Those crazy Brits! I imagine that when the guys at WTC met with orgainizers in UK, they talked about how they wanted to bring an IM to the UK and the Brits casually asked what the heck an IM was? So they went on to explain how it was this crazy race thats all about endurance. So the Brits went back and said to themselves, ok, they want a tough triathlon, we'll give them their triathlon....

Let me say this, the only thing in my mind that could make that race tougher is if it were swum in the English Channel!

The swim started out in Sherborne Lake, which happens to be nestled between 2 castles, one 1400 years old, and the other only about 500 years old. The water temp was a balmy 60 degrees, but with a wetsuit it didn't take that long to warm up. The first 30 seconds weren't all that much fun though. The start of the IM was actually a deep water start, in a double loop course that was well marked. At the end of the swim, there was burlap lining the ground, which I proceeded to trip over and (what I thought) stubb my toe.

T1 was ridiculously long for me, 10 minutes, largely because my toe was killing me and I couldn't focus on anything else.

The bike course was a 3 loop course over what the English call "rolling hills." I live on the coast. Those things were mountains. 2200 meters (7100 ft) of climbing, including one that climbed for 9 miles. Did I mention you had to do it 3 times? On the backside of the massive climb was a winding steep descent. I reached 46.5mph just coasting and without getting aero.The wind was gusty, very indicative of coastal weather, sometimes 5, sometimes 20 mph, and worse were the hedges on the side of the road were cut back. The roads themselves over there are made of a larger aggregate than here in the states, so they vibrate the bike much more, which actually made my a$$ feel better but loosened every bolt on my bike and a few in my head by the end of it. If there is a tougher bike course, I don't want to see it. Brian Rhodes last year said it was the toughest he's done.

The run course was hilly as well with about 800 meters of climbing. I read one article that called it the toughest run course on the IM circuit. I'd believe it. It was an odd configuration with a double loop and a double out and back.

Nutrition was Powerbar energy drinks and gels. I enjoy the gels , though they don't have the 4x sodium gels over there. I'll stick to gatorade and powerade for my energy drinks though.

Crowd support was good. Much of the course was on country roads, so little crowds in those areas.

All in all it was a great race. IM puts on a great show wherever they go. This was no different. At the end of the race, when I pulled off my sock, my big toe was completely blue and purple. So I had the race docs look at it, and they agreed that they thought it was broken.