Short loop - people estimate it was about 1 mile, not 1.2 miles, based on a comparision of the top times from last year and this year.

Rank - 144 overall, 23 AG.

Nutrition: 1 gatorade in aerobottle, replaced with 4 bottles of heed on the course. Took 4 bottles of water too but dumped them on my head back, although I did have a few sips. I felt this worked out perfectly given the conditions (warm, humid, windy). I never felt full/sloshy but did feel adaquately fueled for the entire event.

Rank - 63 overall, 16 AG

Nutrition - alternated between heed/coke and water at each aid station. Skipped the last 2 aid stations except to grab water to dump on head. Stomach could have handled more, but I was fine since it was only 13 miles. For the upcoming IM, I will need to continue to replenish carbs/electrolytes on the run.

I am so happy I can't even describe it to you - official time = 4:55:32!!!

I had a secret goal that I considered barely possible if everything came together perfectly to go sub 5 (which would be a 50 minute PR - but I'm almost 40 pounds lighter than I was when I set that PR). When I left the hotel on race morning there were 20mph constant winds with gusts to 30... plus it was HUMID (I sweat a lot). I went from being nervous to being completely "oh well" and just decided to have fun. I knew everyone would be b*tching about how choppy the lake was and how hard the bike was going to be and all that. I love the irony of triathletes who pay thousands of dollars to challenge themselves and suffer and then get all sissified when it's windy or hilly or choppy or hot or whatever. HTFU people, we're all equally disadvantaged.

I switched my garmin over to HR/time only, and removed my bike computer... something I've been wanting to experiment with for some time but always have big time goals so won't let myself. With the wind today, I figured what the heck.

So when I felt good I pushed a little harder, and when I felt bad I held back a little more. I didn't worry about maintaining any paces on the bike or anything... I didn't know what my pace was! I just road what felt good and backed off if my HR got above 150. Figured I'd save it for the run.

This was my first race ever racing towards the front of the pack. I was in the first swim wave. My swim has really improved recently. I borrowed Scott-the-dirt-eater's wetsuit and it tested about 10sec faster per 100y in the pool the day before. I also got passed several minutes into the race by someone from the wave behind me, and determined that I would grab onto his feet and draft him. I don't know what got into me but I was able to do it and hold on... and it was unbelievable how much faster I was able to go. I was hurting but it felt so good to be going that fast through the water.

On the bike I'm used to passing tons of people as a result of my poor swim. This was different... I probably passed about 10 people on the first lap and I probably got passed by about 20 people. It was pretty spread out and everyone was cooking along at what felt like a pretty decent pace. MAN the wind was brutal. Just brutal. But I felt good and stuck with my plan.

I was shocked to experience on lap two just how many people among the fasties also make the same mistakes I've seen (and made) in the middle of the pack. I passed about 30 people in the last 10 miles of the bike. I remembered some of them BLOWING by me like I was standing still earlier on the bike... now they had obviously blown up and were just hoping it would end... with the wind and the bad pavement showing no mercy... and dreading the fact that they had to run a half marathon afterwards. I, on the other hand, felt great and was actually looking forward to the run.

My run split would have been a stand-alone half marathon PR for me by ~9 minutes. Again I am so stoked for this - as an indication off my improved fitness and my smart race execution. That time even includes forgetting my race belt (I've now done this in 2 races) and having to spend about 40 seconds going back to T2 to retrieve it. I was passed by 3-4 people on the run, and I passed dozens. I may have passed a few more than that at the end, but it was impossible to tell because it was a 3 loop course so I was passing hundreds of people by lap 3. The bottom line is that it was obvious I had paced myself right and saved it for the run, so that despite having a respectable bike time I was just cruising through the hot/humid/windy run while most of the people around me were suffering pretty badly.

4:55:32 was my official finish. What is so exciting about that is a quick glance at my logs will show you my HIM PR from 2008 at Diamondman... a MUCH easier course... was 5:49:45.