Swim was not very good. I never felt comfortable in the water. I usually like to swim about 200 to warm up and was never given the chance (not that I would have had time if I did). I'm sure my nerves were a little shot too.

Maybe leave a little earlier? I don't know. Just some bad luck with buses.

I'll explain why such a long T1 in the bike section. We did have strippers! I like strippers. They are very helpful. Nice people. Fun to be around. Overall, I was making great time. Helmet, sunglass, shoes, etc. Should have been around 2:30.

Hmmm..... see the bike.

So, as if I was not stressed enough from showing up right on time for the swim, I had a bunch of extra drama. Coming out of T1, I jump on my bike, make two pedal strokes and......nice, a flat tire!!!!!! I pull over to the side of the road to change it. The lady who is directing people where to go tells me to move because I was in everyones way, even though I was on the side of the road! I had to run with my bike back into T1, (350+ yds), back up to the front of T1, fix my flat and head back out. As I was running down the carpet, the bike tech guys saw my issue and told me they would be ready for me. I run my 1000 yds and get to them. They proceed to tell me that they cannot touch my bike since I had already left T1, but they could give me the supplies I need. I get all of my stuff apart, then put back together, and back out on the course. At this point, I have not had much luck today -hard time getting to the race sight, not a very good swim, bad luck coming out of T1 and all that went through my head, was "wow, eight months worth of training for a horrible race day." Mentally I was out of it. So, after cruising at about 20mph, I get to about mile 5 and I hear a "pssssss" sound and feel my backend kind get a little loose. My first thought was "not again!!" I stop and check my tire and it's fine. I did not even notice, but the wind had picked up and not being used to using 80mm wheels, it was kind of pushing me around a little. So, after I get going again, for some reason, the first thing that pops into my head was seeing Chrissie Wellington in the WC last year getting her flat and then zooming through the bike course. At this point, I say screw it! Let's just bust it's a$$! I was averaging 26 on the flats and just hammering it. I spun up the hills and recovered coming down. I was worrying about my nutrition beforehand, but it was spot on. Everything worked out perfectly. On one of the last sections of flats, I was just hammering it to get it back in and a guy yells "do it dude!" I look down and I am at 26mph flying by people. With about 4 miles to go, I open my bento box to get my last two Endurolytes for the run and off they go, like a kite in the wind - at that point, nothing surprised me. So I get out of the saddle and stretch the legs. Surprisingly, my legs feel great. They are not even tired! Thank goodness for taper week!

Umm, not get a flat. That would have been nice.

Good T2. With 3300 contestants, it was a huge transition area. I was kind of in the middle.

Nothing.

The run course was awesome. Coming out of T2, my legs felt great. They were not even fatigued, I knew I had made up some time on the bike that I lost changing flat. If I had a good run, I thought I may still be able to break 6 hours. I am going along for the first couple miles and they seemed to go by pretty quickly. I hear my Garmin go off after the first mile and I look down - 8:36 pace. Whoa, I need to slow down! Mile 2 was around 8:54 pace. During this time, I have my entire support crew (6 people) cheering me on at different points throughout the race. They were easy to spot since they were wearing shirts my wife had made. Check out the pics below. They are really cool! As I get to mile 5, I feel a blister developing on the ball of my right foot. Somehow a couple miles later it goes away, not sure how that happened, but I wasn't asking questions. The course had aid stations every 1.5 miles. They had GE, water, Powerbars, PowerGels, bananas and cold sponges - I love those things. My nutrition was right on. I take my first gel at mile 1.5 since that's where the water was. I take my second at mile 6. Still feeling good. I get to mile 7 and I start to have a slight problem - a blister is developing on my right heel. I was afraid of this, but the lady at the running store told me not to worry about it, I won't get blisters with these shoes. They were made to not wear socks with. Mile 8, left heel starts hurting- pretty badly too. By mile 9, I can't stand it. I'm sure most of it was from the water I was dumping on my head to keep cool, but it really hurts! Now, my quads were beginning to feel the effects of some cramps. At the aid station, I grabbed a banana, GE, water, everthing I could get my hands on. By mile 10, it all hit my stomach - like someone dropped a bowling ball in there. I walked for about 100 yds, then told myself, "you've only got a 5k left, you can do this." I start running again and get to mile 11. At this point, my legs are starting to get numb and I can no longer feel the pain from my blisters and I pick up the pace. Once I get to mile 12 I told myself "give it all you've got. Only one mile left." I can't say I sprinted the last mile, but it sure felt that way. The finish line was awesome. There were people three rows deep for the last 400 yds. I was the only coming down the chute and I hear "Here comes triathlete #278, Chris Dill from Greer, South Carolina" and everyone let's out a loud cheer. It was amazing. The main clock said 5:49 when I crossed the finish line but I knew they had thrown in a few extra minutes right before my wave. I knew I had broken 6 hours.

Wear socks! Run faster to make my tee time at Augusta National. Damn!

Found my support crew, drank a bunch of water and Gatorade. Hung around for around three and a half hours after the race, but never found Barry. I hate that.


Flat tire, blisters, and late start. Overall being my first HIM, I have thrilled with my results. I was hoping to break 6 hours and to know if I did not get the flat, I could have been around 5:20. To me, that was unthinkable.


Being an inaugural event, there are things that will need adjustments, but with this race the only thing I would have liked to see were more buses race morning. Other than that, I had an amazing experience. Everything was on time. The race crew did a great job organizing the event with the town of Augusta. The volunteers were so helpful. I don't have any other M-Dot race to compare this to, but if they are better, I can't see how. Great job by all.