Click for Part I and Part II.
Wake up call came at 4 am. Since I showered the night before (and I was going in a pretty grimy river), I put in my contact lenses, brushed my teeth and got dressed. We headed down to a little bakery in the hotel to grab a quite bite. I ended up with a cinnamon muffin and started sipping on a bottle of sports drink.
Walked over to the transition area/body marking. Got my bike set up including tire inflation, filling up my aero bottle and putting a bottle of sports drink and nutrition on it. Headed over to body marking to get 2112 written on my arm and 43 written on my calf.
The swim start line (Louisville is not a mass start like most IM events) was huge when we got over there. Was worried that it might take 25-30 minutes to get in the water. That time counts against the 17 hour limit. About 30 minutes before 7 am they started moving family and friends out of the line and opened up some space toward the front and we moved a huge distance toward the water.
National anthem played, the cannon went off and I saw my wife just before we got to the front of the line. It was a welcome sight and I'm certain she put in almost as hard a workout as I did making her way all around the course. Nerves built up a lot but I felt confident in my training. I ended up hitting the water at about 7:12. It was also nice to see two local tri club members I knew, who were getting the athletes into the water.
After about 5-10 minutes of swimming, I saw a volunteer on a paddle board come screaming across the course. I thought it looked quite dangerous but I saw a guy in distress about 20 feet away. Little did I know that this athlete had ended up drowning. It was the 15th death in the history of Ironman events.
Took the swim nice and easy, keeping my heart rate low. Didn't notice any meaningful current in either direction but on the way back I did find myself heading toward shore a bit too much as the swim exit buoys started a fair distance out in the water. I ended up having to snake back to get in between those buoys but I made it into the chute.
To be continued...
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