2013 race schedule

X2 or 3 for Cedar Point. Rev3 does a great job and you can't beat CP for the family and friends. The year I did the HIM there it was fairly windy and the waves on Lake Erie can be a bit intimidating, but nothing too terrible. Bike and Run are both pretty flat. September race gives you all summer to train which is nice.

Good luck with your planning, I find that part of the process very enjoyable. If you ever get down around Serena (north of Ottawa) and are looking for some company on a long ride drop me a line. I will be training for IM Wisconsin this summer and would welcome the opportunity to ride with somebody. Lots of great roads with very little traffic, unfortunately not very many other riders either.

I did my first HIM this year. I completed the Steelhead 70.3 in Benton Harbor, MI, and can't recommend it enough. Check out my race report, I tried to be pretty detailed. Only about 2 hours from Chicago, it's convenient to boot.

I'm thinking about doing Racine 70.3 or a repeat of Steelhead 70.3 in 2013.

I have done Racine 2X and Rev3 Dells this year.  Both are a lot of fun. 

Racine there is about 5X as many people.  The roads are pretty rough.  They are really bumpy for the last 20 miles of the ride.  The swim can be very cold and choppy/scary.  The run is mostly flat, except for a climb up the lake michigan bluff that you have to do twice.  Very enjoyable race.

Rev3 Dells - excellent venue!  The swim is as easy as it gets.  The bike is very hilly.  The run is hillier!!!  The cool part is that you start from the Tommy Bartlett stage.  The run goes right through downtown dells.  They hold up the traffic into single lanes through the whole downtown.  You have people watching you from their cars and chearing you on.  Bad thing is that it is really hilly and you are sucking car fumes.  You will not PR this race.  They let your kids run with you through the finish line and you get a free video of it.  Rev3 has better swag than Ironman.

You live in the flat part of Illinois.  :D  You should drive up an do some Barrington or Bull Valley hills.

In your sprints, Oly's did you use a wetsuit?  They keep you bouyant and make swimming easier if you have a correct fit.

Some people mentioned Racine...Racine is god-awful cold if you are not used to it and as a poor swimmer you say, some people get paranoid in Lake Michigan and freak out.  If you can deal with that you can make the swim.  You swim out 100 yards, and swim straight for 1 mile without turning so if you breathe to one side more it makes it easier, then 100 yards in

I'd say the water the last 2 years has been perfect.  Cold enough for a wetsuit yet not cold enough to make your extremities numb.  Honestly, the water temp has been the best part of the raceday.  The bike and run have been God awful hot/humid!  The roads on the bike course suck, and the wind there is crazy stupid.  It seems like you always fight a headwind the entire course.  Support there is great and it's a fun race though. 

Swimming in the lake doesn't scare me.  When I said poor swimmer, I'm just slow as molases.  I did the OLY at the Chicago Tri, and did about 3:20/100.  Its just very bad technique.  Im leaning more towards the Dells because I want to make a family vacation out of it also.  Seems like the best choice to do that.  Dont think my family want to spend their vacation time in Muncie

Should be a nice day for the family. Start & finish are easy walking distance from each other.  Finish was literally in the parking lot for Noah's Ark, so that should keep them busy. Also lots of shops & places to eat a few minutes of walking away.

Took a quick look at your races, and would suggest getting to work on the bike as well. The hills there are steep in a few places.