I can’t say enough nice things about this race - one of the best organized races I’ve been to.
I stayed in the dorms in a suite with some friends - it was great - a quiet place to sleep, close to the race/packet pickup/stores/restaurants and a safe place to store all our bikes and gear.
We went for a warm up ride/spectated the sprint race sat am - it was fun + gave some insight into what the swim exit would be like for the half ironman…
http://i17.tinypic.com/67myuip.jpg
lots of walking to get out of the swim
On sat afternoon we watched the ITU professional race - this was AWESOME!!! I think the most amazing thing is how fast these guys and girls transition. Bike down-helmet off-switch shoes - GONE! It was inspiring and exciting to watch the whole race - 8 laps of the bike and 6 laps of the run course meant we all got a great show!
Sun am it looked like it might rain, and be pretty windy for the day…I was hoping for a HIM PR, it wasn’t meant to be, but I had a SOLID day - nothing spectacular, nothing terrible. Every leg was slower than I had expected but I had a good race.
SWIM: I was in the 4th wave, 15 min after the 1st, so some of the faster guys in the first wave were already upon us when we started. I have no problem with swimming over people or being swum over, and enjoyed the swim although 2/3 of it seemed to be into the chop/current. I didn’t wear a watch for the swim so I had no idea that it took 41 min - about 8-10 min off pace for me- which was probably a good thing.
BIKE: (My favorite section) I would call this bike course “eagleman with rolling hills” - head wind almost the entire time, slightly climbing for the first half and slightly downhill on the second half. I ended up with a 2:53, a bit slower than I wanted but I felt good the whole time. The course was extremely well marked, all potholes were chalked/painted and the “rough” sections weren’t too bad. Very pretty scenery going down Seneca Lake and back up Cayuga lake. I was afraid I got a drafting penalty as I zoned out a little bit when another girl got ahead of me and then slowed down, and I didn’t realize it until I was pretty close to her…and then heard the motorcycle. That woke me up. No penalty though, whew.
Critique my position:
http://i19.tinypic.com/6g4kb4p.jpg
RUN: (My weakness but getting back to what it used to be) I had a great first 2-3 miles and then started to feel bad. I’ve learned that when I start to have dark thoughts during long distance racing it usually means I need to take in more calories and then I’ll feel more positive. The tough part about this is that I usually can’t recognize and remember that WHILE it’s happening. I kept thinking about never doing another IM distance race during miles 4-7, and then kept trying to make myself focus on the race I was in. I tried to think about just getting to the hill at mile 7, and that seemed to help. Also, it helped that the aid stations started to have coke at mile 5. By the time I got to the hill I felt a lot happier and ran much stronger and faster for the second half of the run, although I got a little disoriented around mile 10-11, because I hadn’t seen a mile marker in a while and wasn’t sure how much was left. All the aid stations were really well stocked, the volunteers were super nice, and the run course had a nice variety of terrain. A 2:01 - not great - but better than the 2:07 I ran at Eagleman. Afterwards they had an ice bath to sit in, big nalgene bottles full of cold water (I really liked the bottle), fresh fruit and juice from a local orchard, ice cream, pizza, etc. There was also a kids’ race after the HIM, which was cute.
So, 5:40 was good enough to get 3rd in the w 30-34 AG.
Unfortunately, I handed my prize - bottle of finger lakes wine - to my friend to hold while I packed my gear up in the transition area, which he promptly dropped on the ground. I told him (ST name: Jaguar) that my retribution would be to post this picture of him here:
http://i14.tinypic.com/4qe18bp.jpg
Jeff, the nicest race director, gave me a new one, anyway 
Put this one on your list for next year if you aren’t going to be at IMLP! I’d definitely do it again.