Water was cold, but doable. Large wave start but not much bumping after the start, plenty of room to spread out. Beautiful lake, nice course, loved this swim.

Went out a little too fast. In this cold water, my body can't handle a fast start. The Y pool is usually 84 degrees, nowhere near 68!

Couldn't find my bike! Wow, that was awful! Really slow T1.

I usually run through the entrance to T1 to my rack as a warmup but didn't have time. Learned that lesson.

From the very first mile of the bike I had severe stomach cramps, especially in my ribs. I could barely pedal and had to stop several times. This has never happened to me and I'm not sure why I had the cramps. It was so painful! Some other racers said they had cramps from the cold water. But I did the international distance last year in Lake Logan when the water was even colder and I had no problems. Nothing changed this race day from all the other races I have done. I have no clue went wrong. I am a slow cyclist anyway but watching so many people pass me that I knew I could beat, and not being able to do anything about it, was really hard mentally. I caught a few people walking their bikes up the last few hills and that was it. I was pretty bummed and if a SAG wagon had showed up I might have quit, it hurt so bad. I never get any kind of cramps and was just not used to the pain.

Wish I knew...

Walked and jogged the bike in, trying to decide if I could run. I thought that if I could just get off the bike and out of a seated position, the cramps might subside. I walked in to T1, knew where my rack was this time at least and thought about calling it a day. By this point some people were finished and I knew it would feel so good to stop! But I just can't quit a big race. Knowing I was way behind and wouldn't hit my goal anyway allowed me to take my time and just enjoy what I could. What else can you do.

If I didn't have cramps I would have hurried and cut that time in half.

The first aid station is 1.2 miles into the run, and all I wanted was Coke to see if that would help my stomach. Jogged to the aid station and was feeling a little better. At the aid station I drank several cups of Coke and water. I wasn't able to eat anything during the bike except half a bar that I forced down and drank maybe half a water bottle, so I also wanted to try some food to keep me going. Ate a pretzel stick, had a little more to drink, ate a pretzel, had a drink... Did this for a while, wiped down with a cold towel, used the porta-potty, I was there probably 10 minutes! But I was starting to feel better. I kept feeling better and better and ran well the second half, especially the last 3 downhill miles, when I really pushed it. I spent a lot of time at aid stations the first 5-6 miles, but hardly any afterward to catch up. Since I didn't use my legs much on the bike, barely pedaling through most of it, I think I had more in the tank for the run.

I thought I would hate this course because of the repetition, but it was great seeing so many people and knowing what to prepare for. I run well on hills so this course suited me and my time somehow wasn't that far off my usual half-iron distance time, even with the stopping. Someone said his GPS measured the course at like 12.8 miles, so maybe it was short. Overall, I actually loved this run, at least the last two-thirds of it! Great weather until the end, overcast and not too hot. Perfect race weather! Even the rain wasn't bad, just nice and cool.

In this situation, nothing.

Eat! I was finally able to handle more than pretzel sticks. Had some food, limped around on my bad knees and relaxed. I hardly consumed any calories for more than 6.5 hours and still had energy and wasn't dying of hunger, so maybe I can learn from this and adjust my nutrition; maybe I don't need to eat as much during a race or long training days. Something to think about.


Cramps! Seriously, I had no idea cramps were that painful.


The post-race activities are pretty lacking, as in, there aren't any besides grabbing some decent food and the awards ceremony. It would be nice to have a little bit of entertainment for family members who come for a long day of waiting, maybe a bounce house or something simple and cheap like that for kids. They did have space for kids to draw with chalk on the ground but that's all I saw. Something to make it more festive and family friendly. Having a young child, I tend to look for races that offer a little more for the family (at least for bigger races).

I would also like to see it be a full 70.3. But this is a really great race and it will be a popular one. I will do it again, although not next year, as I'd like to do another full half-iron distance. But I will be back again, hopefully with no cramps! I need redemption :-)