Congrats! Sounds like you had a wonderful race!

My thoughts:

For my $250, I would have liked to actually get something in my goody bag worth keeping! I was honestly a bit disappointed by that. We got some pain relever gel samples and a single sample of chamois butt'r. Lame. I tried to make up for it by scarfing down as many free power bars as I could on the run...

I saw Potts first into T1 before my wave even lined up, which was pretty sick. Everyone was cheering for him hardcore. Pretty exciting that he repeated.

The hills on the bike were a bit more nasty than I expected. The thing for me was just that I thought it was hard to judge the "second hill" that I heard about (and saw on the course profile) because it felt more like a series of rollers. I train in the hills a lot, though, so I was pretty happy with my ability to - frankly - waste the competition there. I would slide by dozens of people on each climb.

In fact, the highlight of the race for me was as I was spinning at 90rpm past a group of riders standing hard on the pedals with their hardcore 59T FSA chainrings and disc wheels and other nonsense, I heard one of them say "damn, that joker brought a triple."

Oh, and I NARROWLY missed a huge crash right at the start of the ride. Two riders both tried to pass me at the same time, got tangled, and went head over heels into the ditch. Pretty scary. I'm pretty sure I heard carbon breaking, too, which I'm sure ruins your day.

I'm not sure what course you were on, tsilcyc, but there was not a lot about the run that struck me as "flat." At least not nearly as much as I expected. I am not a strong runner with my short little legs and I had a pretty tough time there. By the time I was finishing it was also very hot. I was walking and drinking a gatorade and a water at every aid station (1 mile intervals). Still averaged a 9 flat pace, which is okay, but I think that's where I need improvement.

In the end, I was right where I expected to be on overall time - 5:38. I would have liked to go under 5:30, but that was my less-than-realistic goal. I was hoping to do 20.0 on the bike and missed it slightly (19.2 according to prelim results, 19.6 according to my garmin - I haven't downloaded my powertap data yet). I'm a little bummed by that, but it gives me something to continue to work toward. My goals were also to be in the top 1/3 of the race, and top 1/2 of my AG, which is almost exactly where I fell.

This race was a total blast!! It was my first half Ironman and definately not my last.

I was a little worried about the swim having never swam in the ocean before and not in very cold water like that for a while. To my suprise it actually did not feel bad at all. The fact that it was the ocean was no big deal either. It stayed as smooth as a pool up until just near the turn around. The first half seemed to go by slower than the second. I guess I was taking it easy, but after feeling great turning around I picked up the pace and finished in just over 35 minutes. I think my average pace was like 1:48/100m and I was shooting for 2:00/100m.

Out of the water and the run began! oh wait, that wasn't the run, just had to get through the (what seemed like) mile long transition. I am not the expect wetsuit stripper so it took me about 7 minutes to get through the transition area, undress, redress, grab the bike and go.

I felt great on the first part of the bike course. Flat and FAST! I was looking at averaging somewhere around 18.6 MPH to finish the ride in about 3 hours. At mile 20 I thought I was going to finish in like 2:45!! Turns out I was wrong. The hills were not bad. It was the wind in the canyon that killed me. I live where it is windy a lot so I have an extreme dislike for the wind. I would rather sit on the trainer than ride in the wind and this came into play for me during the race. I couldn't really handle it mentally and it wasn't even really all that bad. Ended up averaging 18.5 and finished the bike in 3:01. Just off what I though, but still doing good.

Back through the transition area again, rack my bike, grab my fuel belt, use the potty, and I am off.

The hardest part of the run for me was the mental aspect. I was overwhelmed emotionally at first. Tears almost came at the second aid station. I don't know if it was from pain or happiness though. Those volunteers were the best. Especially on the second lap when I heard that army guy at the end of the aid station (the one that was giving high fives and such to everyone that passed) say, "to me, all of you guys are winners!" I was feeling just about dead on lap two. My friends/family said I looked strong during lap 1, but I felt like I was dying and they said I looked like I was dying on lap 2, but I felt like I was dead! I had a knee pain that had started to plague me about a month and a half before the race and sort of went away and came back like 2 weeks before the race. It stayed away until about lap 2 on the run during the race and pushed me way off my pace. Ended up getting the run done in 2:24 and was hoping for a 2:00 marathon.

All in all it was one of the most fun experiences in my 22 years of existence. You can bet I will be back next year, hopefully with weather just as awesome. Except next year I am going under 6 hours!

Great to hear! Glad things went well for you, and that you are excited for the next one!