Ironman Freerolls

I just got done playing the Ironman freerolls. I played in the Bronze Ironman and the One-a-day. In the one-a-day freeroll, not many players actually played. The total field was almost 1,000; however, about 70% of the field didn't even sit in. The same went for the bronze ironman. If you pull up the hand history, it will tell you who is sitting out. 6 of the 9 people at the table were sitting out. So it made the opening stages of both tournaments kind of hairy.
In the one-a-day, I slowly built a decent sized stack and was doing well. I sat at the same table for most of the tournament and built my stack to over 6,000. We got down to the money bubble and I just sat out for about 10 minutes waiting for all of the people who were sitting out to get blinded out. Once that was over, I got back to business as ususal. I ended up running my JJ into A10 and losing. I cashed for a whole $3....woohoo. I am never going to play this tourney again. The prize structure is not worth the time or effort. First place was about $200, and they paid out way too many places.
The Bronze Ironman went a little better. I final tabled the ironman. I was playing really well, especially for not getting many hands. I got a few premium starting hands, but got most of my chips from playing position and from 3-betting before the flop against weak opens and making timely c-bets. I don't know how many times I saw somebody open the pot, then check the flop. Suddenly they bet the turn when a rag falls. They would eventually show down a decent ace but no pair or just two big cards. You have to tell a story with your bets. Don't check the flop, then suddenly try to portray strength with a rag. I had to two barrel a guy who floated me. I had AJ suited. He limped on the button, and I raised him from the BB. He limped for 1,000, so I raised it to 3,600. The effective stacks were about 125,000. He called, the flop came K-6-6 rainbow. I bet out 6,400, he flat calls. I knew that if he had a king or pair, he would have raised me on that flop. So I bet out 12,500 on the turn, he thought about it and folded. SO I was cruising along a doing well.
Until, I ran into a LAG....lol. I had about 150,000 and raised to 28,000 with AK. The blinds were 5,000/10,000 with 1,000 ante. We were 7 handed, and he shoved for 92,000+. I called, he showed 44 and I had AK. I lost the race and was crippled. I shoved the next hand with KJ suited and lost to AJ...I hate it when you are playing well. Lose a race and then out within a hand or two. I can understand his play with 44 but I think it's a little too risky for his effective stack size. The best he could hope for was a race. I know that might sound a little too tight, but seriously. If I'm raising with 77+, or any two cards bigger than a 5. But, you have to win those races to win tournaments. I could have folded and waited for a better spot, but I knew the range of hands he had, and knew that you have to win the 60/40's and 50/50's from time to time.
So I cashed for a whopping $3 in the one-a-day and $175 in the bronze ironman. SO hopefully I'll do better in the next one. Like I said though, I am not playing in the one-a-day ever again. That was such a joke of a freeroll. Anyway, good luck at the tables.