Bloody tired, bloody sore, bloody happy !!!!!

Aloha,

I'll make this a short one, then post up some photos tomorrow once downloaded. As for the race, I'm absolutely bloody stoked! Jeez it was a tough one. As previously mentioned my Heart rate monitor has decided it doesn't want to play anymore. Fine, I'll race by feel! So off into the swim I go, brand new Orca skinsuit on and I'm ready to rumble. Well I didn't rumble as the swim just flowed rather smoothly. I didn't cop a knock until the turnaround boat, gaps seem to appear everywhere so I took the opportunity to fill them. After the turnaround I latched onto a set of feet for half the way in, he tired so I picked up another set, this time a chick who had a great stroke and a nice light kick, perfect. I was wrapt to hit the shore in 1:09 but am a bit disappointed I wasn't far off the 1000th person out of the water......
The ride started smoothly, no wind and the sun starting to warm things up. Did the little loop on the Kuakini Hwy, up Palani hill which was absolutely huge! Very Tour like with the people peeling away about 2 metres in front of you, there were thousands there, then we headed out onto the famous Queen Kaahumanu H'way. It was pretty well plain sailing until near the Waikoloa resort where a head wind greeted us. It was a Sth Westerly which turned into a massive side wind on the way up to Hawi. Strewth it was hard. There was virtually 1 hour of riding where you couldn't take a drink as it was too dangerous to take your hands off your aerobars. I saw Faris Al-Sultan nearly come a gutsa going downhill at one section. Also saw a dejected Macca doing something to his bike and was looking pretty angry. The flip side of this was it gave us a 'slight' push going back but this turned into another headwindfrom Kiholo to near the airport were speeds picked up again for the bolt home. I had a drama on the bike where my Endura Opti and Electrolyte drink went off because of the heat. I ditched this and relied on Gels and water to keep my calorie intake up. I dropped the bike off with another 'fastish' sub 3 min transition saw me off on the run. Things didn't start real well on the run. My stomach was all over the joint. I was burping and farting and this was taking my mind off the job at task. At the 3 mile marker I had the biggest chuck ever. I mean an out the nose as well type chuck. I was shaking so had to walk for a couple of hundred metres while I spat and snotted chunks out of places where they shouldn't be. At the next aid station I spent a bit of time cleaning myself up, guzzled a few cokes then off I went. My splits were pretty were ok to that point but I thought I may have lost a bit of time so upped the pace a touch before settling into a 7:30ish mile. I had a few more gastric dramas - 3 more chucks that were only liquid. I don't know how much time I lost overall but it felt like a couple of minutes. The run from the Energy Lab, where it had thankfully 'Vogged over' and dropped the temperature substantially, back into town was about trying to get back into town under 9:40. This didn't quite happen as the last km went a bit pear shaped. I crossed the line not long after Pete Jacobs, Belinda Grainger and Bec Keat did a song and dance routine and was caught by the catchers. They asked how I was with the only words coming out was "take me to the bushes I'm gunna be sick" so they happily escorted me over to some shrubs where I yodelled all over them. Straight to the Med tent for this Black Duck. I was put under observation, had blood tests and from this diagnosed as slightly hyponatraemic. This is a condition where you drink to much water and it dilutes your blood sodium levels to dangerous levels. Death is the worst case scenario. But Mr. Death is scared of Ironmen who have just rattled off a 9:42 at Hawaii and mine was diagnosed as a 'mild case'. An injection was administered and I was cherry ripe in 30 minutes. The Med tent looked like a war zone. They said of the 150 or so finishers 28% had been in with some sort of ailment. This will only get worse as the day progresses. It was a tough day out there, my toughest yet most satisfying IM yet. It had everything, a 'good' albeit slow swim, a good bike with legendary Hawaiian trade winds, a curve ball thrown in with a nutritional plan change, some sickness, a run that was good but could have been better and finally my first ever visit to a Medical tent.
Gotta go, must watch the fireworks as the race has 10 minutes left. I can still hear Mike Rielly going nuts. It sounds like Chrissie Wellington has been down the finish line since the 12:30 hr mark. She is 'The chick' ! I've never met anyone so friendly and willing to talk to a mug age grouper. Gotta go - 9 mins left.

Mahalo, Matty