I titled the subject line "Musselman 1/2Ironman" but it could just as easily
say "the day hell descended upon Geneva, New York." The Musselman, taking its namesake
from the razor sharp zebra mussels that line the lake bed, took place on Seneca Lake and
made its way throughout the Finger Lakes region of Central New York. The area is
beautiful, complete with endless farmlands, rolling hills and often temperate weather
(think Dairyland but on a much larger scale). Everything in that last sentence rang true
for yesterday except for the "often temperate weather." To put it lightly, the minions
of hell sprang forth upon the race. The temperature was 95 with the heat index tickling
100!

Now on to the race:

The swim was one counterclockwise 1.2 mile loop. I started out in the third wave and
felt pretty good throughout the whole swim. I didn't get pushed around too much in the
human blender that is open water swimming and my sighting and swimming on course seemed
to improve! The only problems encountered on the swim was the large stretch after the
first turn that was directly in the sun, blinding all 450 athletes and that the final 200
meters were so shallow that everyone had to slog through mud, rock and the aforementioned
razor-sharp mussels!

The bike was beautiful and enjoyable. The route followed the eastern shore of Seneca
lake for 20 miles, cut across to Cayuga lake, and returned to Seneca Lake State Park.
The course was generally rolling, with the first 23miles of gradual uphill and the final
33 of non-stop rollers. At this point it began to heat up and I went through 5 bottles
of electrolyte drink and water!

With my bike about 10 minutes faster thank White Lake I felt confident that I would be
able to repeat a sub-5 hour finish. I got into transition, threw on my flats, and made
my way onto the run. The heat hit me about .5mile in. I spent the first two miles at my
goal pace (~6:40) but after a slight rise my body began to shut down. By mile 4 I was
stopping at every water stop, taking on water, electrolytes, ice and cold sponges. By
mile 10 I was reduced to a run-walk as the sugary combination of hammer gels and
electrolyte drinks sloshed around in my stomach, bringing me ever-so close to vomiting!

I finally made it to the finish (without throwing up) with a 5:03 half, fourth place in
my age group (missed third by 1 minute :(...) and a 41st overall. After I finished I
went to the med tent where they threw me onto a cot and covered my body with ice bags. I
asked if it was normal to consume 150-200oz of liquid without peeing and they said that
it was, in fact, not normal at all. I fell asleep on the cot and when I woke up 10
minutes later the med tent, now MASH unit, was full of people stuck with IVs, one guy was
in the corner vomiting, and another guy was being revived after passing out at the
finish. Needless to say the final 13.1 miles of this race were an adventure, where I
thought I would collapse, die and subsequently cook in the boiling sun. Now I can look
forward to a week of recovery and a weekend in Lake Placid to watch Ironman USA!