Perfect conditions for a lake swim and I like the course. One of my main goals for this race was to PR the swim for a half iron and I did, solidly.

Stayed with the pack on most of the way out and took advantage of the group draft. Managed to draft off of one guy for at least 400 yards after the turn, probably longer. For the first time ever, I was able to actually feel for the bubbles coming from someone's kick and follow that. Lost him when a torpedo from the wave behind cut between us. I did manage to pick him up again after a while. Felt great coming out of the water.

Very happy with this swim. I'm not fast in the water, but I am improving steadily.

Not much. This was about as good as I had in me that morning.

Just went steady. I don't rush transitions in a HIM. Had a crappy spot in a far corner so I had a long way to go compared to most.

Apply sunscreen. The weather defied the predictions and I'm now typing this with a good case of 'aerobar sunburn' on my forearms.

Slow, yes, but I expected it. My cycling has been at "completion" volume for the past 8 weeks or so. And I could have done more hill work. Still, it was a better pace than the Keuka Lake Oly a few weeks ago and I felt fine on the bike.

Saw Kam finishing the Sprilympic distance race on my way out. Saw Dud a few miles away from the turnaround, caught up to him with about 5 miles left.

Saw a couple of blatant packs (and one outright paceline), but only a couple and only the out portion. I think the out and back makes it harder for people to pull this off because they're easily observed by people on the other part of the course. After my drafting penalty last race, I was so conscientious about dropping back when I got passed that I almost caused a couple people behind me to crash when I slowed down. Didn't know they were there.


Followed the nutrition plan well, ate 2 Clif bars in 3 pieces each, had water with them and alternated that with Gatorade. I did have half a banana at the turnaround which tasted delicious. I also used Endurolytes a couple times. Total of 3 on the bike, I think.

Not sure. I think this was the beginning of the problems. Time to revisit the nutrition plan.

Took my time here. I was ready to go, but then I saw Dudley at his rack so I broke out the camera and took a couple of pictures. One guy at me rack couldn't believe I was doing and started announcing to the spectators "look at this guy taking photos!".

It's not like I was in the running for a medal.

Shame. Shame. Shame.

The usual story. HR didn't want to come down off of the bike. The run starts with a long uphill which I took fairly easy. 9:43 pace for the first mile. HR crept up a bit in mile 2 and 3 so I backed off on mile 4. I deliberately walked for a while to save myself for the rest of the run after it stopped climbing. Get the HR down now so I wouldn't blow up later. I wasn't feeling bad, just worried about the HR being high and making it through the whole race. I felt fine. I was thinking that if I continue to feel like this, a sub-10 minute pace on the run is totally doable and I'd be satisfied with it. Miles 2.5 to 5 were essentially a long climb so I figured once we were past that it'd be manageable. I was wrong.

Took some water and Gatorade at most aid stations, every mile or so. About half of them I took an orange quarter, which was new for me. Not sure why, I just did.

I started to feel tired, and a bit light headed. Nothing worrisome though. Although I did yawn a few times which surprised me. Miles 5,6,7 and the start of 8 were a bit over 10 minute miles, but I was still thinking that a 2:10 to 2:15 half marathon was possible, even likely.

About halfway through mile 8, on the trail in the woods, I started to feel pretty bad. I had needed to pee for a while so I went off the trail and peed. At that moment my ears stuffed up, I got very dizzy, tired, nauseous and my kidneys started to hurt. I had to sit down on a log for a bit. It was a very unpleasant feeling. Got back up after a minute or two and started moving forward. I don't remember if I walked or tried running at first, but I ended up walking a lot from there on in. Pace for mile 9 was 14:46. Miles 10 and 11 were 13:29 and 13:46. Very little running.

Dudley caught me around mile 12 I think. He dragged my butt back under an 11 minute pace for a bit. From here, it was run/walk/shuffle/walk/pretend to run.

Started doing my "I can do anything for one mile" mantra. At the last turn before entering the park, with .5 mile to go was a big plywood sign. I stopped to rest for a second and leaned on the sign. A cop saw me and asked if I was ok, I said yes. Turns out he had been chatting with the RD who got out of a car and asked if I was going to make it. I remember saying something to the effect of "I didn't come this far to DNF at THIS point." Dud dragged me to the finish line. I managed to run the rest of the way in. He was having problems with a blister on his foot. I was having problems with my, um, self.

I remember thinking "this better not be one of those finishes where they make you do some crazy loop past the finish line before the end." It wasn't. Saw Kam on the sidelines on the final stretch yelling to us. She pointed a camera at us and I did my arms up in the air thing. Holy crap that was hard. When the going gets tough, the tough get posing.


An aquabike.

Slow down a bit and let Dudley cross the finish line before me. I don't remember the finish line at all, but I really should have let him have it.

Sat on the bumper of an ambulance near the finish line. Projectile vomited. Fell down on all fours. Projectile vomited some more. Thought about the fact that puking my guts out at the finish line while on my hands and knees and wearing a BT tri-suit might not be the best advertising for the site. Dry heaved.

Went to the medical tent, laid down in the shade, got my vitals taken and a bag of ice put on my neck. Don't remember too much after this until we got back to camp. I did lose my new sunglasses and my watch. Probably left them on the ground in transition.

After this, I wanted a Coke or something like one so bad. But there wasn't a single beverage left in the cooler things in the food tent. Not one. Nada. An 80 degree sunny day and they ran out of cold beverages at the finish line with fully 1/3 of the athletes still out on the course. If I wasn't so sick I would have been po'd. But I was pretty sick.

Threw up one more time on the way back to camp. I think that one was motion sickness brought on by being in the van. Vaguely recall telling Dudley that no, I didn't need to go to the ER. That last one sealed the deal on my needing to hit the camp showers ASAP though. Yuck.

Spent the next few hours sitting on my butt at camp, taking it easy, sipping on water and coke and lemonade. An IV probably would have sped up my feeling better but it wouldn't have been worth the trouble and $50 copay. Dudley and Kam and her family were absolutely awesome that afternoon/evening. Thanks guys.

Finally had to pee before going to bed about 8:30. Took about 24 hours for that function to return to normal.


I was surprised by this. I did expect to do better. There's work to be done on nutrition obviously, but I think it's plain that I have to put a lot more time in on the bike if I'm ever going to put in a respectable half iron performance.

I'm giving the "Good Race" an Ok rating because when you finish a HIM you can never consider that a bad race.


This is a low-frills race. Don't come here looking for the brand name vibe and for every little detail to be nailed. They do get the big ones right. The course is nice, it's well marked, the community supports the race and there are plenty of aid stations with enthusiastic volunteers.