Tie it to a balloon, and let it go.

Well, I am sorry to inform that I did not finish my ironman this year. I had a great weekend, but unfortunately, it was not my day. Here is the wrap up.
The morning started off pretty normal. My hydration was on track, I had eaten properly the day before the race, I was fresh and I was motivated. The swim took me forever. I don't know why, but it was my slowest time to date. Mind you, I have been swimming my ass off for the past 12 months in preparation for this freak'n race. I felt smooth and effortless, but my time sucked. Oh well, time for the bike!
I started the bike and immediately passed hundreds of people. I have been training for this particular bike course since May and it was showing. I felt really good until mile 30 and then things when bad. I started to feel my diaphram cramping and I thought it would most likely go away. Everytime I would drink, it would get exponentially worse. I had to stop and stretch like 4 times between mile 30 and mile 50. Mile 50-75 went really well. I was back to full throttle and feeling much better. I had started to rehydrate myself and take in some calories when all of the sudden the pain returned and it was much worse than before. I made it to the mile 85 aid station and I just threw my bike down and laid there all stretched out. The original plan was to lie there for about 15 minutes to let the muscle relax, but it actually got worse. Over an hour went by and I decided to call it a day. Even if I had made it back to the transition, there was no way that I would have made the marathon like this. I decided to save myself permanent damage and call it a day.
I worked really hard and I am bummed out, but this is only a small step in my journey. I was "unlucky" to say the least, but when you race this distance enough, bad things are bound to happen. I spent the rest of the afternoon with the sag vehicle picking up puking carnage on the side of the road. What an experience.
I made it back to the hotel and I met up with all of my friends to watch the rest of our friends finish. This is the first time I have actually got to see the finish b/c I am usually either in medical or hanging over a trashcan. It was a pretty amazing experience and I was reminded at why I love this distance. It was in the mid 90s on Sunday and it zapped the life out of many souls. It was great to see everyone percevier and cross that finish line.
I did sign up for IM Louisville next year and I also plan on doing IM Florida next November. Happy training, the only good thing about this is that I get to keep racing this fall:)