There was quite a bit of chop and a current. Lake Erie is REALLY shallow. So you had to walk out a good 50 yards, maybe more, before even trying to swim. Same thing happened at the finish.

Had more trouble getting my wetsuit off this time and felt really dizzy.

Road conditions were horrible. Cracks in pavement, potholes galore! One part of the loop, the road had severe cracks every 10 feet or so. Many people lost gear; I lost a water bottle, it just up and popped out. My good 24 ounce one! Surprised I didn't see more flats/crashes.

Wind was atrocious! But I felt GOOD! Tucked into a good aero position. Thank goodness for the aero helmet on this one!

Drink a little more.

Good transition. Wouldn't change anything here (at least for half IM/full IM)

This is where all came to a halt. I was in FIRST overall for females all the way until mile 7. Up to that point, was holding around 9 min miles and my legs felt great! Then lower GI cramps hit and hit HARD. I was on the toilet for a total of 30 minutes with horrible diarrhea. I tried once during the "incident" to start up again, got about 1 minute down the path and had to turn back around and go back to the outhouse for round 2. I was very ill. Once I was "cleared out" I had a hard time running due to side stitches and upper GI cramping. Had to use a "run/walk" strategy for the rest of the run. Still trying to figure out what went wrong/why this happened.

Maybe took too much water at the start of the run? But I really don't think this was the cause...

Oh, and loosen my speed laces; they were too tight am my feet started going numb. I had to adjust these multiple times.

Crossed the finish line and the bathroom called again. And again. WHAT HAPPENED! No cool down.


MY GI PROBLEMS!! GRRRR. I would have had a PR by a LONG shot.


The road quality was horrible. I don't think I would do this race again because of this. They even advertised that the bike course was repaved, flat, and smooth. I beg to differ. But it was well run.