Sucked. Plain and simple! I must have told 50 people that AZ has the easiest ironman swim there is and that I only had problems for about 1/3 of the way last year and then I had water all to myself. Not this year. I did not find 2 feet of free water the entire time. I was kicked, punched, groped, hit, knocked upside the head, swam over, under...you name it, it happened. Over and over and over again. For 72 minutes to be exact.
I did not let myself look at my watch until I knew I was well over half way through. It looked and it was 0:42, so I wasn't doing too bad, but I still did not have much of a gauge as to how I 
was really doing. I didn't look again until I made the last left turn for home and my watch said 1:10. I didn't know if I had 1 or 7 minutes left to get to the stairs, but I knew I would most likely be faster than last year. I reached the stairs and made my way out without much trouble. I saw 1:12 on my watch and was very pleased with that time. At least the beatings didn't slow me down much.
I did not let myself look at my watch until I knew I was well over half way through. It looked and it was 0:42, so I wasn't doing too bad, but I still did not have much of a gauge as to how I 
was really doing. I didn't look again until I made the last left turn for home and my watch said 1:10. I didn't know if I had 1 or 7 minutes left to get to the stairs, but I knew I would most likely be faster than last year. I reached the stairs and made my way out without much trouble. I saw 1:12 on my watch and was very pleased with that time. At least the beatings didn't slow me down much. I used a wetsuit stripper for the first time and it was definitely quick. Some people are just stupid at these races. Everyone was waiting in line to get stripped by the first strippers they saw, but there were at least 10 free strippers three steps down the sidewalk so I didn't have to wait.
I heard a few people call out my name as I ran through transition which was nice. I was covered in super short grass, especially my feet and that bothered me a bit. Apparently it didn't bother me enough to actually clean off my feet before I put my bike shoes on though. I took enough grass with me on the bike ride to start a new yard. I only had to put on shoes, sunglasses, helmet, sunscreen, and cool wings and I was out the door. The cool wings took a short time to get on because I was wet, but they ended up being a life saver, so definitely worth the time.
Swim Time: 1:12 (last year = 1:17)
T1 Time: 4:55 (last year = 5:55)
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