December 7

G'day! Many thanks for all the kind thoughts and well wishes. I'll write up a detailed report when I have more time, but wanted to check in and give a quick update on our adventure in Oz.

First up, Australia is a terrific place -- the landscape here in Western Australia is very beautiful, and the people are tremendous. Everyone we've met has been awesome.

The only downside of coming here is the journey -- it took forever. Left Wed morning and went Anchorage - Seattle - LA, then got on the flight to Melbourne. Didn't realize it until day before the trip, but our flight to Melbourne stopped in Auckland NZ, which added 3 hrs to the trip (18 hrs from LA to Melbourne). Crazy rush through Melbourne to get through customs, get our bags and get re-checked for the domestic flight to Perth. Then another 4 hr flight from Melbourne to Perth.

And then it was a 3 hr drive to Busselton! Thankfully we were able to sleep quite a bit on the long flight so we were pretty well rested -- let's just say Qantas' business class trumps any US airline 1st Class :) Drive was fine -- no harrowing moments; I've driven on the right before. The biggest incident was using the wipers instead of turn signals about a dozen times. (They're reversed here.)

Arrived safely on Friday (note we left ANC on Wed...) and put my bike together. Got up Sat and went down to the site to pick up my race stuff. Got all my bags sorted, bike checked in, and ready to go. Found a grocery store and got some supplies for breakfast on Sunday.

Sun morning was early, and even earlier than usual -- race started at 6:15 am instead of 7 am in US IMs. Cheryl had put in to volunteer as well, and she had to be there at 5 am. That was a great decision for her -- instead of just sitting around waiting on me she had a blast; they put her to work in transition area doing a variety of things. That also gave her a wristband and access to pretty much everything with me.

We arrived at the race site and she went to get working and I finished prep. Get my special needs bags put together, drop off the dry clothes bag and pull on the wetsuit and head down to the start.

The swim is a great venue -- if you've ever had trouble sighting in an open water event this is the race for you :) There's a long jetty that sticks out a mile into the water. You start on the right side of it, go down to the end, turn and come back, then jog left to add enough distance and exit. Spent the whole swim just keeping the jetty about 50 yds on my right. Never got into a scrum too much, just a bit of crowding here and there -- certainly nothing like an NAS event. There were about 1200 folks doing this one, so half the field of a US race. Water was pretty calm overall and you could see the bottom for almost the entire way.

Get out of the water 1:11:35 by my watch -- I'm pretty happy with anything in the 1:05 - 1:15 range, so it was right in the zone. Get into T1 and change into cycling gear. They had a changing tent, but there were big flaps open on either end of it. Oh well, we're all adults I suppose, and I do a full change into bike shorts for an IM, so hope nobody was offended :) Got sunscreen applied (which I would do several times throughout the day) and head out on the bike.

This bike is a course for Clydesdales! Everyone on the message boards said it was pancake flat, and they aren't lying. 3 loop course. For the first lap of the bike, I'm so happy I'm almost giddy. Every time I look down at my computer I'm doing 18, 19, even 20 mph. I know it's the course, but it's still awesome to be motoring along at that pace. Then on the second lap the wind picks up and reality smacks me in the head. Slow down a bit, but overall maintaining good pace. Third lap the wind gets a bit stronger and at the tail end I'm struggling to maintain 15 mph. Still ended up with 6:40 ish bike time, a smashing PR over any previous IM bike leg.

Get changed again and ready for the run. It's about 8:10 overall race clock, and I'm hoping if I can do anything under a 6 hr marathon I could have the race of my life and go under 14 hrs. My best IM finish (I also have a DNF) is 16:52 at IM Canada -- going under 14 would have been just incredible.

Sadly, that unraveled in the first 2 miles, which I covered in 34 min. Had some sort of pain at the top of my rib cage just right of my sternum. It prevented me from taking a deep breath and thus running. Not sure if it was something like a side stitch, but it was in an odd place. Thought I'd walk for a while and see if it would work out and I could start running. Hour and a half later it became apparent this was going to be a walking day. I was still on pace to finish in 14:30-14:45, which meant a 2+ hr PR over IMC.

Then I went through a real rough spot mentally -- while it wasn't truly hot, without much time to acclimate it was brutal heat to me and the sun was pretty strong; not a cloud in the sky. On top of that the flies seemed to enjoy my sunscreen and they were bugging me incessantly. Tough to explain, but I was not sure if I would finish at this point. I was PO'd at myself for not being able to run, and then PO'd at being mad because I was still on pace to have a fantastic outcome. Does that make sense? Doubtful, because I'm still working through it myself.

Then I ended up walking next to another big guy and we started chatting a bit. Turns out he's an Aussie Naval submarine officer, so we obviously have some things in common. We ended up sticking together and helping each other through the rough spots and keeping moving. I started drinking flat cola at the aid stations and vitamin caffeine worked its magic -- my mood improved about a 1000%.

We motor along as best we can, but we ended up giving back a bit of time on the 2nd lap and even more on the 3rd. We finally make the last turnaround and then it's only a half mile to the finish. Turn into the chute and jog down the finish line. That instant when you cross the line makes everything else worth it -- all the hours on the CT, the long runs, laps in the pool.

Gather up my stuff and we head back to the hotel. Unfortunately with our schedule I now have to take my bike apart because we have to drive back to Perth on Monday -- we're going to stay near the airport since we fly out on Tue to Sydney for tourist time. That was tough. Overall not feeling too bad, but do have a couple of blisters and pretty stiff/sore. Have what feels like a significant shin splint on my right ankle.

Got up this morning and headed down to the expo tent -- planning to put the hurting on the finisher's gear store! Unfortunately, apparently one must get there when they open, because they're pretty much cleaned out with signs up saying more will be available online to order. We chose to get a bit of sleep, but it was worth it.

Drove to Perth and we're currently in the hotel hanging out. My right ankle swelled up quite a bit today, so spending time with it elevated and iced.

Again, thanks for all the well wishes and support -- it really meant a lot out there knowing y'all were pulling for me! Now it's on to Sydney for 9 days of fun!

Thanks
Jeff