As you can clearly see from the picture to the right, Phil has gained a little weight since living the dream in Miss. Trying to fit in is hard work, eating doughnuts and BBQ 'n all. He's even added a handle bar mustache to stop all the sissy jokes and name calling he hears from the other men folk down at the Piggly Wiggly. The speedo was a little panache for the desert ladies.Phil and his friends, Quang, Corey, Alex and Kristin, all finished within an hour/hour and a half of each other. Everyone had a good day, no big booboos.
Phil's Time: 12:31. S: 1:11; B: 6:07; R: 4:51.
The swim was much colder than the usu. 78 degree avg., it was around 63. Us neophytes learned a neat trick from an old timer- stand on the little ledge at the waters edge rather than tread water for twenty minutes in 63 degree water in the predawn hours prior to start. Things went well during the out, got warm quick and felt I was doing a pretty good job of passing/avoiding people. On the back the cold started to get to me...the cold and the rapacious Ironpersons. I think people started to get a little desperate, clawing me and trying to pull themselves forward using my long legs. The friendly little bump-ins turned ugly. A few times I had to kick people off of me. And at one point I had to stop and turn to the guy behind me and share three words expressing the aggravation he was causing me during my Ironman swim. Smacking or banging into me I understand, but don't pull at me man! The most frustrating thing was that I had to stop a few times, after kicking people off me, due to cramping in my feet. Feet still not 100%, Bunyon, I am still unable to kick while swimming without my toes curling back on themselves trying to touch my buttocks. All in all the swim felt great and in retrospect wish I'd worked a little harder.
T1: a few hours, give or take 2-3 minutes.
Bike
The bike provided me with one of those "how can that be" experiences...like when Sarah Palin actually spits out a coherent sentence. Granted my T1 time was long, 13+ minutes, but I was taken aback by seeing a much shorter and overweight woman up ahead of me early on during the bike. It really took me a good solid hour to figure out and come to grips with the fact that she beat me out of the water! Nothing against short or overweight people, Rock On! You go girl! I was just confused with my bad self.
After the first loop, right as I saw Sarah at the start, my seat broke. I lost the bolt and barrel on my rear clamp. Three months of pounding on Mississippi roads w/o incident and after 37 miles in AZ the damn thing breaks! I road 8-10 miles to the tech tent praying to the God of Ironman to keep my seat on. The last thing I wanted was a blunt post aimed at my rear end for another 70+ miles. The tech guys helped by securing it with a plastic zip tie. Yes, a plastic zip tie. Now, I weigh 225lbs with most of that above my waist. Do the calculation: how long is a plastic zip tie going to last me? Turns out another 55 miles. The plastic broke at the final turn with 18 miles left to go. And I lost the spare zip ties given me somewhere on the course. So, I had a painful final half lap, but the seat stayed on.
T2: Only an hour and 8+ minutes.
Run
Started the run without my bib and had to go back. However, I did remember to bring my lucky banana and after running with it for a couple of miles I got a good chuckle from a spectator who yelled "eat your banana PJ" (PJ's my bib/race code name). So, I did as instructed and for about 8 miles I had banana gut and couldn't take in anything else. Lucky banana wasn't so lucky. Had a mental/physical crash toward the end of the first loop. My nutrition plan, or lack thereof, resulted a lot of walking/crying/questioning my sanity for much of the first and second loops. However, after the banana settled I was able to take in more and started Gel'n. By the third loop I felt great and was going at a quick pace. This was when I set the goal to finish the marathon under 5 hours, which was not too far off my original goal of under 4:30. I felt so good on the last lap that I actually started thinking about when I'd do another Ironman, completely forgetting my meltdown during loop two when my goal was simply to finish even if I had to crawl in spitting blood and crying all the way.
This was an awesome experience and so much better for being able to do it with friends. Since I'd like to stay married, think I'll wait a few years before doing it again.
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