It was cool getting to meet Cathy, jkat, fishman, and Francois. Had margaritas with Francois on Sunday night. Ok, so* I* had margaritas, Francois had water. It’s amazing how quickly you can catch a buzz when you haven’t been drinking.
The swim was perfect temp. No complaints except for my time(what else is new).
The bike course was the hardest of any I’ve done in any IM - this was my 4th(Canada x 2, CDA). Unrelenting wind, some really bad pavement and 4 extra miles. Course had rollers and long flat sections so the wind was what made it slow. That and the million turnarounds. I only think 11 people who finished went under 6 hours. Aid stations were excellent. Course marshalling was also very good. I saw virtually no drafting and many motorcycles. The course was supposed to be completely closed, but a few cars got onto the course. I ran a disk, which wasn’t too bad but there were a couple of times I was blown a few feet to the side(almost off the side of the road once).
The run course is beautiful and the aid stations were excellently stocked. I had about 15 strawberries during the run. They were awesome. There were not, however, volunteers directing runners at the turnarounds. Myself and another runner missed the 1st one and ran an extra 1/2 mile before a cyclist(who was not supposed to be on the course - more on that later) told us we had missed the turn. I talked to two other people later who missed turnarounds as well - there were two different ones. The run course was supposed to be closed to non-participants but wasn’t. I was almost run over twice by cyclists who crashed the course.
Big complaint - no post race grub. What’s up w/ that?
Big compliment - triathlonbag.com gave out their tribags to every award winner, including all age groups and relay participant winners 1-5. I’d say at least 1/2 didn’t show, leaving a $100+ prize behind.
Multiple transitions were annoying, but next year the race will be in October w/ one transition. Hopefully they’ll get the distances right. They also say they will do away with the section with the worst pavement. I’m sure it will always be at least fairly windy because the bike course is completely exposed, though the winds will be less in October.
I had my worst time ever, but I guess it wouldn’t have been if not for the extra bike and run mileage. I did about what I expected considering my crappy training.
Guess who I came out of the water with? The semi-famous Cathy Morgan! She had a great race.