Hello!
I am Chayton, I am 17 years old, 150.5 lbs and I recently finished a mini triathlon. I posted 1:14 for a 1200 ft swim, a 10 mile bike and 3.4 mile run. Before this I have trained off and on since December, I live in the inland northwest, so winters can get rough. I got hooked looking at a pair of shoes on day in November of 2010, for some reason when the sales rep told me "You can use running shoes for anything, but nothing else for running shoes. A few days before this I gave up wrestling and I had people resenting me. So with the combination of those two, I bought the shoes and went home and looked up races for running. After that I looked up marathons then I stumbled across this stupid-insane/amazing-sounding race called the "Ironman." From then I have been adicted to training. I suffered pnuemonia half way into December and it lasted till Feberuary. Eager to get training again, I went for it. Stopped at one point during finals (I was 16 at the time, now 17) to study and have been training since.

Pre race: I had no idea I was going to race 24 hours before hand. My dad calls me up and asks when we were going to come up. I said I wanted to train for a few hours then be up, he stopped me and asked about a triathlon the next day. I said sure, it would be my first one, why not? So without any kind of taper, I go into the race. I pull up a checklist for a mini triathlon. Gather my things, and head up to my dads. I must have checked my bag ten times for everything, I get to my dads, and he allows me to use his road bike. I set the bike up for my size (How many people would actually change bikes the day before a race?) and race my brother down the street a few times. My dad also allows me to use his cleats. Note:First time ever using cleats...
The next morning, I wake up at 7 (When I usualy wake up at 12). Eat way to much (as I find out the hard way later) and leave for the race. We get to the regristration booth, sign up, and I begin to set up my transition area. Since I wasnt very good with the cleats yet, I decide to attach my cleats to my bike and strap my feet in as I go (I had not practiced this...) set everything else up, and get on my way. I swim for a little bit to warm up, come back in, and wait another 10 minutes.

Swim:
One word, sucked.
The guy starts counting down from 10, then at 7, the gun goes off. During which time I was having a zen moment to keep my heart rate down. So much for that idea. I go into the water very quickly, passing people left and right, I start swimming, probably the hardest I have ever swum in my life, and I was doing well.
I had heard of people getting kicked in head and so on so forth, mostly from my mom who I think was trying to talk my out of doing a tri (that worked REAL well) so it came as to no surprise when I got kicked in the head the first time (Well, getting a heel to the chin did come as a surprise, just not in the way I expected), I admit, it knocked me off tempo for a second but I'm fine. It was the second kick that really messed with me. I remember inhaling and getting kicked in the temple. My breathing gets thrown off, and I suck in lake water (Which by the way, tasted TERRIBLE) and I fall behind. I do fine the rest of the time, I get out of the water in 5 minutes, and get to the transition area.

T1
My dad was allowed to help me in the transition areas (I think, he did anyways) and I get my bike out and start on my way. I wore socks, (for those of you who raced sockless, is it worth it?) and run my bike out to the loading point. My dad runs behind me and holds up one of my cleats saying that it would have been a long bike ride without it. (I agree) I throw the shoe on, in the process knocking my bike over, I fall over trying to stop it from falling over, in the process stop some in their tracks. I get back up, (I must have been beet red) and hop on the bike, one shoe on one off). I got out of there in no less than 3 minutes.

Bike
Went much better than the swim, I didnt get my cleat in until a mile and a half into the race. But when I did, I passed people. A lot of people, (20 I think) I thought I was such the hot shot until one of the women triathletes passed me up like I was passing everybody else up. (The women started 20 minutes after us.) After that nice slice of humble pie, I back off the speed and get through the bike in 37 minutes.

T2
Went much better than the first transition, I gave my dad my helmet, the bike, and my shoes, traded him, then was on my way. Spent a grand total of 1 minute there (A personal record non the less)

Run
As everyone else has described it, its like nothing else on earth. I read somewhere that if you downshift during the final mile of your ride, you will have higher RPMs and thus help you during the run. I, in my infinte (yeah right) wisdom, did NOT do this. So my legs were in bike mode, and the cramps set in. If I lengthened my stride to what trained for, my entire back of my leg would seize up. So I kept a 10 min mile for the first mile and a half then I was able to lengthen it. I got to the forested area around 2.5 to 3 miles, and I ran up on this older man and he started running at the same time as I passed him. (At this point, Im low on energy, spirits were low, and I am thinking I need to do more brick workouts) He holds pace with me and says "Come on partner, we can finish this." So we hold our paces together for a quarter mile or so then he falls behind. I let my pace fall with him, but he started walking. I wish I had tried to keep him going... So I finished with a run time of 28 minutes.