The weather report call for 60% chance of rain. It rained all day on the entire course. In the end we got 3-4� of it in Lake Placid. The rain was perfect for me as I tend to over heat and sweat a bunch.
Run � 4 Powerbar gel Blasts, 2 Advil, 4 Endrolytes, 8 oz Gatorade, 20-30 oz of cola, lots of water - not many calories (maybe 400) but at this point my stomach was done�.
Pre-race � Nothing too crazy, got out of bed around 4:30 and was a bit scared..  Went back to my hotel room and laid there for another 45 minutes nervous as hell. Left the hotel room with my family around 6:15 to walk to swim start. It started to sprinkle.
Swim � (goal of 1:05) actually one of the easier IM swims I�ve had. I didn�t take too much of a beating. I tired to stay clear of anyone who couldn�t swim a straight line. Came out of the water on target at just under 65 minutes. The torrential rain began on the first loop of the race and didn�t stop all day. I came out of the water in 434 place overall and 72 in my age group.
Bike � (goal of 5:25) It went well out of town with the 4 small climbs and the screaming fast decent into Keene. Nothing to exciting except I got to pass all the really good swims.
I held my lead from mile 14 to about mile 20 when things started to slow done a bit. During that time, the eventual women�s winner cruised by me with ease and onto a 2:59 marathon split. Incidentally, she was the only pro that had an even split on the bike course. Coincidence?
At around the 20 mile mark, I really had to pee so I stepped into a porto-potty to take care of that.. and holy smokes it was painful� I�ll leave out the details but it involved a lot of chaffing� During the time I was holding back the tears, the #2 guy in my age group went past me and I never saw him again..
Heading back into town I treated myself to walking through aid stations and up the hills as my legs were done. I was trying to minimize the amount of slowing down I was doing but it hurt. From mile 20 on I was recalculating how slow I could afford to go and still break 10 hours. It hovered around 10 minutes which was almost comfortable. I made it to the last turn around with about a mile or so to go to the finish without anyone passing me. But the I saw 3 guys in my age group heading out to the turn around and were all within a few minutes of me. That got me moving quickly again. I kind of wanted to enjoy the final mile, the crowds, the rain, the moment. But I didn�t want to give up any spots at that point. So I ran�.fast. One guy past me coming onto the oval�.but we was 33 so it just didn�t matter.
The finish was awesome. It was pouring rain. The puddles were massive at the finish line on the speed skating oval. I finished and instantly found Karen and Kevin. We couldn�t stop jumping and screaming as we knew I had met my goal of sub-10 for the day and was pretty sure that I had finally earned my ticket to Kona after 8 years of trying. My only goal in Kona will be to cross that finish line before the mid-night cutoff. I will then be able to check this goal off my �to do� list and move on to other things in my life.
And finally, I would like to thank all those who help get me to the starting line. My family has put up with my training and racing schedule for a long time. It�s now time for me to give more back to them. A special thanks to my youngest who made the trip to Lake Placid and believing in me. A huge thanks to my girl friend Karen, who also believed in me more than I believed in myself at times. She regularly had to help me out mentally during the rough times this season. To all my training partners; Reid, Danny, Craig, Dave, Shawn, my Wednesday night track group. My drinking buddies. I�m so looking forward to catching up on those beers calories I�ve missed the last few months. Thanks to Dave Orton for harassing me about my goal of 10:02.   He helped me make it quiet clear that I was out of shape and needed to get my butt moving. To Craig Ellis for pushing me during every mile of TdS. Also for Reid Kiser, for dragging me out on many of the longer workouts that I didn�t really want to do and then kicking my butt and making me work harder than I wanted once he got me out there. Also, a thanks to Dr. Daniel Hockstra, my full time ART guy, part time chiropractor, nutritionist, and shrink. Without the work he did on my legs, I would not have stayed as healthy as I did.