Alarm: 2:32 am. After lying down on my bed at 10:25, this was a bit earlier than I wanted to awake. So I didn’t. Next glance at the watch shows 3:07. S**t, was supposed to be out of the house already and the car isn’t packed. Luckily everything was ready to go to the car. Packed up and began the drive from Chicago to Benton Harbor, MI around 3:45. 95 minutes and an hour time change later, after a stop to fill up at $3.84/gallon in Indiana, as opposed to the $4.39 in my neighborhood, I roll up to the parking lot. Managed not to get lost on the way, which is a good thing, as I was cutting check-in a bit close. No matter, I was in wave 16, starting 1 hour, 32 minutes after wave 1. I’dhave plenty of time to get relax and get ready before the swim start.

Swim: With 30 mph winds rolling over Lake Michigan at 6:45 am, and 2-3 foot swells, the swim was looking fun. Well, at least for those of us who get in open water swims in these conditions to prep for a volatile race day. For the 85% of the people in the race who dread the swim, it must have been harrowing to look at. Race organizers sided with the majority, and cancelled the swim. We would now be racing a half-ironman duathlon, with a 2 mile run to open the event. There goes my 5-10 minute starting advantage over the runners, and likely my shot at Clearwater. Not to mention I signed up only 13 miles of running, not 15. The start was delayed an hour to accommodate the change, and we went off only 4 minutes apart instead of the initial 6.

Run 1: Decided to cruise this, as a minute either way isn’t going to affect my overall time that much. 12:26 for the opening 2 miles, a minute back of the leader into transition.

T1: Forgot my rubber bands in the rush to get out the door in the morning, so my shoes weren’t preset. Slapped them on, fiddled around with putting on my helmet over my sunglasses and took off, clomping through transition to the mount line. Time: 1:24

Bike: I was really looking forward to this as it was my first ride with my new Zipp 900 disc. Well, second, technically, but I crashed out on the first race with it. No serious though; due to a deluge from the heavens, I slipped on the timing mat exiting T1 and slid into a patch of gravel, cutting up my legs and feet. The bike remained on the timing mat, wholly unscathed. After 4 km at 44-45 kph, I pulled out. Couldn’t handle the pain from the earlier fall.
So this would be my first serious test on the new disc. A bit of a head and cross wind over the first half of the bike course with gently rolling hills. Starting in wave 16 of 17 was certainly interesting. There were so many people on the course that it took until mile 46 before I could pull over to the shoulder. And even then it was only for a few seconds until I was in someone’s draft and ready to pass again.
Mile 10, first bottle launched. Mile 28, suck down a gel. Mile 33, first bike accident I passed. Mile 44, suck down second gel. Mile 48 second bottle launched. Damn it! I just bought these, too, and set up new cages to prevent this from happening. The guys as the shop assured me they wouldn’t launch. No worries, just another $14 left out on the streets this year. 2008 total: 6 launched bottles and another lost with my bike when it was stolen.
I came through the first half averaging about 23 mph and feeling great. Just hoped the second half would remain about as fast. It was. And a little bit faster, even. The final 20 miles were predominantly down wind and overall down hill, and lightening fast. Averaged near 25 coming back. Total bike time 2:18:02, 23.5 mph average. Course was a couple miles short due to the initial run taking place on the start of the bike route.

T2: Was coming in so fast to the bike dismount, and not knowing the finish to the course, I failed to pull my feet out before dismounting. Oh well, just kick out and clomp back to the rack. Helmet off, bike shoes off, sunglasses off, running shoes on, visor on, and I’m off. Time: 1:23.

Run #2: the real run. I felt good coming off the bike, and was ready to run. If times from the previous year were an indication of Clearwater qualifying, all I needed was a 1:40 half. Ran through mile 1 (according to the marker) in 6:18. Alright, either I hit the lap button on my watch a bit late, or the marker was a ways off. I was most certainly not running that quickly (turns out I was 45 sec late on hitting the lap button). I linked up with another guy from Chicago looking to run around 1:40 (7:45 pace) and I became the hare in his Aesop’s fable. I would run at my comfortable pace, about 6:40, for a mile then stop, try to get sick, walk a bit while he passed me, and then pick up running again for another mile-mile and a half. This went on for a few cycles until my tank ran out of fuel and I stopped catching him on my run portions. Sucked down another espresso Gu around mile 6 and immediately felt better. I caught my tortoise around mile 9 and just kept on going. Almost immediately linked up with a guy from Ireland and paced with him at 7:10 until half a mile to go. At this point my legs decided they were just about done, had already run the 13 miles I told them they would only need to get through, plus a begrudging extra 1.5 and they were ready to go on strike. My left hamstring went limp. Right quads tightened up coming down a final hill. And then the final 200 m was through sand. Soft, billowy, foot swallowing sand. Not exactly the venue for a strong sprint to the tape. Time: 1:39:30. Not the 1:30 I was hoping for, but under the 1:40 I expected would get me to Clearwater. Total time 4:12:53. Good enough for 88th overall, and not a bad showing in my first half.

So, will I be seeing any of you in FL in November? Not a chance. That got me 20th in my age group (25-29) with only 6 slots available. I know a couple of those who qualified have a very hard time on the swim and wouldn’t have made it in without the swim being cancelled, but I still had no shot. The 1:40 half-mary was simply too slow. It might have helped to do a run longer than 11 miles before showing up to this. Not too sure what I was expecting to happen. Just regroup and prepare for the next race, I suppose.