I am not a great author like Andy, but here we go…

 

The first thing I need to do is thank my awesome wife Debi, my family, and friends who drove up for their support.   Carla for putting an incredible plan together to get me to the race healthy(although I did question why I wasn’t doing 20 mile runs) and all the MSM families that were out there screaming my name.  I truly had a blast out there!!!

 

My race weekend started on Thursday rooming with Danny and Dr Ted what a blast!!  Nothing like watching The Hangover the night before the race. Hanging with Ted and Danny kept me relaxed the entire weekend.  I woke up race morning after a crappy night’s sleep, but still ready to go. 

 

The Swim-Ted and I had a plan for the swim to start by the shore and swim on angle to the first turn buoy.  The plan went well as we had very few people around us until the first turn.  I stayed with Ted around the first 2 turns then lost him.  The rest of my swim went well.  I ended up swimming a 1:07 which was great for me.

 

The bike started out with me losing all my salt tabs coming out of transition.  Thanks you to Mike Platzke for giving me a few on the first loop and Carla for telling me to put some extras in my special needs bag along with an extra bottle of Infinit which I would later need as I lost a bottle t the end of the first loop.  I rode the stick out very easy.  I think at one point I was passed by a women with a basket on her bike that wasn’t even in the race, oh well.  I kept telling myself to stick with the plan and ride easy.  When I got on the loop I began picking it up.  I took all the hills easy a coasted the downhill’s.  I worked the flats, trying to hold a good steady pace.  Most importantly I forced myself to drink and take in my nutrition.  When I got to Verona the 2^nd time I realized that I was on pace to be well below 6 hours even though I felt great I pulled my pace back for stick back in.  I could hear Carla’s voice in my head saying you need to save it for the run!!!  Going up the bitches was never that easy on the training rides, but today with all the MSM families cheering you on  it was easy.  I had made sure that I had finished every ounce of nutrition I had on my bike for my plan and drank tons of water.  I made it back in with a 5:47 bike split.  I wrote one word on my hand that morning and that was “RUN” and now it was time for the real test.

 

My goals for the run was to average 8:30’s, stay cool, smile, and stay on top of my hydration.  So off I went the first loop was pretty much pretty much uneventful. My Garmin is set to beep and show me my mile splits and so far everything was going well.  I was saw and heard everyone cheering me on and made sure I thanked them or gave them a high five.  At the beginning of the 2^nd loop I had picked up my 2^nd set of fuel belt bottles with my nutrition.  Just after that Carla ran out and asked me how I was doing and I think I said “I don’t know, I am just running”  and basically that is what I was doing.  I made sure I slowed at each water stop and drank a cup of water and put ice in my jersey to stay cool.  Thus far everything was going great. The last few miles I was starting to get tired but kept telling myself that I would never forgive myself if I did not run the entire marathon.  Seeing everyone along the way was awesome.  I can honestly say that the run for me was a blast (if you couldn’t tell).  Yes, it hurt like@#$^ but that would go away and the accomplishment would last forever.  My run split was 3:43.

 

What a feeling to hear your name and cross the line and get a beautiful BARN medal(wow). 

 

My final time was 10:51.

 

Thanks again to everyone,

Dan Rogers