Nope it rather do muskoka twice !
Don't get me wrong I know its an ironman and its meant to be difficult but this one was near the top of the list!
To start the swim was good, this is a very well organized race, there was a lot of weed but not really bad weeds, I did get attacked by something though lol it hit my hand but there was no swimmers around to hit me so I'm assuming it was a fish.
I finished my swim in the allotted time I gave myself, especially with my sore shoulder. Transition was a good jog from the water which was hard with no shoes on but I managed to run the whole way.
Transition was fairly uneventful due to the fact I have practiced it over and over then out on what was a difficult ride.
Under advise from some people (one who had read my blog and messaged me) thanks for the advise! I did go out easy and patient, but weighing 270 and not having the right gears on my bike the first 23 km's killed me ! By the time I recovered it was to late to make up I was a goner. I also had a muscle spasm in my back that wouldn't go away pretty well for the complete bike!
T2 was normal but it had gotten hot by that time and when I sprayed my sunscreen on my neck I felt a bad sting and I knew I had a bad burn, out I went for my run. My wife told me after when she saw the look on my face she knew this was gonna be ugly.
Out on the run I went and wouldn't you know it my stupid left foot was hurting, after all the rest and the way it was feeling I knew if I had a crappy bike I could still save it on the run, once I knew I was beat on the bike I went into recovery mode to rest for the run. To late the sun had taken it the life out of my sails, I ran out of transition (because you have too) and reached the road and that was it walking time.
I saw lots of my friends on the run route but I wasn't very talkative, I was close to going down from the heat and knowing this was right around the corner I was working frantically to regain composure!
My body profile is much different than mostly everyone on the course, moving 278 around is very hard and hard for people to understand also!
I was drinking and drinking, stuffing ice in my hat and on the verge of barfing and loosing all I had tried to put in, I can't remember who I said it to but I think it was Susan, I said "I don't think I'm gonna make it" I'm not sure what s he said back but it must have been enough to push forward because I kept going, drinking and icing over and over and then started to run between road cones.
I looked to the east and noticed large clouds rolling in and was thankful I might get a rain shower from the ironman gods which would cool me down enough to try to get back in the game, but it was the opposite !! Mother Nature started a huge lightning storm which prompted the race officials to stop the race.
I was on my second out and back when lots of people were turning around saying they cancelled the race but there was no way I was going back ! I was the last one out on the course, one of the ironman workers said "hey you can't go any further" I said " I didn't come all this way to quit" now I know some will say I put my own safety at risk by staying out on the course but you know what? People do much dumber things to put themselves and others at risk other than running in a thunder storm, smoking, drinking and driving, heavy drinking, drugs I could go on for ever! So my decision to carry on with my goal is minor.
The ironman worker said to me "so your not turning around" I said "nope" although I really wanted to quit s s this would have gave me the chance to quit and I could have blamed it on the storm! I kept going because I knew my family came to watch me finish and thats what I did !
Now beside my name I have a DNF which I'm quite pissed off about because I did finish and finished strong ! I actually caught up and passed some people ! My Final finish time was 8:08:11 ....1:49 faster than muskoka !
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