There was a gorilla on the Ironman 70.3 Kansas course!!!!!

At least it felt like a 900lb gorilla jumped on my back at mile 9.5 of the run portion as I was going up hill with less than 4 miles to go.

Actually I had a really good race, I was still pretty slow on the swim portion but I was able to complete the whole 1.2 mi without rolling over and back stroking or side stroking, something I did a lot of during the KC Tri a couple of weeks ago.

The bike went a little too good. I had planned on averaging about 18 mph but ending up pushing it pretty hard and averaged just under 20 mph. That got me done 10 minutes faster but I ended up paying for it on the run.

The run, normally my stronger event, didn't go quite as planned. My quads didn't stop spasming until about mile 3 on the run and my Garmin kept telling me to speed up the pace, and I just didn't have another gear. Then that darn gorilla jumped on my back as I was going up hill at the 9.5 mile marker. I finished the last 3.6 miles alternating between a run and a walk. That extra 10 minutes I gained on the bike turned into a negative 20 minutes when my legs gave out. I did cruise in for an overall time of 6:09:04. Pretty respectable.

Here are the pictures

Here is my wave start. There were over 200 men in my age group competingStruggling out of my wetsuit.Shantel finally got a good picture of me on the bikeGotta stay hydrated. A big thanks goes out to all the volunteers who were handing out Gatorade, water and ice cold sponges. That really helps us athletes keep going.

The kick to the finish. I made all my goals for this race: I finished; the 6:09 crushed the 7:33 I did as a 26 year old; and I dropped my weight down to 180lbs from a high of 220 something last spring; and I also raised more than $1000 to help disabled veterans compete in athletic events. A very satisfying race. Thanks for all the support. I'm doing another 70.3 distance race in August and it's time to up the bar. I want to complete it in under 6 hrs. Time to get back to training to see if I can shave that 9 minutes off my time.

Next race is the Hy-Vee Olympic distance triathlon in Des Moines. This is a really big race. I'm shooting for 2:45-3hrs and enjoying some time with my friend Ruder who lives in Des Moines and will be cheering me on.

James Scrogin

bib number:1446

age: 35

gender: M

overall place: 1000 out of 1450

division place: 175 out of 231

time: 6:09:04

swim: 54:29

tran 1: 5:03

bike: 2:49:31

tran2: 2:57

run2: 2:17:05