Hard time sighting on the third leg due to sun glare -- wore mirrored goggles.
Was in wave 3. Caught second wave just before first turn. Was in total thick of two waves at the halfway point. Got clear at the start with one other guy. Picked up pace with about 3-4 minutes left.

Should have picked up pace at halfway point. Stayed calm and easy didn't have trouble with the chop and should have taken advantage of high clearance of arm swing. Instead, I just swam through it trying to conserve.

Passed two people running with bike to start line. No problem getting wetsuit off -- bucket big help. Put left foot in shoe and took off only to drop the chain off of front rings about 3 minutes in...this cost about :45 seconds.

Better test that the bike is properly geared for uphill start.
182 ranking

Kept my head focused on cadence, cadence and cadence. At 2 Shot Blox every 20 minutes for two hours and had one Gu. Then skipped food and stayed liquid for the rest of the way. Started with 1/4 Gatorade and 3/4 water in one bottle. Took Heed at bottle #1, water at #2 and #3.
Started to pick up the perceived effort on lap two. The second half of the lap has the longer climbs and I suffered but tried to stand up out of the saddle to keep momentum.
At mile 49, nearly fell off the back of the bike. Saddle was busted -- hardware went on the road. Luckily, people in line behind me reacted and moved around. I only stayed on because of the pedal clips -- I think I may have skidded my ass on the tire. Put a small cut in my left ass cheek. Figured out how to ride standing up or sitting on busted seatpost/dangling saddle. This shredded my quads and I felt like they were on fire after the first couple minutes. Nonetheless, I didn't want the day to be ended because of a stupid mechanical issue. Mechanic at race site said one of the bolts sheared off -- probably over torqued.
Nonetheless, this was my best bike split at this distance on this course. Went 2:50 at White Lake in '06.

No mechanical breakdowns.
Push harder earlier on lap two. Lap one was about the right level of pressure/reserve.

No problems except I forgot to take off cycling shorts. I remembered at about mile 1.
Not sure what to do to get faster here. I ran to/from rack. I did not rest or waste time getting shoes and hat. Still, my ranking was only 264.

Do every step just a little faster. Try to get out of T2 faster and "get organized" during mile 1 instead of at my rack.

Ran for 30 minutes before first "break". Took water over head at every station and drank something at nearly every station. Took one Shot Blox every 20-30 minutes throughout (total of six). It was hot even though there was a refreshing breeze. Put ice down shirt at mile 2 and mile 10-11. Met up with Philip at mile 12 when I was at a low point but just after I had resolved to finish well. He was on lap one...we ran/talked for about ten minutes.
Kept heartrate where I wanted and pace was a bit slow but reasonable. The breakdown was mental. I was 5.5 hours in and didn't have the mental focus to keep it all together. This is much better than past efforts but still 30 minutes short of the goal.

This is my best half marathon ever -- as a split or otherwise. About six minutes better than at White Lake in '06 when there were negligible hills. Nonetheless, need to continue to work on even pacing throughout the whole race not just for the first 80%.

Ate pasta, changed clothes, looked for Philip's wife Ellen and then got out of town.


Seat post breakdown, mental breakdown for 15 minutes on last segment of run and while I have been training...not training enough or consistently enough.


Beautiful countryside and although it is brutal to run past the finish line twice and up a big hill immediately after, the whole run course is safe. The biggest difficulty is getting there through traffic on Friday. Good help from police, EMS and volunteers. Well marked asphalt with mile markers. Water handoffs on bike went well.