Mooseman Triathlon Festival - Half Iron Distance - Triathlon1/2 Ironman

My realistic goal was to break 40 min. The swim started fine and I was just tring to hold my own and keep it in a straight line. I got caught with a really good elbow in the eye so I had to re-adjust my goggles. I sighted a guy to my left to about 3/4 out to the first buoy and them I lost him and just about everyone else. I realigned myself with the first turn and hit is pretty well. The swim to the second buoy was bouncy and I felt like I wanted to hurl my McDonalds. My stomach didn't settle down until the start of the 2nd bike loop. Around the second bouy I caught a great draft and stuck with him until he slowed and then caught a yellow cap from the wave behind and rode that almost the rest of the way in. All in all, I very happy with the swim even though it is my worst event, it was by far my fastest swim in any tri.

Not gorge in McDonalds before the race. But other than that, I can't do any better given my skill level in swimming.

183 out of 526. The strippers had a tough time getting my suit off and as they tried to get it off my leg cramped a little. But all is good and I appreciated their efforts. Put my shades on but they fogged up so I left them in transition. It was a fairly average and comfortable T1

learn to put my shoe on while on the bike. I probably could save some time taping gels to my bike and what not. But whatever.

This was a great bike for me. I think the course sets up perfectly for my biking strengths which is gradual downhill and sharp uphills that I can power up without burning the legs too much.

Around mile 4 there was a guy with an aero helmet looking at his bike in disgust. I asked if he need help and he did. I stopped and gave him my park tool. I lost about a minute or so helping him but no big deal. I found the tool returned to my transition area when I retrieved my bike.

I rarely got passed and I passed more people than I could count on all sections of the course. This is a big improvement from last year as I was terrible on hills.

My stomach was still rather quezzy during the first loop and I actually felt stronger the second loop. My HR mostly stayed in the 140's with some drops into the 130's. The top of Devils Hill on the second loop I topped out at 156 on the HR monitor.

I was having an absolute blast and felt I raced a very consistent and smart bike leg.

My splits were almost identical. 1:19:04 first loop 1:19:23 second loop

Not much....not help a biker in distress? But if I did that it would just be bad Karma.

207 out of 526. put shoes and hat on, ate a banana on the way out

nothing, but there sure is room for improvement

Great run for me. I never ran a half marathon before other that a couple of training runs so I had no clue what to expect. My hamstrings were tweaking a little the whole way so I really couldn't run as hard as I thought I could. I was eating e-caps like halloween candy to try to hold off the muscle cramps and it seemed to work for the most part. I also screwed up my lap timer on my watch so I had no clue what my pace was on the course.

It was great to see Rob (huskyboy) and Mike (MikeJ) on the run. We exhanged words of encouragement each time we passed each other. When I saw Rob the last time he yelled to me that he wanted me to break 5 hours. Also seeing them chasing me down was a great motivator to go faster!!! Man those guys are fast runners!

I also saw OntheRun on the course. He looked great out there.

Well, I negative split the run which I'm completely pumped about and I gave everything that I had. Down the finsihing shoot I heard my kids yelling and I had a real hard time holding in my emotions. The feeling of crossing the finish line was wonderful!

Run Split:

leg 1: 7:57 (pee break)
Leg 2: 7:47
Leg 3: 7:48
Leg 4: 7:28 (I tried to break 5hrs!!!)


Not take a leak at the second aid station? But it felt oh so good!!!

Cheer Rob and Mike in. Also saw chatted with the BT group and cheered in OntheRun. grabbed a burger, hung out with my kids and collected my maple syrup award for finishing 3rd.


Top notch race!! Great course and great experience.

Going into the race my goal was to break 6 hours. I thought if I could break 5:45 that would be fantastic. I never would have thought that I could run my first 1/2 in 5 hours. Even 24 hours after the race, I am still on cloud nine and just in awe that I could do something like that.

I want to thank Rob and Mike for all those inspires during that mid-winter training to keep me focused and motivated.

I also want to thank my family for supporting me in this crazy hobby that I obsess over way to much.