Thanks to everyone who sent me texts, email, and called me in support of my lifelong dream. Sorry for the mass email. I am writing this because it is easier to respond via email versus recapping the whole day to those that ask how it went. It is simply too hard to answer this question in just a few sentences. I also don’t like writing about myself and patting myself on the back so this helps me share my stories with all my wonderful friends…without feeling totally weird and self promoting.

As this was the hardest thing that I have ever done and probably the 5th best event of my life (following wedding day, child births, and my qualifying day 6 weeks ago in Louisville)…this particular race report may be particularly long…. so please don’t feel like you have to read the whole thing. Some of the details may be geared more towards my triathlon geek friends out there. I apologize in advance for the type-o’s and grammatical errors. I hate to proofread. I am also doing this at 4:00 in the morning after 5 hours of sleep because I kept waking up with a smile on my face and filled with emotion.

First off – a huge thanks to my lovely wife and kids who sacrificed themselves over the last 10 months of training in order to achieve my lifelong dream. I love them with all of my heart and couldn’t have achieved this without them. They are also happy that it is over and happy that my ironman career is officially over….or at least put on hold until the kids are in my college…or if my kids want to give ironman a shot ….hopefully my next can be with either Alex or Ashley…or possibly both.

I also want to thank my coach, Matt Smith. Your coaching, consultation, nutrition training, and friendship got me to this race and to the finish line. It was awesome to see you out on the course Matt and watch you kick some serious butt….despite your own knee problems. I am forever grateful. The ironman is 40% training, 40% mental, and 20% nutrition. If any of you triathletes want my nutrition plan…just send me a note and I’ll send you it to you. It worked perfectly for me in both my races this year.

The Hype: The lead up to the race was awesome. Right off the bat hung out with Andy Potts on the rental car shuttle and while waiting for our cars. What a nice guy. He is the #1 U.S. triathlete and was the #1 U.S. pro triathlete yesterday…and was 1st out of the water as usual. Also saw him after the race, and he was excited about his 7th place finish. It was a drag race for 2nd as 2nd – 7th place were really racing at the end for the prize money. Also saw Macca and Miranda Carefree (2 more huge names in ironman) leading up to the race. Very Cool. Also my family hung out with Craig Alexander and his family after he finished. Alex got “Crowie’s autograph.” He is considered the #1 triathlete in the world.

Pre- race. What a great feeling walking down the magical check in carpet with hundreds of camera man taking pictures of your gear (not really you)…documenting everything from type of running shoes, bike shoes, pedals, bike manufacturers, helmet manufacture…you name it. They use these stats in their advertisements…200 Felt bicycles raced in the Kona, etc.

Race Day – Slept 6 hours…which is 6 hours more than I have slept leading up to any other ironman races. Knowing that I had a knee injury, I was at piece with just hopefully being able to race and resigned to the fact that I had no idea how the knee would feel during the race. Totally at piece with just qualifying and for the opportunity to compete. No expectations whatsoever.

The Swim/ Meat Grinder – entered the water with 10 minutes before race start, hung on to a buoy for 5 minutes then swam as far left as I could without getting caught up in the waves. I thought I was as far left as it gets but it turns out other folks were even further out. Since these are all the fast folks, everyone in the swims faster or about the same pace as me…It was full contact swimming for the entire hour, 10 minutes. Got kicked in the head probably 20 times, almost swam over once…felt bad for that guy’s face….got pulled, grabbed, yanked…you name it. As soon as you get in a rhythm, someone would swim right into you or straight across your line….tried to stay as far to the left as possible but apparently I wasn’t the only one trying to escape the chaos…as the same thing happened out wide. The paddle boarders really keep you in a pretty tight area. An hour swim is just so long and I was ready for it to be over right from the start. At the finish, my swimming to the left strategy really turned out to be a bad idea….as the exit was a left hand ramp up and everyone swam left early and pushed us left siders into the dock…serious physical contact at this point as we were all just trying to get to the exit as fast as we could. Reminded me of the old Rugby scrum from high school. Finished in a respectable 1:12 which was ok since I think that everyone was slower due to the full contact

T1- 1st transition was super slow for me as I had to find a place to sit with the other 500 guys who swam the same pace…had to put on all my gear and then find a sunscreen dude in order to avoid my normal ironman burn. Super slow 6:04 transition.

The Bike – starts out with a short but steep climb. I stood up and immediately experienced sharp knee pain. It was at this moment that I knew that this race was going to be extremely hard to complete given that I had another 137 miles to go and already had knee pain…and this wasn’t even taking into account the super tough weather conditions and challenging bike course that I was about to face. I always pace myself according to power since I know how long I can sustain a particular power output over the course of 112 miles. For this race, I had planned on between 210 and 220 watts. However, after the knee pain I figured I would try and sustain 200 watts. This was ambitious as after the first hour I lowered my level to 190, then hour 3 to 180, hour 4 to 170, hour 5 160, and the last hour at 150…pretty much standing still for me. To put it in perspective, at Ironman Louisville I sustained 219 watts for the bike and averaged just shy of 22 mph and yesterday I averaged 177 watts and 18.8 mph.

The pain was excruciating, as it felt like someone was scraping the inside of my knee with a knife. I couldn’t stand up on my bike pedals at all during this 6 hours of pain…it hurt that bad. It was hot and super windy so you almost come to a halt on some of the hills…so not standing up for me was really hard. Also, not standing up at all to adjust position and stretch out everything left me with some unfortunate saddle sores in several uncomfortable areas. I was just happy to complete the bike. I repeated the following over and over in my head to get through this. “I worked my butt to qualify and get to this race…this may be my only shot….I sure as hell am going to complete this race!!! Probably used a few more expletives. I also was extremely motivated by seeing the handcyle physically challenged folks. I figured they don’t even have knees so who am I felling sorry for myself. Even without the knee issues, this is probably the hardest bike course that I have ever done. Even the pros and top bikers didn’t achieve great times. So so windy, hot, and hilly in the worst places…total mental grind. Finished in 5:58

My saving grace came at the bike special needs. I put 2 super strength Aleve in my bike special needs bag…which I picked up at the halfway point on the bike at the top of the mountain. Put these down right away and hoped that I would get some relief. Did start feeling better with about 45 minutes so I was able to catch up to a few of the folks that were passing me all day. Sorry Dr. Hewitt, I went against Dr’s orders as I was desperate at this point to finish.

Off the bike running into T2 was extremely painful. I sat for a while in transition and once again considered quitting. Came out in 4:11 and ran over to Jessica who was right there. I explained my situation and urged her to take the shuttle home with the kids…because it was highly unlikely that I would be able to run this marathon…but that I wanted to finish and could walk the whole thing in 10 hours or less. She said she wasn’t going to go and we agreed that we would talk when I pass her again in 10 miles. I told her that if it takes more than 1.5 hours for this that we’ll revisit this plan and try and work out an early departure. I didn’t want her and the kids to suffer through another 10 hours of hanging around if I was going to walk/crawl to the finish.

The Run – Way better than expected. The knee hurt but not nearly as bad as on the bike. Perhaps it was the Aleve or perhaps the 6000 times my plica rubbed against the outside of my knee either carved out some of the plica, or my nerves down there got tired of screaming at me. Ran 7:30 – 8:15 minute miles through the first 10 miles…stopped at every aid station for ice, sponges, cola…kept my core temperature cool the entire race which is one of my personal keys to racing. I know the tracker showed 6:00 min. miles but they must have screwed up their math because I have never run a 6:00 min mile…especially not in a marathon. Saw Jessica at around mile 10, waved, and then started up the crazy 20% grade hill to the famous Queen K highway. Walked the hill because I needed to get my heart rate down. It was way too high for the first 10 miles…probably due to the knee pain but perhaps also relating to the fact that overall my muscles felt extremely fresh since I didn’t expend nearly the energy that I had planned on the bike. I had tons in the tank. Got it down and felt great for the next few miles then the knee pain came back with a vengeance at mile 15. Took 2 more Aleve (which I thankfully put in my run transition bag) and headed to the energy lab. What a magical place. It was awesome to be at the place I watched so many folks on T.V. endure. It is hot, desolate, and seriously challenging. I loved it. I was catching folks left and right. The black pavement combined with the molten lava on both sides can bring the temperatures up to 118’ F. I have no idea how it was yesterday but it certainly didn’t feel that bad…but the ice in the shirt, shorts at every aid station again keeps my core temp manageable. The climb out of there is world famous and totally cruel as this is the ultimate marathon running wall at miles 18-20. Caught up with a friend and ran with her, which I think helped us both get back out of the Energy Lab and back onto the Queen K. It is mostly downhill back to the finish for the last 6 miles. I felt good and picked up the pace. Got to Alii drive and it was just as magical as everyone says. Thousands of people line the streets…just like a mountain top finish at the Tour de France. It was so loud and the crowd literally propels you that last ½ mile to the finish. Lots of high fives and saw some friends right at the end. Totally awesome.

Finished the marathon in 3:42.

Overall time was 11:06….not a PR as I was hoping for but certainly happy to be lucky enough to finish. Now I need to figure out what to do about the grapefruit on the inside of my knee. Will probably have surgery in the coming months once the swelling subsides.

Finished 169th in my age group out of 260…not what I was aiming for but this was the best of the best so 169th in the world makes me feel pretty good for 40-44 year olds.

And 976th overall out of around 2000.

I look forward to sitting at the pool and beach over the next few days… and hearing the stories from other competitors. The beauty of the ironman is that everyone has their own unique personal battles that day since it is such a long race…it is so so awesome to hear how they overcame their personal challenges to become an official ironman.

The ironman is a magical experience and I recommend that everyone experience this once in your life. It will change your life forever.

Thanks for readying this ridiculously long essay.

Eric Gutknecht
Ironman World Championship finisher 2012