Brief race report...

The day started early for us - 3:00 AM is when my alarm went off, though Alli was intent on sleeping until 3:45, she dealt well with my interruption to her sleep. The day starts with a brief run, a bunch of eating, and the necessary toilet visits (first of many ;)

The conditions at the time that we retired were not great - the wind was howling, and blowing the campervan around. We were a bit nervous going to sleep... but by the time we arose, the wind had ceased, and all was calm around us. The weather would continue to be perfect throughout the day (high of around 25 degrees is about as good as we could ask for - though a bit cooler would always be better, beggars cannot be choosers ;)

After breakfast, we gathered our swimming gear and headed down to the race village, where we proceeded to finalize all things prior to the start of the race (Alli had to change a tube before she even started the race).

The race start was a deep water start, which looked promising - everyone was seeded by their estimated swim time, which should technically provide a good distance between swimmers. The swim start was to be by canon, though as we were waiting for the canon, an air horn sounded, and the race began (I suspect that this was someone in the crowd, but I may never know - it certainly was no canon). I expect that the canon start was subsequently cancelled - firing the canon AFTER everyone started swimming would have really confused the swimmers :)

As the swim started and progressed, I discovered that a number of the swimmers in the wave in front of me had grossly underestimated their swim times (as I passed them on the swim). I tried desparately to find someone to draft off of, but I couldn't find anyone fast enough to bother with... and every time I found clear water in front of me, the attack came from the rear - I would equate this to beeing a teenaged girl at a prom - I have never been so groped in all my life!!

Well... I won't bore you with the specifics of the swim, but I took it pretty easy and managed to get out of the water just shy of an hour, which was my goal, so the result was sufficient :)

Off to the bike - first transition was smooth and straightforward, and the bike felt good to start... though I quickly learned the difference between driving the course and riding the course - driving is a lot more simple than riding ;) The hills were largely unrelenting - though mostly rolling, there was steep ones in there. It has been said that this is the toughest course on the Ironman circuit (exceeding the difficulty of both Canada and Kona - though I will reserve personal judgement on this until such time as I visit Ironman Canada in August ;)

The bike course was a three loop course, and by sometime in the second lap I had started the dehydration process (though I was largely unaware of this at the time). I figured this out late in the third lap, though it was a bit late to catch up prior to the start of the run - so the run started as more of a walk than a run. By the second lap of the two lap run, I had sorted the hydration bit out, and things picked up considerably. Due to daylight savings time, I ended up running a good part of the second lap was done in the dark, which was not a problem - in fact, the lack of sun was a welcome change indeed.

So... the injury that I sustained last week had very little impact on my race overall, though my lack of hydration certainly did affect my race (which was the simpler of the two to look after on the course, given the many aid stations). I wish I had done it differently, though just starting and finishing is an accomplishment, I have much to gain prior to coming back and doing Canada...

Alli will post her own race report, but the brief summary - she ended up coming in about ten minutes behind me, so we got to sit in the recovery tent together ;) She flatted out on the bike course, and the resulting tire change cost her a good 20 minutes... and she ended up falling just short of third place - so she remains a bit dissapointed on that point, but the accomplishment was still significant.

Both of us are well, just healing the little wounds from yesterday... today I feel fine save for some chafing on the back of my neck (the worst) and two blisters on my left foot... nothing major. Muscle soreness is nearly non-existent.

Thanks everyone for your support pre and post event... will post more later, as I find the time!!