Not my fastest Half Ironman swim, but decent.

My mantra for the day.... Swim Smart, Ride Steady, Run Strong!

A bit of a warmup swim may have helped, but I'm happy with my performance.

This transition had a pretty long run and I got stuck behind some people walking with their bikes on the way out.
We also had to put wetsuits and anything else we wanted to keep into a transition bag so it could be returned to the finish line.

I had a really solid ride today! The course did give everyone an advantage today! In the opening 30 miles of the bike it was overcast, windy (from every direction), and then a tail wind through the more difficult closing miles.
The important part of this course is to ride through the hills: Pedal down the hills, and spin up. I saw way too many people coasting down the hills and then grinding out the uphills in a big gear with no momentum and wasting a lot of energy!

Nothing, I executed this bike course exactly as planned.

This was another large transition area with a long run with my bike to my rack. I did get stuck behind people walking their bikes as I did in T1. Once I was at my rack T2 went quickly and smoothly.

I also stopped to use the porta-potty on the way out of T2, so that added another 30-45seconds to my T2 time.

My watch had my first mile at 6:16...not good, not sustainable, and I needed to reign in my pace. By the 4 mile marker I was at 29 minutes (7:15/mile) which was more of my target pace.
As the race went on I actually walked through a couple aid stations just to get everything I needed: Water, Ice, Water, more water! Yeah, it was pretty hot out there. Once I had all my cups and the things I needed to keep cool, it was back to running at pace.
I had an awesome final 3 miles, picked up my pace the closer I got to the finish and had a triumphant, charging push to the finish line on Fayetteville street!

No real changes I can think of for this run. I executed as planned, stayed cool, and had fun out there!

They had a great post race reception, I had some pizza, pasta, water, and a beer from Aviator Brewery!


Not much. No real problems out there for me today!


WTC did a great job with this Inaugural race. The logistics were handled perfectly, the local support was awesome, volunteers were plentiful and supportive. The finish line on Fayetteville St was packed! All the restaurants had large groups of people sitting outside cheering, and once inside the finish chute it was hard to hear anything but the roar of the crowd!