Got up, ate Clif Bar and a nice mixture of Carbo Pro and Amino Vital that I love, packed up and headed to race site.

No swim warmup allowed.

This was a pretty good swim for me. Started out at the front of the wave to try and avoid the blender, worked out pretty well. Me and another dude from my AG swam side by side the whole way. Current was strong so we breezed through it.

Ehh maybe just some more speed work.

Transition was CROWDED. Seriously how do you fit 3,300 bikes and gear into a space so small? It was a huge mess for everybody with transitions. Had some trouble getting my feet into my shoes as well on the initial takeoff.

Not sure there was anything we could do differently, it was just way too crowded. Really need to get better at slipping my feet into my shoes.

This was my longest bike ride yet in a race, and since I usually go too hard and pay for it on the run, I decided why do anything differently! The crappy pavement that I mentioned broke my new bike computer/cadence meter by sending it into the back spokes, and also launched my Clif Bar......

Hmmmm I know I need more base miles, and I am going to put in a lot of work over the winter to try and get that 1/2 split down for next season. As far as today, I need to figure out this bike computer situation.

COULD....NOT...GET...MY....SHOES....ON. Seriously this took me a good 1-2 min. And with the tight quarters in there you could tell it was just making everybody kinda irritable.

Get my head on straight.

Ok so my open 1/2 Mary time is 1:23. Judging by my time today I think we can conclude that I went too hard on the bike for my current fitness level, and I know that I didn't drink enough. I have NEVER drank so much fluid in my life during a run. It was like a free for all for me at literally every aid station. I think the ice cold sponges were the only thing that kept me alive out there. Started cramping kinda bad at about mile 8-9 and I just tried to salvage what I could from there.

I will NEVER run another 1/2 with no socks. I won't even describe to you the bloody mess that was my feet after I finished.

Sat down and didn't move for a long time.

First HIM, learned some very important lessons today. Looking forward to putting in some good work during the Winter.

This was my first crack at the distance, and minus some poor decisions I really gave it all I had today. I really respect the 1/2 Ironman distance now.
I have to give my hat off to the race organizers for this one. There is no way I thought they would pull this off being the inaugural event with 3,300 racers. The only real problem I had was the serious lack of space in transition, but everybody had to deal with it so what can you do. I think this race has some major potential for the future.