And you are complaining that a downstream, wetsuit swim wasn't easy enough and the bike and run were too hilly? Swimming two plus hours in 47 degree water should make you tough enough to handle any situation without publicly whining.

I'm not whining, the swim was flat. I didn't find it difficult either. Does it make sense or does that need to be explained in simpler terms for you?

Slowest swim based on flow rate in the 5 years I’ve raced it. That being said, I was still 0:15/100y faster in the river than my usual open water swim, both while wearing a wetsuit.

The other thing people forget is that any current assistance is saving your energy, especially when wetsuit legal, for later in the race. We tend to get caught up in overall swim time and forget that part.

I did the race this year. It was my first half IM in 15 years and my sixth overall. As I stated earlier in the thread, I live only about 3 hours away from Augusta. I've heard about this race since its inception and I've had several friends do it. I finally bit and did it this year.

And I doubt I'll do it again.

I have no idea what the old course was like. I had a really good swim (for me -- 30:06). The bike wasn't too bad but I completely collapsed on the run. Just fell apart. May have been partly nutrition. But part of it was the difficulty of the bike for me. My area of Georgia is pretty flat and the hills, while not much for someone who lives in a hilly area, were pretty tough for me. My very modest goal was to break 6 hours and I was on pace to do that after the bike. But that pace didn't hold. I missed the 6 hour mark by a while and turned in my second slowest half IM time of the 6 I've done. This time of the year is really hectic for me and there were a lot of distractions heading into the race. But www all deal with those, don't we?

I thought the swim was good. The bike was was well organized but I just don't have hills like that in my area. I tried to find as many hills as I could in training but I wasn't prepared for that course. I'm an agnostic about the run -- I don't know the old course so I don't have anything to compare it to. It was a little tedious on the out and back section but what made it more tedious is the implosion that began around mile 4 and lasted until mile 9, at which point I was done. I certainly got a good luck at the rest of the course as I walked the last downtown section. LOL.

All in all, it wasn't bad. But it wasn't really my cup of tea and it's at a bad time of the year for me. I did it. I finished. I got the shirt that I can wear so people will think I did an Ironman. I doubt, however, that I will do this particular race again. And I do plan to do another half IM. My quest to break 6 hours continues.