They started us off and we all hit the gas for probably 100 meters and then settled into a very comfortable swim pace. The buoy markers were perfectly spaced over the first 500 meters. I think they might have been 25-50 meters apart. It was really nice to see them coming up so fast. I swam right on the buoy line and actually swam a little bit of the race on the left of the line. I made sure to round the buoy properly at each turn. I just could not push myself over to the right without getting smacked. So in an effort to avoid less contact I just stayed where I was. By 800 meters my swim cap came off. Thank god. The race leaders were starting to break away at about 1000 meters and I honestly was not about to give chase. The pace was a little harder than I was interested in considering the warm temps and the bike and run we still had coming up. Winning the swim does not win the race. In this case it might have lost the race for me if I tried to stay with those college swimmers.

In any event I was 5th or 6th out of the water.

Overall the swim was not bad. It was not one of my best but it was also not terrible.

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We had a very long run with our bikes across a grass section to get to the main road. Shoes bouncing around like crazy I almost just picked up my bike and ran with it. Pretty uneventful otherwise.

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I started out in about 5-6th place on the bike. By the time I was out of the park I was in 3rd place. 1 mile into the ride I was in 2nd and could see the lead police car up the road. I was closing fast on the flashing lights but it was taking longer than I expected to get the leader. As we approach one of the hard 90 degree right turns the race leader slowed down way before the turn and I stayed on the gas until about 5 feet from the corner. But the time I came through the turn I had enough speed that I literally blew right by him. I was averaging 326 watts through the first 6 miles at just under 28 MPH. Honestly, the pace felt easy but I knew that if I tried to hold that power for the entire ride the run might be a mess. The heat and humidity over the last week as been HELL hot. A close as it's been to Kona like conditions here since last year.

The rest of the ride was pretty uneventful. I kept the power consistent and made sure to keep my cadence nice and high on this ride. There was a little traffic on the 2nd loop but nothing that caused any major issues.

I came off the bike not feeling really that great. Legs were a little stiff but I was ready to get the run over with. I knew both Matt and David were in 2nd and 3rd which was great for our Tri team. Very solid efforts by both those guys.

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Nothing to tricky here. Took a little to get my garmin on but other than that I was off and out of there as fast as I could.

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Coming out of transition I was just about to the lake section of the trail and I happened to look over my shoulder and David was there. I'm guessing about 50-60 seconds back. I was really shocked to see him that close. His 48 minute bike split rode him right up to the front. Crazy fast bike ride.

I was on a pretty good pace over the first 5K. I was through half way in about 17:50 and felt pretty good. David and Matt were running strong and at each of the turn arounds it looked like Matt was closing in on me. The rest of the field was starting to inch up a little as well.

The back half of the course smoked me. There were a few long false flats and it was starting to get really hot. I was having a tough time with my breathing and just praying for the run turn around. I knew the last half of the last 5K was all down hill for the most part. I remembered that from my win there in 2007 at the sprint.

As I went though the last aid station I made it almost to the tree line and took a look back over my shoulder. No one was there. At that point I started to feel better about things and backed off. In fact I stopped for about 10 seconds to stretch my hamstrings and legs. I wanted to make sure I was not going to implode the last mile.

Once I made it to within a 1/4 mile of the finish I had a huge sigh of relief that it was about to be over. Thankfully I made it to the finish in one piece. I can say for sure that it was a mental struggle with the heat and I had a few negative thoughts out there on the run. Sometimes you have to just keep on moving forward.

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Stood in the mist tent for about 10 minutes. Was cooked. Beer, awards and home! ole!


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CGI puts on a high quality event. Larry and Michele pay attention to details and it really shows. I've done this race in 2006, 2007 and now 2013. I can say that they have it down to a science. Even with the new bike route due to road work, the event still went off without any hitches. Highly recommend this event!