As someone said, things never really go as planned or quite as you imagined.
It's incredibly hard to believe that I was in a hospital 10 months ago recovering from a destroyed hip socket after a bad bike accident. I wasn't cleared by the doctor to start long runs until February. Wow!
Who qualifies for Kona with a 1:39:xx swim, a leisurely bike ride of 0.67 IF and running 9:30+ minute miles? Me 
I came out of the water and looked at the clock. Could I really be that bad - again. Yup! 1750th place, nowhere to go but up
They need to fix the finish line too. I came around the final corner with about 20 yards to go. I looked at the clock. 10:59:50. I finished in 11:00:08. Had that final corner been 50 yards longer I surely would have broken 11 hours. 8 or 9 seconds faster would have sounded so much better
I'm still laughing at all the newbie things I did.
First, the swim. It was actually a great venue, just too warm for wetsuits. (Who wears a speed suit and swims a 1:39:xx - me!) Looking at the map it looked like just over a mile up and then back in a made made lake and then a short distance in a canal to the transition area. Well the canal went on forever and I just gave up mentally and physically. I was just really tired of swimming. I should have walked the canal distance on Friday. Should have swam more in training too.
Next time!
Second was nutrition. For the past 5 or so IMs I've used Cytomax and gels on the bike, 2 bottles to start and then 2 in special needs. I then fill in the extra calories with on the course materials. Well this year Gatorade is gone and Powerbar is in. The stuff tastes like crap and I just couldn't tolerate the bars, gels or drink. I can handle most things, but this was quite unbelievably bad. Who eats power bars when its a 100 percent humidity? Beyond awful doesn't begin to describe Powerbar products to me. On the run course I carried one Cyto bottle to start and a couple of gels. When they ran out I tried the course stuff again. No go. I tried coke, but it was still carbonated. One swallow and out that went. I ended up running from mile 15 to the end on water in the stomach and ice in the hat.
Third was my watch. Before the race I did as I always do, power up the Garmin to connect to the satellites to make the connection faster in T2 and then power it down and throw in in the transition bag. Well this time I somehow forgot to power it down, so as I strapped on the watch in T2 and turned it on it said battery gone and powers off. I ended up running the entire marathon without a watch. Still chuckling at that one. Of course I ran the marathon completely against all of my training principles, running way too fast to start and holding on for dear life at the end.
Well, I'm thinking about Hawaii and as Coach P says, "don't get fat!". Hopefully a couple of good glasses of beer are still OK.
Got to thank my Iron Sherpas who sat in the awful humidity all day long catching short glimpses of me here and there. My daughter Kira was there with her boyfriend Oscar as well as our Houston host, Patrick. Neither Oscar nor Patrick had ever seen a triathlon before, let alone an ironman. Quite the subculture shock for both of them! They were all awesome picking up all my gear at the end, getting my bike to TriBike Transport to be driven home, and mostly putting up with me. As to my wife who graciously allows me to train for one ironman a year, I'm going home to see how many family credits I have left in the bank
As a side note I also wanted to mention a guy a met when I was in Texas last month on the EN Rally. Big, strong, intimidating biker dude with a bald head and scraggly beard. He came out riding and running with us wearing a muscle shirt saying "Future Ironman". He probably ran 15 minute miles. Well, I'm in the Expo area the day after the race and there he is, hobbling around with his finisher medal around his neck beaming ear to ear. That to me is what Ironman is about. Very cool indeed.
Also had a friend email me some statistics about my day:
"A bit of data from IM TX last weekend where Tom Glynn went from 1750 overall out of the water to the end of his day where he got a Kona slot . . . During his 5:01:49 ride, Tom passed, on average, a person every 14 seconds. . . . . Here are the number of positions he gained in each section: 141 in T1, 1315 on the Bike, 10 in T2 and 97 on the run." WOW! Can anyone say Patience and Discipline?"
See you in Kona!
Well Just got the coolest update! The guy I mentioned in my race report above sent in a thank you video to Endurance Nation for helping to get him through his Ironman in 16:55:xx. 5 Minutes to spare!
