"Your overall finish place was 8, your age group finish place was 1 and your gender finish place was 7.
Your time was 5:08:01.70.

Your Swim time was 31:51.90, Overall place 1, Gender place 1
Your Bike time was 2:39:36.15, Overall Place 8, Gender place 7, Speed 21.1mph.
Your Run time was 1:51:59.25, Overall place 20, Run Pace 8:33 min/mile"

Swim: Fun time, no wetsuits. Haven't done a lot of open water swimming (read: none). I got to sight a big blue kayak 20 feet in front of me that was leading the swim course which helped. Exited first which was the highlight of the day, but I went faster than I wanted too. I was too excited about winning the swim though.

Bike: I left with another guy that caught me in transition (more on him later). He took off like lightning. 2 other people passed me within 10 miles (but no one else). I hammered the bike, but felt that it was a steady pace hammering. I caught lightning guy at mile 30, which felt great. I felt kind of guilty going out pretty fast on the bike ("Racing long" tells me to take the first quater of the bike easy), but I kept it up and the legs felt good, so maybe it was ok. I was in third place after the bike. I couldn't believe that I averaged 21.1 mph. Most of my training rides in the mountains of Roanoke, VA average 15-16. I didn't think I could ride that fast, but it was fun to ride without big hills!

Run: First two miles were painful. Then I caught a great rhythm, and the next 5 were great. Finishing the last five miles was extremely difficult. I wanted to walk bad, but didn't let myself. I started off the run with a gel, and another at mile 2, and was drinking HEED at the aid stations. I got a bad side cramp at mile 3 and then another one. These 2 side cramps stayed with me until mile 8 or so. But I switched to water, and no more HEED or gels. I think that helped. I had a calf cramp at mile 11 that struck so fast, it almost took me to the ground. But I slowed a bit, and it went away not to return. My ITB was hurting the last mile or two, but not that much, since I could still run. The finish with the family there was sweet. 8:33 miles, which is really good for me.

General: This was my first triathlon, and I did much better than I expected. I wanted to break 6 hours when I started. I wanted to use this race as preparation for IMKY next year (i.e. ironman length pacing and heart rate zone). But my place in the small field kept me going faster and faster with delusions of grandeur. My RPE was much higher than I wanted in all 3 legs. I was happy with it though.

Fueling/Hydration
I wanted to take in 30 oz/hr, and 300 cal/hr.
I drank 36 oz gatorade, 60 oz H20 on the bike. And drank 6 oz of H2O or Heed on the run every 1.5 miles. So I thought my hydration was OK. However, I only peed once (at mile 4 of the run). Shouldn't I be peeing once an hour if I'm properly hydrated?

I ate 4 gu, 1 powerbar, on the bike. + gatorade = 780 cal/3 hrs = 260 cal/hr for swim/bike.

I ate 2 gu, and several 6 oz cups of HEED on the run = 300 cal/2 hrs = 150 cal/hr on the run.
I think this hurt me a lot, as my last 5 miles were so horrible. I was probably underfueled on the run. But I think I took in as much fuel as I could on the run without vomiting, and worsening my side cramps. Do I need to eat more on the bike to build a calorie buffer? Or just suck it up and eat more on the run?

All told, it was a great day. And I am very happy with my race. Thanks for reading and for any suggestions!