Post Race Report.

Well as metioned in my earlier, mis-spelled ramblings from this morning I did my half-iron man and I kicked its ass. Here's a split by split analysis:

Swim: Why do they start the youngs guys in the back? About 20 minutes after the elites took off I sped to the Water like a bat out hell. The first quarter/third of the swim was pure hell, white caps coming up in your face waves, feeling like you're being blown of course, by the turn around everything was going smooth and on the way back those white caps were pushing me toward the finish. I managed to pass alot of the 34 and under women (5 min. ahead) and a fair chunk of the 35-45 men (10 min ahead) and a couple of the older 35+ women who left almost 15 min. ahead. I was the sixth guy from my wave out according to the play by play from my "coach" the Angry Runner. my Split 25:03 good enough for the 23rd fastest swim split on the day.
Bike: Rough road, cross winds and 3 extra miles.
I left T-1 ready to haul with Angry Runner's words ringing in my ears "hydrate and use the freaking aero bars" For the first part of the bike loop it was near immpossible. Parts of the road were so pitted it looked like a scene from Bastonge-Leige. I lost the stopper for my "aero-drink " bottle at mile 5 after hitting a rut. By the tenth mile the road smoothed out and the wind kicked up At mile 12 the course when over an inlet between two lakes and the wind nearly blew me off the road (think a milder version of Kona). Once past the first drink station one of my gu packets exploded in my hands leaving me to lick up a chocolatey mess, I placed the other packet in my jersey to consume on the second loop. After a modest little decent I managed to hit some smooth fairly flat roads in which my aero bars came to good use. When we passed the camp for the second loop Angry runner was among the legions and could be heard shouting over the crowd, " take in your electrolytes and for crying out loud get aero" On the second loop the wind really kicked up especially on the rough spots in the first 5 to 10 miles, still I managed kick up some serious speed in the big ring. For once it seemed like I was passing more people on the bike than were passing me. After about 10 miles in the second loop I ran out of water and was drinking my Hammer HEED, when I got to the first water station at mile (12) 40 or soI was expecting to get some Poland Spring to refill my Aero bottle and continue as normal. To my Chargrin they only had heed ( if I wasn't getting electrolytes before I was certainly getting them now). After going down the shallow descents ( and nearly having the guy next to me taken out by a speeding Dakota) it was back in to the areo bars and into a duel with a couple of 30 and 40 somethings and a few of the women. When I entered T-2 angry had my split 3:02 not bad for a 60 mile bike ( almost 2 miles were tacked on to the loop due to road construction).
Run: Say hello to Macca Jr. or 8 miles to the porta-john by Willie Make it.
t-2 proved to be a somewhat touching moment Angry Runner and my sisters were standing at the fence next to my transition spot. After a quick pound and a "my fairfield split was 1:52 beat that" from angry runner and some sweeter sounding versions of go kick some ass from my sisters, I left T-2 for what was supposed to be a 13.1 mile Odyssey ( it would end up being 14 miles). When I first left transition I knew I was going to need some "gastric relief" but I figured I could man up and survive. I started out well keeping a steady pace my first mile was a 7:41 and the subsequent ones varied between 7:45 and 8:15. I felt great but at mile 7 I knew I needed to use the facilities and soon. At mile 8 I spotted it the lone porta-john on the course, I think I gave Tim Montgomery with the mad dash I made for it. After taking care of my excess electrolytes from the bike course, I sprinted out feeling lighter, and trying to make up for lost time. At every other aid station I was taking water or heed and I was usually dumping water over my head to cool down in the increasing sun. When I came to the finish line I attempted to do a "blazeman" style log roll as a tribute to probably one of the most balls out atheletes of our time ( sure he wasn't as fast as Stadler or Macca but hey to complete an ironman when every muscle in your body is being shut down by ALS takes balls). Because of the narrow finish line it turned into more of a corkscrew and had the EMS staff worried that I was going ito convulsions. Still I think some where up there Jon Blais had a smile, or a good laugh that I screwed that roll up beyond recognition. Still the extra mile and messed up finish combined, I finished the half marathon in 1:49 My overall time was 5:22 good enough for 107th overall and 3rd out of six competitiors in my age group.So Angry Runner who's ya daddy!