straight out east into the sun and back. left breather so the setup suited me fine. nice and easy, even passed a few people which i never do. the lake was so different from the big foot oly whne the chop washed over me with every stroke. i really enjoyed this swim.

did as well as expected nice and easy

putz'd around a bit in T1 it seems. fired down a cliff bar and homemade cookie. hit the porta john and finally made it out. this would be my longest race day so i didnt feel great need to rush anything. no idea why i put the helmet on backwards tho.. yes i was that guy.

put the helmet on correctly and not kill so much time.. its a race afterall!

first hill was a challenge, and bike malfunction kept me from gearing properly. that was ongoing issue as i could never get to the spinning gears. ride was much slower than i expected on a nice rolling course. knee pain set in at mile 20 and got worse is smy only excuse. i had much higher expectations for this portion.

double check my bike! not correcting the rear derailer before the race was inexusable. overly concerned with the course marking which was fine. go faster next time.

hit T2 and wasnt sure knees were going to work. big stabbing in both. but took a few minutes, advil and ate another wonderful m&m cookie (thanks emily) and hit it. everything worked!

probably pause less. but my goal was to finish and tiem was secondary.

the hills over the first 2 miles are legit. ran /walked and i was ok with that. i am pretty sure it actually saved my legs for the flats where i kept a good easy pace. knees had no issues which really helped the mental aspect. 2 loops, lots of turns, big hills. the water spots were good and the shade was a true gift. it had started to warm up a bit by the time we BOP'ers got to the run.

overall happy with the run.. it was what i expected/hoped for to end my first HIM.

water and huge smile from my wife. it really made the day that she was there to share it with me after she had to hear about it for so long. first HIM and i cant wait to hit this distance again, i have more to prove to myself. closer to 6 hours is doable, i left a lot in the tank. but for the first time i had no idea how i would feel.


my own caution and concern over finishing held me back. painful knees on the bike forced me to dial it way back. NEXT TIME!



As i mnetioned after i paid for this race i heard the negative stories about the promoter. it lost its USAT sanction. i felt overall it was solid event, i hope to do it again and will reco it to any who do not fear hills. my garmin had the milages just a bit over the stated ones but close enough for rounding.