA color console TV.

Three problems quickly materialized. TV only showed static, no wifi key and cell coverage that only appeared every 5 minutes and only lasted 5 seconds so I couldn't call the owner. What to do? Get in the truck and drive until you find coverage. Three miles down the highway. The owner had given me 2 different numbers and I called 1 and left a message. Went back to the house and waited for her to show up but no luck. Back into the truck, 3 miles down the highway and called the other number. I left another message and drove back to the house. A few minutes later the owner arrives and proceeds to tell me that the first number I'd called was her cell phone but coverage in the area was pretty bad. Ya no guff Gertude. Which begs the questions 1) If cell coverage is bad then how are people supposed to contact her If needed? Wouldn't a home phone come in handy? 2) Why would she give me her cell number to call in the first place? and 3) Why even bother having a cell phone in this thriving metroplois, population 259. The area is great and its exactly the type of place I wanted to stay in, typical of the locale, but sometimes I really wonder how some people survive. She got the TV going, it had to be set to channel 00 to work. Hmmm, a note would have helped. She gave me the wifi key ..... 12345678. Hmmm, a note would have been helpful. But really, on this one I blame myself. A few attempts and I likely could have cracked that DaVinci Code.

Day 1: Markham Ontario – Davison Michigan The day has FINALLY arrived. I get to join Tammy and the pups and begin the next chapter. I didn't need to wake up early but it was a restless sleep for a variety of reasons, the main one being that I'd given away what little furniture I had to Brendan and Jen and therefore ended up sleeping in a sleeping bag on the hardwood floor. Needless to say I've had better sleeps. I had some final packing to do and a couple of errands, did all that then headed off to Woodbine Racetrack. Ya, I figured since I'm moving to the gambling capital of the world I'd get some practice in losing money. It was either gamble away the last few Canadian dollars I had or convert it to U.S. Dollars which would been the near same net effect. But actually we'd had a work team event pre-scheduled there a few months back and it was going to double as a going away for me. A buffet lunch was included and considering that buffets are a staple in Vegas it was pretty ironic that my last meal in Canada was a buffet. At first I felt a little ripped off because I don't eat lunch but I thought that I was going introduce the team to Buffet Niko. Tammy can vouch for Buffet Niko. He gets his money's worth. Anyway my “Canadian Cash Dispersal” plan worked out perfectly, 3 races, $50 in bets, zero wins. Maybe I should avoid the casinos in Vegas. Ryan on the other hand, I found out later, walked away up $360!! Well after I lost everything I said my goodbye's, took a couple of group pictures and headed out.

I have to say that it's been an emotional roller coaster lately and especially today. I've been bouncing around between the joy and excitement of finally being with Tammy to the sadness of leaving friends and family to the exhilaration of not having to be at work on Monday morning (just kidding boys) to the deep sadness of leaving one of my best friends and training partner Chris without being able to say goodbye as he's been in the hospital since last weekend after a very serious cycling accident. Thoughts are with Chris and his family. So I get on to highway 427 and within minutes I find myself planted firmly in stop and go traffic. Exiting onto highway 401 produces a change. I'm now fully entrenched in stop and no go traffic. It's as if Toronto's road infrastructure is giving me a final slap in the face. I'll miss many things but driving the 401 and DVP will not be one of them. Traffic finally cleared up and I got moving and started making good time. I had a couple of Tim Horton's gift cards and about $5 in change so that was going to be dinner. I made a quick pit stop there and headed for the border. Customs was actually pretty painless. I was prepared all kinds of things including a full body cavity search, being questioned in a dark room with a single spotlight blinding me so I couldn't identify my investigator, Chinese water torture. But the scariest question I got was “how long have you been married?” I almost blanked out. Sorry honey. But then again you can't remember either. All my paper work was checked and approved. My truck was approved for import and I was officially and legally in Merica. I got back on the highway and made way for my first stop. The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful except for a dead deer at the side of the road that had been hit by a car. Well uneventful for me but fairly eventful for the deer. About an hour later my GPS directed me on to a secondary road and then on to a gravel road to where i would spend the night.

So I have booked stays for the entire trip but have decided to avoid hotels and motels and located places off the beaten track and somewhat different or typical of the locale. My first night was to be spent in a recreational vehicle.

It's located in a beautiful setting in a stand of trees overlooking a small lake. And it's got wifi and it's got Direct TV so I could watch the hockey game. Unfortunately the Rangers, which I'd bet on to win the Cup, lost and were eliminated. Man I suck at this gambling thing. Whatever possessed me to move to Las Vegas. Tammy please keep me away from the casinos. Hmmmm ...... I wonder if I can hot wire this RV and drive it the rest of the way to Vegas?

And so my second iron distance triathlon is in the books. For a while though it seemed like it might not even get started. We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning, gathered our baggage and my bike and the rental car and headed north along the coast to Lloret de Mar where we’d rented a villa and would spend the next 10 days. I was a little disappointed in the weather as it was overcast and cooler than I’d expected but not nearly as bad as what was coming over the next couple of days. We slept in Friday and when we finally got going we spent the afternoon touring around one the old coastal towns, Tossa de Mar, and worked our way south to Calella where the race was being held. Registration, bike and bags drop off and race briefings were going to be held the next day and I wanted to locate where they would be as well as find transition and the swim start area. The weather had been kind of gloomy all day but now the winds started kicking up. I mean really kicking up. Wind speeds of around 35-40 km/h with gusts probably up to 60 km/h. In my experience when the wind speeds get crazy they tend to stick around for a few days. Anyway we decided to get some dinner and found a nice place where I started my carbo loading by having a nice big bowl of pasta and most of a baguette. We asked the waiter for some directions to where the race briefings would be held and left to try and find the spot. While out looking we ran into a couple from Italy of which the husband was doing the race for his fourth time. He told us where all the locations were, we chatted for a bit and then wished each other good luck for the race. I wet my finger and stuck it up in the air to check the wind and it was nearly ripped off. Maybe it was my imagination but the wind seemed to be getting stronger. Saturday morning I got up early to build the P3. It was another gloomy, cool day but the winds had settled down a bit ....... probably only around 25 km/h now but it was still early. I packed the P3 into the back of the car and we headed into Calella to register, drop off the bike and attend the race briefing. And now it started to rain. Just a bit at first but by the time we got to town it was pretty much torrential. And it wasn’t letting up. We found a parking spot and headed to registration where I signed up and got my race kit with the usual bib, number stickers for my bike and helmet, coloured transition bags and swim cap. This is when I was told that because of the weather there’d be no bike drop off today. I’d have to bring the bike in Sunday morning ....... race day. I ran into my friend from Italy again and exchanged a few words and we wished each other luck before heading to the race briefing with Tammy. The briefings were split up into different times for different languages and we got there about a half hour before the English briefing so while Tammy hung around to stay dry I took off back to the expo to find some CO2 cartridges. I found the cartridges, bought 3, raced back to the briefing and got there just as it started. It was mostly typical and uneventful except for at one point where the Spanish guy doing the briefing got pissed at an English fellow who had asked a question which had been covered earlier and then didn’t pay attention to the answer being given. Europeans can sure be fiery. Once again we were told that there’d be no bike drop off and that transition bags could be brought back that afternoon/evening or race day morning. This whole time the rain hadn’t let up at all. All in all it rained 40 mm and we later found out that 8 people had died in flooding in southern Spain on Saturday. We returned to the villa where I assembled my transition bags and then drove back to Calella to drop them off while Tammy stayed there. I figured the morning might get pretty hairy with everyone dropping off bikes and bags so I wanted to get my bags delivered and out of the way. The rain thankfully had let up some but I had no idea if it might start up again, end or what it would do. After dropping off my bags I first went to transition to find my spot and familiarize myself with the entrances and exits and then headed down to the beach to the swim start area. The Mediterranean was not happy. Decent sized swells and breakers crashed on the beach and I turned and walked away thinking “Oh Yay”. I drove back to the villa where Tammy cooked up some pasta and threw together a salad. I had a couple of bowls with more bread and we settled down and watched an episode of Game of Thrones of which I’d brought along seasons 1 and 2 on my laptop. We got hooked and watched an episode every night we were in Spain. We headed to bed early but I knew there’d be little sleep that night. The nerves and anxiousness hit and just got worse as all I could think of was huge winds and monster swells and waves and being pulled out of the water by the lifeguards. I may have gotten 1-2 hours of pretty restless sleep. Race morning. Get up, go through the usual routine, bathroom, some coffee, bathroom, hydrate, get my kit on, bathroom, put together my post race clothes bag, bathroom, put on a top layer to keep warm and off to the race. Parking was hard to find and we ended up in an underground lot a bit of a distance from transition but the walk was good to help settle me down a bit. We got in a slow moving line and made our way to transition entrance where I left Tammy and went in to set up. I found my spot and racked the P3, applied some body glide and started getting my wetsuit on. I got it on up to my waist and headed back to where I’d left Tammy to give her the morning clothes I’d worn over my kit. I told her I’d meet her over on the beach and got in line for the port-o-potty. One last bathroom visit. I made my way towards the beach where I found Tammy and we hung around waiting for the race to begin. The winds had significantly decreased and were only about 10 km/h and the clouds were breaking up and blue sky was starting to show. Thank you triathlon weather gods. My eyes however were fixed on the water ....... swells and breakers, no change from the night before. I finished putting on my wetsuit making sure the sleeves were pulled up and there was no tension in the shoulder area to tire my arms out. I’d learned a lot from my 3 previous races this season, especially when it came to the swim and I was hoping to put it all in use for the race. The pro men went off at 8:15 am and after that I kissed Tammy and headed off. The swim start was made up of 2 corrals and a start

area. While one wave was on the beach ready to go the next wave would be in the 1st corral and the wave after that in the 2nd corral. Great in theory except the starts were 3 minutes apart which wasn’t enough time to get competitors through 1 corral to the next and onto the beach. I kind of figured this out and pushed my way through to get to the beach just a few seconds before the horn. Into the angry sea. I’ve since learned that wind or lack thereof has very little to do with sea/ocean conditions. I ran through the crashing waves only to realize that the beach fell sharply. A couple of strides and the water was almost up to my neck. I dove into the swell and let the madness begin. I was in an early wave, Men 45 and over, so there were a lot of guys in the wave. There was plenty of churning water and arms and elbows and feet but for the most part I avoided a lot of contact. I did get a couple of smacks to the head but I’m pretty sure I delivered some as well. Unintentionally of course. I’d studied the swim course in the weeks leading up to the race and I knew all the distances between turns and intermediate buoys and during my training at the pool whenever I reached a specific distance I imagined myself at that spot or turning point on the course. I think this imaging during training really helped me out there. The first 200 m were straight out to the first buoy followed by a right turn. I kept myself under control making sure not to let my adrenaline get the better of me and tire myself out right away. We swam almost directly into the swells which made it a bit of tough going but got to the first turn unscathed and feeling good. 200 m done. The next stretch was 1450 m long and 3 buoys approximately 480 m apart. As opposed to Louisville where I had no idea how far I’d swam after the turnaround at the island I could now more or less keep track of distances. This was a big help for me. Now being in an earlier wave has advantages and disadvantages. Being early meant that there would always be swimmers around me and I wouldn’t have to sight as often. I just either found someone swimming at my pace or followed the heads and arms all around me. This also was a big help for me. On the other hand, being a slow swimmer meant that I’d have later waves catching me and I’d have momentary madness as they passed. I was very composed though. In Louisville I’d get distressed when swimmers smacked my calves and feet thinking “what the F*%#!” but in Barcelona I didn’t let it bother me and told myself it’s all part of the race, deal with it. I counted down the buoys, got to the next turn at 1650 m, swam another 100 m to the third turn and made my way home. 1750 m done. 4 buoys to the final turn, another 1750 m. After swimming a few minutes I realized that I was now swimming fairly directly into the swells. While it was getting tougher to swim against them I wasn’t really getting that much more tired. It was harder but sustainable. I also realized that I was cold. Really cold. Even though I had my wetsuit on I found the water was freezing and whether it was coincidence or not my calves started to cramp on me. No big deal I told myself, deal with it and keep swimming. And I did. I’d flex my ankles when I felt a cramp coming on which would make my legs drop lower but I never stopped stroking. I counted the buoys down ...... 1, 2, 3, 4 ...... the final turn and 300 m to the beach. Now this should have been a breeze. 300 m with the swells to my back pushing me home. Not the case. These last 300 m never wanted to end. The swells were no help as when I got to the crest of a swell I’d “fall backwards” into the trough. I felt like I was swimming forward 10 m and then “falling backwards” for 5 m. After what seemed like way longer than it should take me to swim 300 m I reached the beach but the sea was not done with me. A steep climb out of the water combined with my feet sinking in the sand and the water rushing back from the beach forced me on my hands and knees to crawl up and out. I could imagine Tammy giggling as she watched me struggling to get out of the water and when she asked me if I was ok as I ran up towards the change tent I gave her a thumbs up but she kind of knew I was cursing inside. 1 hour 37 minutes. I was hoping to be around 1 hour 30 minutes but considering the conditions I was happy with my time. I started stripping off my wetsuit and by now I was pretty cold. In anticipation of a cold ride I’d bought a long sleeve top layer the day before and thrown it in my T1 bag. I got to my spot and started changing and hummed and hawed on whether to wear it or not and even though by this point I was shivering I decided against it. The day had cleared up nicely, the sun was out and I was afraid of overheating on the bike. That and I’d spent big bucks on my “Canadian kit” and damn it I wanted to show it off. I hoped I hadn’t made a huge mistake and took off minus the long sleeves and hoped that as I dried off and the day got warmer I’d be ok. I grabbed my bike and took off. The bike course was a 3 kms ride through the streets of Calella out to the main highway for 3 loops (2 loops of 71 kms and 1 loop of 32 kms) and then the final 3 kms back to transition. The streets leading out of town were fairly narrow so the drafting rule had been removed for this portion. So here we are riding 3 abreast, me on the far left and out of nowhere I see some idiot spectator on the road with his back to the riders walking right in our path. I have no idea what he’s thinking but the 2 riders to my right slow down as he’s walking from our left to right and directly in front of them but as I pass him I give him a shove in the back and even though I didn’t take a look behind me I’m pretty sure he pulled a “Simon Whitfield” into the curb. What a way to start the ride. I made my way through Calella to the first of many roundabouts and settled in for the next 177 kms. The winds were much calmer than the past couple of days but there was still a pretty good little breeze into our faces out of the south. Even though, I managed to keep a pretty good average speed heading out on loop 1, close to 31 km/h and was encouraged that I’d have the wind at my back coming in. At the turn around I picked up my speed and averaged about 34 km/h for an average of 32.5 km/h on my first loop. Thankfully I’d dried off and had warmed up by this point. We had to climb up to the crest of a hill and then head back down the other side to the roundabout to start the second lap and it was like being in the Tour de France.

Both sides of the highway were lined with people 3 deep heading up and then back down the hill all cheering like crazy. The adrenaline kicked in and I got up out of my saddle and powered past several riders on the way up the hill to cheers of “Go Canada!”. I raced down and around the roundabout and back up the hill out of my saddle again. When I crested the hill and started back down the other side to begin loop 2 I decided that there’d be no more of that on loop 3. I’d let adrenaline get the better of me and my legs were now reminding me I had another 106 kms to ride. The wind seemed to have picked up a bit and I found it harder to keep my average speed up and was regularly dropping below 30 km/h. At least I hoped it was the wind and not my legs giving out. I made it to the turnaround in fairly good shape and headed back to complete loop 2 and was able to pick up my speed a bit as well. My legs were still there. My average speed dropped on the second loop but I was still maintaining a decent overall average. As I approached the loop 2 turnaround to begin loop 3 I reminded myself to “keep it under control” and not get crazy again. By this point though my legs were dictating pace and they said “in the saddle, steady up, coast down, roundabout, steady up, go hard down to start loop 3”. My legs can be smart sometimes. Now as I understood it this bike course was supposed to be pretty flat. Not so much. It definitely wasn’t crazy hilly but the first 16 kms of each loop were made up of about 5-6 long climbs. A couple of them had some decent elevation gain too. So, we did three loops which included these 16 kms twice on each loop for a total of 96 kms of hills. Well crap, that’s more than half the bike course. Loop 3 was 32 kms long, essentially 16 kms of hills, turn around and do them again. Like I said, nothing crazy but after 145 kms of riding these hills felt fairly hard. Needless to say my average speed also suffered and I ended up finishing the ride with an average speed of 31.2 km/h at 5 hours 44 minutes. Try as I might I couldn’t avoid having to stop for a bathroom break and that also added about 3 minutes. The ride through Calella back to transition was clear of any idiots this time and I even got to see Tammy and waved like crazy to her. Into transition, racked the bike and into the change tent. I switched into my run gear, stopped for a bathroom break and headed out for the run. I went through an aid station right away and started my routine of grabbing water and 2 gels. About 500 m into the run I spotted Tammy on an overpass waved to her and settled in. Right away the hurt started. My knee started to hurt, my toe and outside of my foot were not happy at all and my quads reminded me that going hard on the bike results in a price to pay later. I settled in at a comfortable pace of about 5:25 min/km but I would go downhill from there. My cardio felt great as it had the whole day and if it wasn’t for my legs I could have run that pace most of the run. I ran next to a couple of guys for about 2 kms but they fell off and I ended up running on my own. One of the things I didn’t like was that the aid stations were 2.5 kms apart. Almost a full km further than normal but I just had to deal with it. The run course was 4 loops of 10.5 kms which meant you had to go through the finish area 3 times before finally turning down the finish chute on the fourth loop. If you thought Louisville was bad this was downright depressing. I did my first loop in just under an hour which would have been great if I could have maintained that pace but my legs didn’t agree with that race strategy. Loop 2 was 1 hour and 12 minutes and by the end of the second loop I was now walking the aid stations. Part way through loop 3 I met my Italian friend again and he was suffering with stomach problems. He was walking when I came up to him but he started to run next to me as I passed him. His pace was slow but by this time so was mine. He must have really been hurting because he was still on his 2nd loop and I knew he was in for a long night. We stuck together for most of that loop, walking the aid stations and a bit beyond now but at one point he motioned me on and he began to walk. I wished him good luck and went off on my own. Through the finish area one more time knowing the next one would be my turning down the finish chute. The finish area was amazing with grandstands on 2 sides and tons of cheering spectators and loud music. You had to run down one side, make a turn and run back up and out if you were doing another loop or turn into the finish chute if you were done. It sucked not being done but I did see Tammy in the stands cheering me on and this gave me a boost for the final loop. Loop 3 was about 1 hour and 20 minutes. The last loop was dark, lonely and painful. Since the 3rd loop my stomach would not take in much water so I took small sips just make sure I was getting fluids and kept forcing down gels. I wasn’t dehydrated because I had to stop to pee twice so I figured that was a good sign but by sticking to water only I wasn’t getting my electrolytes and that would soon end up being bad. I didn’t want to take any sports drink because I was afraid it would upset my stomach. Thankfully I’d taken my Imodium on the bike and that worked great. No repeat of the “Louisville incident” this year. I kept counting down the kms and with 1 km left I picked up my pace and made my way towards the finish area. As I entered the grandstand adrenaline took over but this time I didn’t suppress it. I charged to the end of the turnaround, ran back and turned into the finishing chute. Tammy was right there extending a high 5 which I returned and I busted for the finish line. 12:34:08.

I crossed the line with my arms raised, accepted my medal and felt that I’d redeemed myself from Louisville. There was always that lingering bit of unfinished business. I stood there a while waiting to see if Tammy would come down to join me as in the Challenge series you’re allowed to run through the finish line chute with family. I kind of half expected Tammy would be there waiting to finish with me. I couldn’t see her so I moved around looking for her in the grandstand without any luck all the while thinking, “Hmmm I’m feeling OK. No dizziness, no nausea”. I looked around some more, went and picked up my t-shirt and finally spotted her outside the finish area behind the fence. I walked over and she gave me a big hug and I was still thinking “Hey. I feel OK”. She took a quick video where I flashed a thumbs up, held up my medal and blew her a kiss and the next thing I remember I’m looking straight up from the ground and Tammy is asking me if I know my name and a medic is bringing me around. WTF? They help me sit up and eventually stand up and the medic helps me to the medical tent. Now I’m feeling dizzy. Now I’m feeling nauseous. So much for “Hey. I feel OK”. I’d scared the crap outta Tammy as she’d thought I’d had a stroke. There was no questioning by the doctors this time, it was straight to intravenous. One bag later the doctor said I could sit up and when I was ready I could go. Me, I was sceptical. I knew this would be at least a 2 bagger. So I sat up for a bit and after a few minutes stood up to go. I reached the tent exit and made a u-turn. No way Doc, I need more. They took my blood pressure again and the doctor said “Hook him up again”. This time though they also brought over a portable ECG machine and wired me up. They checked my heart and gave me a thumbs up there but after IV bag number 2 and another blood pressure check the doctor said “Top him up with another bag”. These were smaller bags than in Louisville though so 3 of them would equal 2 from Louisville. In the mean time Tammy set off to gather my transition bags and bike and brought them all back to the med tent. What a stud. After the 3rd bag I was feeling good and was ready to go but everyone kept asking if I was sure I was OK. I was more than OK, 3 IV bags will do that to you. So we headed out and back to the car, packed up everything and drove back to the villa. I had a small bowl of pasta from the night before and passed out till 1:00 pm the next day. I guess I needed some rest.

Miami 70.3 Race Video

Justin's Race Report

I don't remember how exactly I ended up getting on this road to Miami, but I am pretty sure someone tricked me into it! After many months, hundreds of miles, and a whole lot of complaining (sorry to Nick and Chris who heard it the most) it is finally over. This past Saturday Nick and I finished our goal race Miami 70.3 - It began in the dark. When I arrived at my transition area to setup and I couldn't see much. I knew what I had to do but the paranoia that I forgot something was really making me nervous and got my stomach turning. This is actually something that I was hoping for, a good cleaning out before the race. Two problems: one - the line to the 7 porta-potties was about a 30 minute wait, and two - there appeared to have been a shortage of TP. This was the first glitch in what proved to be a very interesting day. After sorting out this first issue I went to say goodbye to my cheering section/support crew comprised of my dad and went to find Nick and start moving towards race start. Now normally I would have started my race at 7:20, but since I opted to use my wet-suit they moved me to a new, 'wet-suit wave' starting at 8:00. This was a big decision for me - to wear or not to wear (a wet-suit that is). Wearing it would mean that if things went bad in the race, I would have 40 minutes less to complete to it. After some convincing from Nick that I wouldn't need that extra time I decided to go ahead. After being forceably thrown into the water to get ready for my wave start I was feeling good and ready to swim. The guys around me didn't look as threatening as the 25-29 age group crowd that I was supposed to be with so I was not too nervous. After the gun sounded I was off, and quickly found myself getting ahead of the other wet-suit people and catching up to the other swimmers. So far, so good. I rounded the first buoy, and when trying to sight the second one I ended up swallowing a gulp of salt water which almost resulted in me losing my breakfast. And on top of that I couldn't even find the next buoy, or the one after that. 3 buoys over 1900m is not enough. Long story short, the swim went well after I decided just to follow the crowd. I finished in about 44min and ranked about 555 out of over 3000 which I was pretty happy about. Onto the bike. Man I was feeling great for the first 45k, then after a quick stop at the turnaround to check to see if I had any penalties I started back on down the course. But something was missing... I was starting to run out of liquid and realize that the empty pickup truck and tables I passed a few km back was the second aid station... but it was apparently closed for business. Unbelievable, 1/3 aid stations does not actually exist. Despite this I am pleased with myself for not listening to Nick, and taking an extra energy drink on my bike from the get go. Even with this extra bottle, I am running very low by the time I hit the third aid station. I see a traffic jam as I approach, and as I get to the tables I quickly find out there is nothing but melted ice and bottles thrown on the ground. I yell for water and they give me a bottle with no lid, full of disgusting water from a garbage can. The clock is ticking so all I can do is ask for a cap for the bottle and take the vile liquid. The volunteer picks up a cap off the street and hands it to me - gee, thanks. The rest of the bike is against a strong headwind and my legs are starting to hurt, especially my right hamstring. I am starting to feel really low. The kms are passing very slowly and just to make things even better, Nick FINALLY passes me yelling 78kms! How ya feeling!? I'm pretty sure he was so happy and charged up that he caught me that he took off before I even could answer! Ok, finally the bike was over, I made it - took about 3:15 which was not bad considering the conditions. In transition my dad was waiting for me and had a nice cold bottle of water waiting! Thanks Dad! I used the warm ones that I left on my mat to hose myself down with and got ready to run. As I was almost ready to go my dad said "So it'll take you about 2 hours?" ummm no... not even close! I was still feeling low from the end of the bike, and knew what was waiting for me - 21.1km of running, and the cherry on top (or should I say the 8 cherries on top) was that I had to run across a long, steep bridge EIGHT TIMES. I have to admit I had my doubts that it could be done, but I managed to run up the bridge about 6/8 times. Not too bad. Overall the run was ok despite the intense heat, and with a combination of running and walking I made it. The first time I came into the home stretch it was misery, this was a two loop course and not being able to hit that finish line, with the crown cheering was heartbreaking. I was forced to go left to the turnaround instead of right to the finish. About an hour and a half later the finish was finally in sight and I rushed the line! I easily overtook a few old people and crossed the finish. Waiting there for me was my coach and training partner who gave me a Big 10 (up top!) and sweaty man-hug! And that was that... now its time to forget the triathlon world for at least a couple of weeks. So leave me alone about Louisville until at least mid November! (You know who you are). Thanks to all who have supported this crazy endeavor of mine especially my riding buddy Chris who taught me that 'Spinning is Winning'; Lisa, who let me train without too much grief - even on those rare days that we in the same city; my local cheering section (dad) who supported me all weekend during the race and for everything else; and finally thanks to Coach Niko who taught me everything I needed to know about training and racing - even about nutrition if you can believe it - which was more of a 'do as i say, not as i do' kind of thing, without his help, I never would have made it. That's the report, see you next year!

Niko's Race Report

Before I begin my ranting, which I've been known to do occasionally, I have to tell everyone how immeasurably proud I am of Justin for his accomplishment at Ironman Miami 70.3 this past weekend. We'd developed a race and nutrition plan for him to follow and he followed it perfectly and performed awesomely on race day. And when you take the brutal conditions we had to race in (more about that below) into consideration it was an even greater accomplishment on his part. Well done Justin, you ran an incredible race and should be extremely proud of yourself. I know I am.

And now on to my experience. From the moment we signed up for this race back in December 2009 my excitement started growing in anticipation of this past weekend. There were always concerns and questions. Was I training correctly? Training enough? Would my groin hold up? How would my recent bout with pneumonia affect me? Answers would only become evident on race day. But there were also positives and high points that gave me confidence throughout my training. Two great race performances and results in Solana Beach and Los Angeles, great training days during the summer and amazing training partners in Chris and Justin that made the going that much easier. But as race day approached there was some growing concern. Not so much for participating but for the race organization itself. Normally the race organizers deliver all kinds of information to the athletes about pre-race activities and logistics that make the athlete's lives a little easier for race day. None of that was being made available to us for Miami until a few days before race day. We flew out Thursday to Fort Lauderdale and drove to Pompano Beach where we'd rented a 3 bedroom house for a week. Our group included Tammy and Justin's dad, Peter. The first thing to greet us was a big green iguana in the backyard but he didn't hang around long and we haven't seen him since. We settled in and Justin and I set off to assemble our bikes. Once we finished that we relaxed for the rest of the day. Friday was registration, the expo and bike and gear drop off. We headed into Miami with our bikes and gear that we were to leave in transition accompanied by our official support crew/photographers, Tammy and Peter. It was great to have them along on the trip not only for their support but they also took care of all the little things that you just wish you didn't have to deal with when you're trying to get ready for a race. They made life easier for both of us. Registration had an air of excitement about it. We lined up to get our one day USAT racing license and pick up our timing chip and swag bags as Tammy and Peter hung on to our bikes. Afterwards we wandered around the expo and purchased some things while we waited for athlete race briefing. At the briefing they went over the rules and courses and then hit us with "There won't be any racked T1 and T2 bags or a changing tent, you'll have your own transition area". Typically at Ironman races you place your biking gear into one bag and your running gear into another bag and they're hung on racks in the transition area. As you finish one element of the race you run into transition, grab the appropriate bag and head to the changing tent to put on your gear on and head out to the next element. Now we would have to have everything set up at our spot where our bikes would be. No big deal other than I didn't bring my transition bag because I didn't think I'd need it. I wasn't happy but I'd make do. We were then told that the athletes that wanted to wear wetsuits would be moved out of their original waves and placed into a "wetsuit wave" which would start at the end of all the waves. Swimming is not my strength so I opted to wear one as did Justin even though I didn't think he needed to because he's a very good swimmer but it would be neat to start together. This moved me from a 7:08 am start and Justin from a 7:20 am start to a 7:48 am start. We left the expo and headed over to where the transition area was so we could drop off our bikes. Even though the area was supposed to be open at 10:00 am it didn't open till around noon and there was a nice sized crowd going in. Apparently they were still setting up bikes racks. Really? The day before the race and the bikes racks weren't ready? Well it gets worse. During the night they had to move some racks around so they removed the bikes from them, moved the racks and replaced the bikes. Only they lost one lady's bike. Oh my God! I would have been livid. I'd have gone ballistic. I don't know if they found her bike or if she managed to get her race in but I can't imagine being in her situation. After dropping off our bikes the rest of the day was spent just wandering around a bit and then relaxing back at the house. Race Day. I slept surprisingly well considering and woke up at 3:50 am raring to go. Now for those of you that know me well you know that nutrition is not my forte but it was on my mind the whole week leading up to race day. I'd carbo-loaded on Wednesday and Thursday and had a light early dinner on Friday night and woke up with nutrition on my mind. I started hydrating right away and grabbed 2 cans of tomato juice for the drive in to Miami. Tomato juice is really high in electrolytes and I knew I would need a constant supply of them during the race so I wanted to get an early boost. The drive in was pretty quick considering the time of morning and we lucked out and found parking no more than 100 m from the transition area. We got all our gear and bikes together and headed to transition. The atmosphere was electric, there was music blaring and hundreds of athletes converging which was getting me pumped and anxious to get the race under way. Justin and I split up and went to our transition spots and I was happy to see my bike waiting there for me. It was actually a great spot right on the end of a rack and great for getting in and out. I was just finishing a bottle of water so I grabbed a litre bottle of Powerade that I'd brought and continued to hydrate. I checked my tire pressure to make sure no air had leaked overnight and then started across transition to bring Justin the pump in case he needed it. His tires were fine so I handed the pump to Tammy to eventually throw back into the car and I headed back over to my spot. Tammy wandered over to the fence which was 1 rack behind me and I started setting up my shoes, some gels, my sun glasses, towels and helmet and filling my bottles and bento box (nutrition carrier on my bike). I filled my front aero bottle with a Hammer nutrition mix and Powerade in my 2 rear bottles. My original plan was to only fill my one front aero bottle and resupply at the 1st aid station with a couple of bottles but I decided to start with as much as I could carry from the get go. I talked with Tammy a little and a bit later Justin found his way over to use the port-o-potties that were close to my spot. We were all being kicked out of transition at 6:40 am so we agreed to meet at a spot outside transition at 6:40. I eventually grabbed my wetsuit and headed out to the meeting spot and when Justin arrived we made our way to the swim start. We had an hour to kill, we hydrated some more and split a Clif bar and the time went quick. We got in to our suits and made our way to the starting area which was unique. It was a dock that ran parallel to the shore with swim entry being at one end, the swim course was a big loop out and around to the opposite end of the dock where the swim exit was. The start was a water start and entry into the water was not exactly by choice. It was a 5 foot drop from the dock to the water and when you'd worked your way to the dock edge you were grabbed and tossed in. How nice. These guys had no regard for wether you'd land on someone that had just been thrown in, they just grabbed and pushed you off the edge. Well not me. I got to the edge and threw myself in off to the side where I wouldn't do or encounter any damage. I started swimming towards the start line keeping my eyes open for Justin and when I saw him I waved him over towards me and we treaded water and waited for the horn. We gave each other the thumbs up, the horn went and it was on. The water churned, bodies crashed into each other and arms were flailing. I wanted to start at a pace that wouldn't tire me out and that I could reasonably maintain for the whole swim. I approached the first buoy and made the turn and headed for the long "out" portion of the swim. I was feeling good and had settled in but everytime I looked up to sight for a sighting bouy there weren't any. I swam in the direction I thought was correct but I think I veered out too far before I realized it and adjusted my direction. My biggest problem was keeping in a straight line because there were no sighting buoys on the whole course, only turn buoys and the turn buoys were tiny. They were the size of what the sighting buoys normally are. So here I was swimming and searching for this tiny buoy about 800 m away. 800 METRES away! I just followed other swimmers and hoped they were going in the right direction. I finally caught a glimpse of it and headed for it. I made the turn and realized I had the same dilema, the next buoy was 800 m away. At that point I decided to use the support kayaks as my markers so I found one and kept it in sight and to my left and swam till I could find another one to mark on. I soon realized that this kayaker was slowly moving across my path from left to right and in using him as my marker I was swimming at about a 45 degree angle from where I wanted to go. Why would he be moving at all? He wasn't rushing to anybody's aid and I here I was following him. I reset my sights, found another swimmer and started following him. After a while I caught sight of a red object and aimed for it. It wasn't the buoy, it was a red cap on a swimmer but a couple of minutes later I did see the buoy and made a beeline for it all the while cursing the the ridiculous course setup and markings or more appropriately, lack of markings. I made the buoy and turned and headed for the dock. I reached it a few minutes later and was set to make my way up the temporary steps that they'd placed leading down from the dock except ..... there were no steps down where our feet were, they ended about 6 inches below the top of the water and stopped. Come on, give us a break, really? They couldn't have extended them another 4-5 steps? So here we were pulling ourselves up out of the water onto the steps before being able to stand up. I got up and trotted up the steps and checked my time and ..... yuck, 53 minutes. What the heck happened? I know I swam in the wrong direction a couple of times but this was slow. Well I heard later that there was a pretty strong current on one of the longer stretches of the swim and also that the course may have been mis-marked, that it was likely longer than it should have been. I found out later that Justin's time was slower than normal as well so I didn't feel as bad for mine. I ran to transition, found my spot and stripped off my wetsuit. I put on my bike shoes, helmet, sunglasses and grabbed my bike and headed for the exit to start my ride. The bike course had been changed from its original layout and now included a total of 46 turns so any thoughts of maintaining a high average speed went out the window. The first 20+ km were uneventful, my legs felt good and I was able keep up a decent pace. I was drinking plenty and went through my aero bottle drink and refilled it with one of the bottles in my rear carrier. It was my plan to eat half a Clif bar every half hour and I did so at around the 18 km point. Everything seemed to be going well and I was feeling pretty good as I approached the first of 3 aid stations on the bike course at km 24. I threw away my empty water bottle and yelled for a bottle of Perform, the sport drink they were using for the race, and a volunteer held one up for me to grab as I rode by. I yelled my thanks to him, slapped it into the bottle carrier and continued. That was pretty much the last thing to go right for the rest of the race. I continued following my nutrition plan; half a Clif bar every 30 minutes, a bottle and a half of fluids to replenish electrolytes every 30 minutes, a salt tab every hour. I made my way towards the second aid station and turn around point. At around km 48 I started keeping my eyes open for the second aid station. It was hot and I'd gone though 2 more bottles and needed to resupply soon. I got to the turn around spot but didn't notice any aid station there or leading up to the turn around. There were a bunch of volunteers about 100 m before the turn around but no water or Perform or even a table setup anywhere. After a few more km I pulled up beside another rider and asked if they'd seen aid station #2 and they told me it was just before turn around. HUH? Ya, that group of volunteers. They'd run out of everything, water, Perform, gels. Well I'd have to stock up at the last one then. I drank my remaining bottle slowly to make it last but this was not good. I'd now turned into the wind and it was tougher going as well so I was starting to work harder. I'd averaged about 32.5 km/hr on the way out to turn around but now I was going at around 27-28 km/hr. At around 55 km I took a look at my arms and shoulders and they should have been drenched in sweat but instead they were barely moist. Not a good thing, not good at all. On top of that I didn't have to pee and by this point I should have been. Again, not good. Aid station #3 was at km 72 and as I approached I was really ready to load up with a couple of bottles of Perform. I needed electrolytes badly. I pulled up and there was a crowd of cyclists stopped which seemed strange and a volunteer extended a cup of water in my direction. I yelled for Perform but all I saw were a series of arms reaching out and offering cups of water. What was I supposed to do with cups? I was steamed. I was livid. And I was concerned. I'd ridden the last 22 km nursing 1 bottle of Powerade I'd luckily added to my carrier this morning and I still had another 18 km to go to transition. I stormed away and headed on the last stretch. At 78 km I caught Justin. I yelled "78 km baby" and asked how he was feeling but didn't really hear what he said because I sped away. 12 km later I was jumping off my bike and running into transition to my spot where I racked my bike, took off my helmet and shoes and pulled on my runners. Tammy was at the fence and I yelled that they'd run out of fluids on the course and I felt done. She threw me her bottle of water but the rules didn't allow outside aid so I left it but I had a bit of Powerade left over in a bottle at my spot and I drank it. I ran to the exit and began my run and there was an aid station just outside transition so I grabbed a couple of cups of water and downed them. It was a short stretch to a quick turn around and back in front of the transition area and through the same aid station. This time I grabbed 2 cups of Perform and downed them. Now it didn't click at the time but I later realized the cups were filled with ice and the amount of Perform in the cup was minimal. I assume now that they were low and were rationing it. I headed out towards "THE BRIDGE" and I was feeling really good so I took a quick look at my watch and saw that I was running faster than I wanted to be so I slowed down a bit. The good feeling was about to end. I got to "THE BRIDGE" and started my first of 8 x 500 m long ascents I'd have to do on the run. I was doing good till I got near the top and that's when my right quad and hamstring went into all out cramping. I stopped dead and grabbed my leg and started trying to massage the cramp out but it wasn't working. I worked it for about 5-6 minutes but every time I straightened up and took a step it just kept cramping and hurt like hell. I thought I was finished. I was ready to stop and limp back and DNF. What the hell, where did that come from? DNF because of a cramp? No way. I stretched it out and eventually the cramp stopped and I headed down the other side of the bridge. It hurt but at least wasn't cramping. I came around to aid station #2 and I was really ready ,for some Perform but what I found was one volunteer with a bucket of water, no Perform and a group of athletes grabbing cups and filling them by themselves out of the bucket. I scrounged 2 cups, filled them and left pissed and in pain to face ascent #2 on "THE BRIDGE". I made it up fine and down the other side and came around to aid station #3 where I was able to grab a cup of ice with a touch of Perform in it as well as scoring a bottle of water. I held on to that bottle for the rest of the race and kept filling it with water from cups whenever I could. I got to the turn around and made my way back to the "THE BRIDGE" for my 3rd climb, the last one I'd do running because when I came around for the 4th time both my calves cramped. I stopped for a couple of minutes and stretched them out and began walking up. By now I was pretty much out of electrolytes and pretty dehydrated and nothing I could have done could have corrected things. I was getting cups of water but what little Perform I found was in ice filled cups so I really wasn't getting any electrolytes. At the top I started into a run and descended, came around in front of transition and began the second run loop. Back around to "THE BRIDGE" for the 5th climb and my calves and quads and one hamstring all cramped. I walked that climb as well as the 6th, 7th and 8th times but I was determined to run the rest of the course which I did albeit much slower than normal. I came down the last 500 m in pain but running and as I turned into the finish line chute I wanted to finish strong so I tried to put on a little spurt of speed. Well just at that moment both my calves cramped and I nearly did a header but I caught myself and crossed the finish line. I'd done it. It was brutal but I'd finished. I was enraged with the organization but that anger was one of the things that kept me going. I was damned if I was going to let the race organizer's incompetence prevent me from finishing the race. There was no way I would stop, I'd crawl to the finish if I had to. I wasn't about to disappoint all the people who'd supported and encouraged me. Tammy had put up with months of my training and I wasn't going to let her down. Chris had coached and helped me with my nutrition and he, Justin and I had trained together for months and I wasn't about to disappoint them either. But mostly I'm a stubborn old goat and whereas "Pain is Temporary, Quitting Lasts Forever". I waited at the finish line for Justin and about 5 minutes later he crossed in a burst of speed with a big smile on his face. We gave each other high tens and hugged and turned to try and find Tammy and his dad but before I knew it Tammy was right there with a kiss and a hug. A few minutes later though I began feeling light headed and nauseous and I new I should get my butt to the medical tent. They lay me down and took my vitals and brought over an IV but I hadn't told anyone where I'd gone so I got up to go find Tammy to tell her. I found her and started feeling the same so I made my way back to the tent and lay down again. They would have given me the IV but said if I wasn't throwing up I should just start drinking plenty to rehydrate and I started downing bottles of water. I started feeling better and got up to get something to eat and then made my way to transition to pack up. While the race was organized horrendously I was proud that both Justin and I were able to deal with everything and finish it. Big thanks to my training buddies Chris and Justin and especially to Tammy for all her support and encouragement throughout my training.