And now, the crew:

Of course, Carrie's crewing duties have never really ended for the past seven or so years. She's been doing as much work at home as I do out on the road all the time with no complaining. I think she's just accepted the craziness and the family has adapted to the training and the time it takes up. Behind every good result I've had has been her and the kids with their support. Ian Mayhew from England, straight off of a third place finish in a four-man team at RAAM (Race Across America), came out in early August to stay with us and fine tune my last couple of weeks of training. Having done the race last year he knew what it took to go around the course and offered many invaluable tips. Tracey Shelley - swim coach extrodinaire. Kept me motivated swim-wise with her amazing enthusiasm and love for the sport. She coaches many masters groups around the Lower Mainland and is always willing to offer advice and help anyone in any way that she can. Also in great demand for her kayaking skills at next year's Ultraman. Britni Bakk - crewperson and running pacer. All-around amazing triathlete with unlimited desire to train and succeed. She pushes herself with an incredible determination to be the best she can with the most discipline I've seen. Was a huge asset pacing me on the third day's run. Then there's everyone else who needs recognition in helping me get to the start and are really too many to list: family, work friends, Chris and Karen (accommodations in Summerland), Cheryl and Mike (accommodations in Princeton), Carrie's parents who looked after the kids during the race, Steve King's mountains of advice and encouragement. This is the kind of event that would not happen without the huge support from so many. I look back over the year at the talks I had with people and the training with others, it was such a great experience that no other race I've done has given me. Swimming 10km is not my idea of a good way to spend a morning and like most who do Ironman races, has been just an uncomfortable thing to do before you bike and run. I wasn't overly concerned with the distance as I'd done almost that much and figured I could survive to the end. My only fear was being too cold. As I've only ever used my short-sleeved wetsuit in shorter races due to it's lack of restriction in the shoulders, I was reluctant to use a long-sleeved one, lent to me by Ian's RAAM team member and Ultraman competitor in '07, Mike Wry. I was still undecided what to do for the race until three days before when I took a twenty minute swim in Skaha lake in the shorty and came out with nearly numb fingertips. I figured if the long- sleeves bugged me during the race I'd stop and rest or just go easy to finish. The start of the race was a highlight for me due to it's very un-highlight-like beginning. After the group photo of the twelve competitors was taken we all waded into the water to wait for the start. My favourite part of the video that Ian took in the whole event was of me speaking with Ryan MacKenzie and other racers nearby when the horn sounded. It was like no one had even heard it as we continued for about five seconds to talk, stretch, or contemplate what was to come. Then we just casually slid into the water and started the three day journey. I find it the opposite of any triathlon I've done as nobody was waiting "in the starting blocks" for the start, ready to jump the second the horn goes to try and get ahead. We all knew the long day that was ahead and were quite happy to make our way when we were ready. After just about an hour of swimming I saw the support boat come along side Tracey's kayak and speak with her for thirty seconds or so. I didn't know what was being said and wondered if we were way off course or there was another problem. At the next drinking break I inquired about the encounter and Tracey said that they had never seen as straight a line as she was paddling. How cool was that to not be swimming anything extra!! Thanked my lucky stars at the choice of swim support. The swim went well but had a rough spot between 8 and 9000m when we veered to the right and I thought Tracey was going off course. I didn't remember any moves like that necessary from the map we had and I wondered what was happening. After a couple of minutes I saw the marker buoy we were heading for and realized we were going in the right direction. Once we went around that it was about 500m to shore and the energy came flooding back in once I could hear Steve King's welcoming voice. I've never felt better about hitting dry land after a swim. After being horizontal for almost three hours I was a little dazed and with the brilliant help from the crew, I was out of transition in a blistering six minutes.

The first few miles of the bike were just a blur. I was thinking only of spinning and keeping my heart rate down and get the blood into the legs. I didn't want to go out too fast because it's a long day with and even longer one the next. Other than some lower back pain on the ride everything went according to plan except the bloating I've never had in my stomach in any race before. I think it was due to the fact I ate four gels in the swim but never really trained much with them during the year. I guess they just weren't digesting like they should or I didn't drink enough water. All I know is I was glad to be off the bike after the first day. The hightlight of the day was that Carrie's mom and dad had brough the kids to the finish line and they got to celebrate the finsih with all of us. Straight to the massage tent which after every day during the race was amazing for the recovery. We went back to our Summerland digs and had a great pasta meal to prepare for the next leg.

Having only done long bikes and then long runs on back to back days, never a swim and bike and then another long bike the next day, I wasn't sure what to expect going into day 2. I had a feeling my back wasn't going to like it much after a few hours. It was funny at the start line as all the competitors were called to the start line for the picture-taking ritual. All the riders are on their bikes and pull forward to the line and the pictures start from the crews. Andreas, the athlete from Mexico, walks up in his sandals, no bike and ball cap on. Steve King makes a suggestion over the microphone that he may want to get his bike ready as there was less than five minutes to start time. The horn sounded and we once again lumbered off at a nice slow pace to get things going. All of us except for Curtis. Curtis is a very solid bike rider and after talking to other people the decision was made by my crew and myself that I would not try and chase and stay with him, only to ride my own race. The pace didn't feel too bad for the first two hours or so but then Curtis just pulled away and I only saw him once later on in the stage. The winds and the temperature were very accommodating and I was happy with the fact the conditions were amazing. I was definitley slowing down on the out and back from Princton. I remember just wanting to get off the bike. I saw Curtis on the "back" portion and timed how far I was behind him when I got to the turnaround. I think it was nine minutes and so would never make up eighteen in 30km. After the turnaround I said the Ian I'd pay him five bucks to get the girls to show me a little bit of inspiration to get me home. A few k's later I got some "flashes of brilliance" from them and a well deserved payment to Ian was forthcoming. I was SO glad to get off the bike knowing there was only the run left to do, in fact compared to the bike I was looking forward to the run. Another great meassage and it was off to cousin Cheryl's house for some rest and refuelling. She was so amazing she made the whole crew feel like they were part of the family.

So having never done a 10k swim, 140k bike in one day then a 273 bike the next day, I REALLY didn't know what to expect when I woke up for the third day. Surprisingly the legs only felt a bit tired, not aching or the real deep muscle soreness I was expecting. It gave me great confidence when the feet hit the floor out of bed and I could actually move around. I give a lot of credit to the message the two previous days. After breakfast we drove out to the start line under a beautiful blue sky and warm, windless conditions. When I crewed for Ian last year there always seemed to be lots of time in the mornings before each leg to talk to other athletes and their crews. This year the mornings seemed to fly by and before I knew it Steve King was announcing that there was "only ten minutes to the start". I was grateful that on the third morning I was relaxed and felt like I wasn't rushed and could mingle amongst all the wonderful people that were gathered there. My mom and dad who were there at the finish of day 2 were also at the run start which was another nice thing. My plan was to run my own race and keep a pace I thought I could sustain throughout which was basically my training run pace. I didn't do much speed work for this event so my long run pace would be my race pace. All the runners started out without pacers or support vehicles for the first couple of km's just so there was room for all the cars. Britni started pacing me after around twenty minutes and was a real mountain of strength to keep the pace going. There were times when her GPS was beeping that we were doing 6:30 miles and we had to make ourselves slow down. Everything just felt so good we were pushing it. Her and Ian switched off once in a while with Ian doing a whopping three or four k. I think his first shift out of the van was the first super long hill that, as it turned out, the top was the end of his turn. At the top I knew he was a little beat so I said, "okay, we slowed down on that hill so now we have to make it up", and I proceeded to practically sprint away from him. It was funny because he didn't say a thing until after about five seconds when I slowed down again. I could practically see his mouth drop open with expectation of him keeping up to that pace. He had finished RAAM a few months prior and hadn't run since so I give him all the credit in the world for giving it all he had on every run. Britni hadn't trained for distances over a marathon so it was no surprise that she was tired when her GPS showed she had run 60 km at the end of the day. I loved the fact that Steve King was driving his van on the course and giving me updates on where the other runners were. He always motivates me to do even better than I think I can. The weather was sunny but it was windy in parts and it was the warmest day of the three. The last 15 km into Summerland is pretty much all down hill and I thought that would be the toughest part but it turned out okay. It seemed to just fly by. The final hill down to the waterfront was very steep but I didn't even feel it as you could see the finish line by then. Again, I was just aiming for the finish line. It was spectacular with the crew and the kids all running down the road under the finish line banner. Both parents were there and it really made the day to have so many people I love right there in the same spot. The Summerland Waterfront Resort made a room available to shower and change the finishers as they came in. After the message and shower, we all hung around the finish line to see all the other athletes come to the line and join in their celebration. What a great scene seeing all the different emotions from everyone. The resort put on a nice BBQ after and we stayed for a bit then back to the house for a much needed rest for all. I crewed last year and I can honestly it's harder and more tiring to crew than to race this event. The crew and I toasted one another in the special wine glasses Carrie and I had made up for all those who helped out in the race.

One of my favourite parts of Ultraman is that at the awards ceremony every competitor, whether they finish or not, gets up to give a speech on the race. It's a very special time to be able to share feelings and emotions with all involved and you get a great perspective on what everyone went through. My favourite competitor was Toni Barstis who was diagnosed with cancer last year and went through her last chemotherapy treatment this past February. She went through all that and still had the amazing ability to complete this event. The racers all got to thank their crews as well which is extremely important in a journey such as this.

To alter a popular saying that I'm sure gets repeated in every locker room, "There is no "I" in Ultraman". Without support you could not do this race. You need to have full confidence in your crew to look after you in the good times and the bad, and that they'll be there for both.

"If you crew a boat or crew for someone on their boat, you help sail it."

I enjoyed every one of my 8,800 swim strokes, 67,000 cranks on the bike, and 32,000 steps on the run over 512km.